Romanian soprano Lorena Puican has been featured in concerts at St. Gallen’s Dome and Wattwil in Switzerland, in Baden, Austria, at the Romanian National Opera Cluj, with the Cluj-Napoca Philharmonic Orchestra, and with the Orchestra of the Hungarian Opera Cluj. In 2017, she was awarded the “Feminine Creation Prize” at the Iași Opera Festival. The following year, she performed the female lead role in Romanian composer Gherase Dendrino’s operetta Lăsați-mă să cânt, and as La Ciesca in Gianni Schicchi at the Romanian National Opera Cluj. In 2019, she sang at the company’s Opera Ball and was recipient of the Alexandru Fărcaș Prize.
At 25 years old, Ms. Puican made her debut at the Romanian National Opera Cluj in the role of Mimì in La bohème. Following this celebrated debut, the young soprano was engaged for the company’s 2019 season to debut the roles of Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni and Rosalinda in Die Fledermaus.
Ms. Puican completed her master’s degree in 2019 at the conservatory in Cluj-Napoca. During her studies, she received many scholarships including the 2018 International Summer Academy scholarship from the Universität für Musik und Darstellende Kunst in Vienna.
Praised as “a magical Aida,” Elena O’Connor debuted the role of the Ethiopian princess in August 2017 at the Chorégies d’Orange Festival. She reprised the role at Oper Dortmund, followed by a debut with Opera Nationala Romana in Cluj-Napoca as Leonora in Il Trovatore. Ms. O’Connor made her European debut in May 2017 with the Staatstheater Wiesbaden in the title role of Tosca, a role she sings again in 2020 along with two additional productions of Aida.
In her native New York State, she has sung the role of Rosalinda in Die Fledermaus with Finger Lakes Opera, and Clytemnestra in Teatro Grattacielo’s New York premiere of the verismo opera Cassandra, her performance lauded as “stunning.” In concert, she has sung the soprano solos in numerous works including Poulenc’s Gloria, Mendelssohn’s Elijah, Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, and the Requiem masses of Verdi and Brahms. As a student, Ms. O’Connor was a fellow of the Ravinia Festival Steans Institute for Singers and a soloist at the Cincinnati May Festival at the invitation of James Conlon. She was also a fellow at the Aspen Music Festival where she sang the roles of Gilda, Musetta, and Michaela all under the baton of Julius Rudel.
Finnish soprano Hannakaisa Nyrönen was awarded 1st prize at the 2019 Elizabeth Connell Prize Singing Competition for aspiring dramatic soprano voices. Ms. Nyrönen made her Finnish National Opera debut in 2020 singing Fiordiligi under the direction of Esa-Pekka Salonen. During 2021-22 Hannakaisa appeared as Brünnhilde in Die Walküre, Siegfried and Götterdämmerung at Eurajoki Festival. In 2018 the Finnish Wagner Society awarded her a scholarship to the Bayreuth Festival. Ms. Nyrönen has sung the role of Sieglinde in the Bayreuth RING for kids at Helsinki Festival, the title role in Countess Mariza, Hanna in The Merry Widow and Judith in The Bluebeard’s Castle. Other roles performed include Freia in Das Rheingold, Rosalinde in Die Fledermaus, Juno in The Tempest by Jean Sibelius and Kullervo’s Sister in Sibelius’s symphonic poem Kullervo.
Ms. Nyrönen is a graduate of the Sibelius Academy and holds a Master of Music degree in both Opera Singing and Church Music. In 2023 Hannakaisa will sing her debut as Isolde at Eurajoki Festival, Sylva in The Gipsy Princess at Helsinki Music Centre and Sieglinde with Latvian National Symphony Orchestra.
A 2018 awardee of the Finnish Wagner Society’s scholarship to the Bayreuth Festival, Ms. Nyrönen is a graduate of the Sibelius Academy and holds a Master of Music degree in both Opera and Church Music. In addition to being active performer of chamber music and opera, she serves as artistic director and board chair of the Rajoilla Ensemble.
Soprano Susan Foster is “perfectly cast” and “brings power and presence” to the title role of Puccini’s Turandot. Critically acclaimed as “a Turandot rarely revealed”, her 2012 Helpmann Award nominated performance with Opera Australia was recently released on DVD. In the 2013/14 season, she revisited the Ice Princess in her debut with Hawaii Opera Theater in their wildly successful production of Puccini’s final masterpiece. Upcoming engagements include her return in the 2014/15 season to the Bayerische Staatsoper for Helmwige in Die Walküre, which was her debut role there in 2012/13. She has performed the role of Helmwige frequently in recent seasons at Berliner Staatsoper, Teatro alla Scala (also recently released on DVD) and BBC Proms, all with Daniel Barenboim, in addition to performances with the Berliner Philharmoniker and Los Angeles Opera. Notable recent appearances include the title role in Turandot with San Francisco Opera, Savonlinna Opera Festival and Greek National Opera, Isolde in Tristan und Isolde with Los Angeles Opera and Russia’s Stars of the White Nights Festival, Sieglinde in Die Walküre in concert with Festspiel Baden-Baden, and Leonore in Fidelio with Opera Roanoke. As a highly sought after cover artist, she has served as Brünnhilde for San Francisco Opera’s full Ring Cycle, Isolde for The Metropolitan Opera and Teatro alla Scala, as Brünnhilde in Die Walküre for Teatro alla Scala and Los Angeles Opera, and as Turandot for The Metropolitan Opera.
Hailed for her thrilling, emotionally compelling performances in many of opera’s greatest soprano roles, Susan Foster has appeared as the title characters in Turandot, Tosca and Norma, as Leonora in Il Trovatore, Elisabetta in Don Carlo, as Mozart’s heroines Fiordiligi, Donna Anna, and Countess Almaviva, and as the soprano soloist in Verdi’s Requiem. Among the conductors she has been honored to work with are Daniel Barenboim, James Conlon, Valery Gergiev, Simon Rattle, Kent Nagano, Steven White and Giuseppe Finzi. She has performed with such companies as Los Angeles Opera, Washington National Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Florida Grand Opera, Vancouver Opera, Pittsburgh Opera, New York City Opera and Chautauqua Opera, in addition to appearances with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra, Youngstown Symphony Orchestra and West Virginia Symphony.
Ms. Foster received a Bachelor of Music degree in Vocal Performance from The Ohio State University and continued her professional training as a member of the Lyric Opera Center for American Artists at Lyric Opera of Chicago. She has been honored with numerous awards, including the Florida Grand Opera Olsen Artist Award, the Washington Summer Opera Guild Award, Grand Prize of the Greater Miami Opera YPO Competition and a Shoshana Foundation Grant. Her discography includes Opera Australia’s Turandot, La Scala’s Die Walküre, and Lyric Opera of Chicago’s Six Characters in Search of an Opera.
Soprano Jung Nan Yoon is emerging as a talented and versatile young singer who is rapidly gaining recognition on the operatic and concert stage with notable for unusual beauty of voice, extraordinary range and sincere musical artistry.
Recently, Ms. Yoon performed the role of Ok Hwa in Return Voyage at the Yeosu Expo Music festival; and she performed Mimì in La Bohème at the Seoul Open Air Opera. She then performed Cio-cio-san in Madama Butterfly at Flensburg Landes Theater in Germany, and she reprised the role for both Göteborgs Operan and Den Norske Opera & Ballett. Upcoming engagements include Micaëla in Carmen at the Seongnam Arts Center in Korea.
Ms. Yoon made her professional debut in 2001 with the Seoul Arts Center Opera as Donna Anna in Don Giovanni with great success. She performed the roles of Countess Almaviva in Le Nozze di Figaro and Pamina in Die Zauberflöte there as well. At Indiana University Opera Theater, she performed Cio-Cio San in Madama Butterfly, Mimì in La Bohème, Violetta in La Traviata and Handel’s Messiah. She then attended Juilliard, where she performed in Gianni Schicchi as Lauretta, Liù in Turandot, and Lidoine in Dialogues of the Carmelites. She also performed Liù in Turandot at Braunschweig Opera in Germany.
Ms. Yoon has been a prize winner in many distinguished music competitions including the Theatre Colon Competition, Tchaikovsky Competition, Queen Elisabeth Competition (Belgium), the Maria Callas Gran Prix (Greece), the Houston Grand Opera in Texas for the audience choice prize as well as Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions for the Tri-State region. She also has won numerous awards such as the Donald Felton Memorial Award by the National Society of Arts and Letters, the Bain Scholarship Competition and Travel Gran Competition at Indiana University among many others.
Born in South Korea, Jung-Nan Yoon received her Bachelor Degree at the Korea National University of Arts, the Artist Diploma under Costanza Cuccaro at the Jacobs School of Music Indiana University, and the Opera Study Diploma at the Santa Cecilia Academia Opera in Italy. Currently Ms. Yoon is completing her Artist Diploma in Opera Study with Edith Bers and Marlena Malas at the Juilliard School, where she was awarded the Alice Tully Scholarship.
A native of Pusan, South Korea, So Young Park is a graduate of the Domingo-Colburn-Stein Young Artist program with the Los Angeles Opera, where she performed the role of Queen of the Night in The Magic Flute, Gossip in The Ghosts of Versailles and Barbarina in Le nozze di Figaro, as well as Pat Nixon in the Music Center’s 50th Anniversary Concert. Maestro Plácido Domingo also invited Ms. Park to perform with him as a soloist for his concert at the Seoul Olympic Gymnasium, South Korea, and she recently made her Los Angeles Philharmonic debut as a Soprano Soloist in Beethoven’s Choral Fantasy under the baton of Maestro Gustavo Dudamel. She has performed the Queen of the Night with Boston Lyric Opera, Aspen Music Festival, New England Conservatory, Los Angeles Opera, Houston Grand Opera (Miller Theater), the Glimmerglass Festival, Hawaii Opera Theatre, and Opera Colorado. Most recently, she performed the role of Zerbinetta in Ariadne auf Naxos with Opera Theatre of St. Louis. Miss Park returned to Los Angeles to perform Blonde in Die Entführung aus dem Serail, Top Daughter in Akhnaten and Olympia in The Tales of Hoffman. She also performed Poulenc’s Gloria with the New West Symphony, and the Queen of the Night with Naples Opera as well as taking part in the Metropolitan Opera’s summer concerts in the Parks series.
Recent engagements include the Queen of the Night and her debut with the Metropolitan Opera, Miss Schlesen in Satyagraha with the Los Angeles Opera, Gilda in Rigoletto with Opera Theater of St. Louis, the opera An American Dream with Lyric Opera of Chicago. Upcoming engagements include a return engagement to the Metropolitan Opera in a new production of La Cenerentola and as the Queen of the Night, as well as the Queen in Los Angeles, Houston Grand Opera, Washington National Opera and the Komische Oper Berlin on tour in Asia.
In the 2017 – 18 season, Miss Park joined the Metropolitan Opera and also sang Gilda in Rigoletto with the Michigan Opera Theater, Carmina Burana with the Los Angeles Master Chorale and the Los Angeles Philharmonic under the baton of Maestro Esa Pekka Salonen. Ms. Park earned her Artist Diploma and Master’s Degree from the New England Conservatory, where she performed Zerbinetta in the Prologue of Ariadne auf Naxos, Amore in Orfeo ed Euridice, Lisetta in the world premiere of the critical edition of Rossini’s La Gazzetta, and Adele in Die Fledermaus. She received her Bachelor’s Degree in Vocal Performance from Seoul National University, where she graduated first in her class and performed the roles of Violetta in La Traviata and Gilda in Rigoletto. Ms. Park has been honored as the 1st place recipient from the Y. A. Competition of Philharmonic Society of Arlington, the Forte International Music Competition in 2013, the NOA Caroline and Dominick Argento Vocal Competition, and the Metropolitan International Music Festival Competition. Also, she won the 4th prize and Audience prize at Opera Columbus Vocal Competition, was a finalist at The Eleanor McCollum Competition by Houston Grand Opera, and was a Quarter Finalist at the Competition in 2014.
After winning the Queen Sonja Competition in 2001, Arendalsposten said of Norwegian soprano Marita Sølberg, “It is a voice of almost mystic dimensions, great and fully grown and with a veil of the unspoken, as if it is brought forth from a deep secret source. Marita Sølberg has the potential to be one of our most shining stars.”
Ms. Sølberg studied at Trøndelag Music Conservatory and the Norwegian Academy of Music before graduating from the Norwegian Academy for Operatic Arts. She made her professional debut in 2002 at the Norwegian National Opera as Pamina in Die Zauberflöte, and since then has served as a principal singer for both Württembergische Staatsteater Stuttgart and Norwegian National Opera, amongst other engagements. In addition to the Queen Sonja Competition, she also has been awarded a Ruud-Wallenberg stipend, the Belvedere Singing Competition, and in 2011 she was granted the Tom Wilhelmsens Award. In 2012 she was awarded the highest music prize in Norway, “The Music Critics’ Prize”, for her performance of Mimì in La Bohème at Norwegian National Opera.
Ms. Sølberg is currently slated to join the roster of the Metropolitan Opera in a future production. Recent engagements include her house debut at Royal Opera Covent Garden as Antonia in Les Contes d’Hoffmann, Micaëla in Carmen at Minnesota Opera; Pamina in Zauberflöte at Los Angeles Opera; Mimì in La Bohème at Wiener Staatsoper; Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni, Solveig in Peer Gynt, Liù in Turandot, Mimì in La Bohème and Antonia in Les Contes d’Hoffman at Norwegian National Opera; the Countess in Le Nozze de Figaro at Teatro La Fenice; St. Matthew’s Passion on tour, with Minkowski conducting; the role of Kathrine Sigismund in The Fourth Watch of the Night, at both Norwegian National Opera and Savonlinna Opera Festival; Giulietta in I Capuleti e i Montecchi at Norwegian National Opera; Micaëla in Carmen; Drusilla and Virtú in L’Incoronazione di Poppea at the Norwegian National Opera; Solveig in Grieg’s Peer Gynt with the conductor Marc Minkowski; Cleopatra in Giulio Cesare in Beaune with the conductor Eduardo López Banzo; concerts with music by Henry Purcell, Handel and Joseph Haydn at the Salzburg Festival with the conductor Marc Minkowski; Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater and Stravinsky’s Pulcinella with the BBC Symphony Orchestra; Fauré’s Requiem with the conductor Lawrence Renes; Vivaldi’s Nulla in mondo pax sincera with the Israel Camerata; and Female Chorus in Britten’s Rape of Lucretia, Countess in Le Nozze di Figaro, and Pamina in Die Zauberflöte at Norwegian National Opera. She also returned to the Staatsoper Stuttgart for Celia in Lucio Silla, and recorded Handel’s Brockes Passion with the conductor Peter Neumann.
In 2009 Sølberg performed the role of Pamina in Die Zauberflöte at the Staatsoper Stuttgart, Handel’s Messiah in Moscow with the conductor Peter Neumann, and Felix Mendelssohn’s Elijah with Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra and the conductor Raphael Frühbeck de Burgos. Engagements the autumn of 2008 included Pamina in Die Zauberflöte, Gretel in Hänsel und Gretel and the title role in Zaide at the Staatsoper Stuttgart, and Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 with the conductor Zubin Mehta. She has also sung at a gala concert at the Norwegian National Opera, and excerpts from Handel’s Il Trionfo del tempo e del disinganno with the conductor Rinaldo Alessandrini.
In 2006-2008 while she was a principal singer at the Staatsoper Stuttgart, other engagements brought her to Gran Teatre del Liceu Barcelona, Teatro Real Madrid, Komische Oper Berlin and Norwegian National Opera. Her roles have included Michaëla in Carmen, Pamina in Die Zauberflöte, Servilia in La Clemenza di Tito, the title role in Zaide, Zerlina in Don Giovanni, Celia in Lucio Silla, Gretel in Hänsel und Gretel, Marzelline in Fidelio, Charmion in Massenet’s Cléopatre, and the Angel in Messiaen’s Saint Francois D’Assise.
Ms. Sølberg has worked with conductors such as Marc Minkowski, Zubin Mehta, Michel Plasson, Rinaldo Alessandrini, Manfred Honeck, Neeme Järvi, Phillip Herreweghe, Michael Hofstetter, Enrique Mazzola, Bruno Weil, Andreas Spering, Olaf Henzold, Konrad Junghänel, Miquel Ortega, Peter Neumann, Raphael Frühbeck de Burgos, Christoph König, Roman Brogli-Sacher and Shao-Chia Lü.
Ms. Sølberg has recorded the role of Solveig in Grieg’s Peer Gynt for the record label BIS (released in June 2005) and has sung it on numerous occasions in Scandinavia as well as in Barcelona, Madrid, Stuttgart, St. Petersburg and on tour in the US. In June 2006 she sang the role with the Berliner Philharmoniker and the conductor Neeme Järvi. The concert was transmitted live on German radio and television.
