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Norah Amsellem

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Norah Amsellem
Born1974 (1974)
Paris, France
NationalityFrench
Occupationopera singer (soprano)
Years active1994 – present

Norah Amsellem (born 1974) is a French opera singer who has appeared in leading soprano roles in both North America, Europe, Asia since her debut in 1995. Her discography of complete opera recordings includes Carmen (as Micaela) for Decca, La traviata (as Violetta) for Opus Arte, and La bohème (as Mimì) for Telarc.

Life and career

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Amsellem was born in Paris. She began her musical education there, singing at the choir school of Maîtrise de Radio France as well as studying harp and piano.[1] She then went to the United States to study under Dalton Baldwin at Westminster Choir College in Princeton, New Jersey. She also took singing classes with Lorraine Nubar at Juilliard. Amsellem graduated from Westminster in 1994, and that same year at 19 years old, she was one of the youngest winners of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions unanimous vote.[citation needed] She first appeared at the Met in March 1995 in a minor role in Idomeneo while a member of their Lindemann Young Artist Program, and made her official debut in October 1995 as in Micaela in Carmen. She went on to sing at the Met 30 more times between 1995 and 2007 in roles including Liù in Turandot and Gilda in Rigoletto.[2][3]

In the 1990s, she also made a number of European house debuts. These included performing as Michaela at the Opéra Bastille and as Countess Almaviva in The Marriage of Figaro at Glyndebourne in 1997 and in the title role of Manon at La Scala in 1999.[2] Amsellem made both her role debut as Violetta in La traviata and her house debut at the Teatro Real in Madrid in October 2003 when she replaced Angela Gheorghiu in a new production of the opera by Pier Luigi Pizzi which updated the setting to Paris during the Nazi occupation.[4] Amsellem, who had been in the second cast replaced Georghiu at the premiere. According to La Razon, her performance was "a triumph".[5] She has gone on to sing Violetta multiple times including at the Deutsche Oper Berlin in 2004,[6] the Royal Opera House in London in 2005 and 2008,[7] the Teatro Comunale in Bologna in 2005,[8] the Vienna Staatsoper in 2006 and 2007,[9] the Carlo Felice in Genoa in 2010,[10] and at the Cincinnati Opera in 2018. Amsellem also returned to the Teatro Real in 2005 to reprise her Violetta in the Pizzi production. That performance was filmed for broadcast on Spanish television and later released on DVD and won a Gramophone award.[11]

Among the later roles which Amsellem has added to her repertoire are Matilde in Guillaume Tell (Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, 2007);[12] Elvira in I puritani (Seattle Opera, 2008);[13] Olympia, Antonia, and Giulietta in The Tales of Hoffmann (Seattle Opera, 2014).[14] Marguerite in Faust (Las Palmas Opera Festival, 2015);[15] and Nedda in Pagliacci (Teatro de São Carlos, 2017).[16]

Recordings

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References

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  1. ^ Télé Satellite et Numérique (20 June 2006). "La maîtrise de Radio France". Retrieved 11 October 2017 (in French).
  2. ^ a b Kutsch, Karl-Josef and Riemens, Leo (2004). "Amsellem, Norah". Großes Sängerlexikon (4th edition), Vol. 4, p. 90. Walter de Gruyter. ISBN 359844088X (in German)
  3. ^ Metropolitan Opera Archives. Amsellem, Norah (soprano). Retrieved 11 October 2017.
  4. ^ "El Real estrena 'La Traviata' en versión de concierto por la huelga de sus trabajadores". Retrieved 11 October 2017 (in Spanish).
  5. ^ Alonso, Gonzalo (21 April 2015). "La Traviata se viste de luto". La Razón. Retrieved 11 October 2017 (in Spanish).
  6. ^ Berliner Zeitung (27 December 2003). "Gefühle ohne Worte". Retrieved 11 October 2017 (in German).
  7. ^ Royal Opera House Archives. "Norah Amsellem". Retrieved 11 October 2017.
  8. ^ Beghelli, Marco (November 2005). "Poca tradizione, ma non senza poesia". Il Giornale della Musica. Retrieved 11 October 2017 (in Italian).
  9. ^ Vienna Staatsoper Archives. Norah Amsellem
  10. ^ Iovino, Roberto (3 December),"La Traviata al Carlo Felice". La Repubblica. Retrieved 11 October 2017 (in Italian).
  11. ^ a b McCarthy, James (10 September 2012). "Verdi's La Traviata". Gramophone Magazine. Retrieved 11 October 2017.
  12. ^ Mariani, Mauro (November 2007). "Primo Tell in francese per Roma". Il Giornale della Musica. Retrieved 11 October 2017 (in Italian).
  13. ^ Bargreen, Melinda (4 May 2008). "Seattle Opera’s “I Puritani”: A tenor-and-baritone duel for affections of Elvira". Seattle Times. Retrieved 11 October 2017.
  14. ^ Bargreen, Melinda (6 May 2014). "‘Tales of Hoffmann’: Speight Jenkins goes out on a high note". Seattle Times. Retrieved 11 October 2017.
  15. ^ EFE (2 March 2015). "El Festival de ópera de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria se reduce a cuatro obras". Radio Televisión Canaria. Retrieved 11 October 2017 (in Spanish).
  16. ^ Boléo. Pedro (4 April 2017). "A irreconhecível diferença". Público. Retrieved 11 October 2017 (in Portuguese).
  17. ^ Tommasini, Anthony (15 August 2008). "Puccini at 150, Still Capable of Revelations". New York Times. Retrieved 11 October 2017.
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