Mariella Devia

File:Mariella Devia.jpg

Mariella Devia

Mariella Devia (12 April 1948) is an Italian operatic soprano. After beginning her career as a lyric coloratura soprano, in recent years she has also enjoyed much success with some of the most dramatic roles in the bel canto repertoire.

Biography

Born in Chiusavecchia, Devia trained at the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome with Iolanda Magnoni. She made her stage debut in Treviso in the title role of Lucia di Lammermoor in 1973 and quickly sang throughout Italy, making her debut at La Scala in Milan in 1987, as Giulietta in I Capuleti e i Montecchi.

On the international scene, she appeared at the Metropolitan Opera from 1979 to 1994 as Lucia, Gilda, Nannetta, Despina and Constanze, and at Carnegie Hall as Lakmé, in 1979, and later as Teresa in Benvenuto Cellini, Giulietta in I Capuleti e i Montecchi, Elvira in I puritani and Adelia. She made her debut at the Paris Opera and the Aix-en-Provence Festival in 1987, and at the Royal Opera House in London in 1988.

She was a regular at the Pesaro Festival and at the Festival della Valle d'Itria in Martina Franca, where she collaborated in the resurrection of long neglected operas by Rossini, Donizetti, Bellini and other bel canto composers. She is also admired for her Mozart performances in Die Entführung aus dem Serail, The Magic Flute, Così fan tutte, Le nozze di Figaro, Don Giovanni and Idomeneo.

In 2013, the day after her 65th birthday, she sung for the first time the role of Norma at the Teatro Comunale di Bologna with great success. She has since included the role of Norma in her usual repertoire along with the "Three Donizetti Queens", Maria Stuarda, Anna Bolena and Elisabetta from Roberto Devereux, which she had debuted between 2006 and 2011.

On June 5, 2014, after a 15-year absence from the United States, she returned for a performance of Roberto Devereux at New York's Carnegie Hall with the Opera Orchestra of New York to great audience and critical acclaim.

Repertory

• Auber: Manon Lescaut – Manon
• Bellini: Beatrice di Tenda – Beatrice; I Capuleti e i Montecchi – Giulietta; Il pirata – Imogene; I puritani – Elvira; La sonnambula – Amina; Norma – Norma
• Berlioz: Benvenuto Cellini – Teresa
• Bizet: Les pêcheurs de perles – Leila
• Cherubini: Lodoïska – Lodoïska
• Cimarosa: Il matrimonio segreto – Elisabetta
• Donizetti: Adelia – Adelia; Anna Bolena – Anna; Don Pasquale – Norina; Il castello di Kenilworth – Elisabetta; L'elisir d'amore – Adina; La fille du régiment – Marie; Linda di Chamounix – Linda; Lucrezia Borgia – Lucrezia; Lucia di Lammermoor – Lucia; Maria Stuarda – Maria; Marino Faliero – Elena; Parisina – Parisina; Roberto Devereux – Elisabetta
• Delibes: Lakmé – Lakmé
• Gounod: Faust – Marguerite; Roméo et Juliette – Juliette
• Mozart: Così fan tutte – Despina and Fiordiligi; Die Entführung aus dem Serail – Konstanze; Don Giovanni – Donna Anna; Idomeneo – Ilia and Elettra; The Marriage of Figaro – Contessa; The Magic Flute – Pamina and Queen of the Night
• Pergolesi: Adriano in Siria - Farnaspe (breeches role)
• Puccini: Gianni Schicchi – Lauretta; Turandot – Liù
• Rossini: Adelaide di Borgogna – Adelaide; The Barber of Seville – Rosina; Le comte Ory – Adele; Mosè in Egitto – Anaï/Elcia; Otello – Desdemona; Semiramide – Semiramide; Il signor Bruschino – Sofia; Tancredi – Amenaide; Il turco in Italia – Fiorilla; Zelmira – Zelmira
• Rota: Il cappello di paglia di Firenze – Elena
• Satie: Geneviève de Brabant – Geneviève
• Verdi: Falstaff – Nannetta; Giovanna d'Arco – Giovanna; Rigoletto – Gilda; La traviata – Violetta

References

Notes

Sources

• Le guide de l'opéra, les indispensables de la musique, R. Mancini & J-J. Rouveroux (Fayard, 1986) ISBN 2-213-01563-5
• Biography of Mariella Devia, in the theatre programme for the performances of Roberto Devereux at the Teatro Carlo Felice, Genoa, 2016, p. 98

External links

• Profile at Villa Medici Giulini, Milan