In my previous article, I described 15 excellent male singers under the age of 40 who are definitely worth hearing. Now I am pleased to present 25 women who are among those making the future bright for opera. You have heard of some of them and perhaps have had the pleasure of seeing them perform. I suspect that many others are new to you.
My requirements in making these selections were two: the singers must be under age 40, and I must have heard them sing. This is not a list of the best, but simply a gathering of younger, talented artists who deserve recognition.
Ekaterina Bakanova, soprano, was a splendid Violetta in La Traviata at the Teatro La Fenice in Venice in 2015. She was exciting musically and made every moment truthful in Robert Carsen’s challenging modern production. Two months later, she made a sensational debut as Violetta at Covent Garden, stepping into a production she did not know on five hours’ notice. She has just been nominated for an International Opera Award.
Anna Bonitatibus, a coloratura mezzo-soprano from Potenza, Italy, sings with dexterity and great freedom even in very difficult music such as "Bel Raggio Lusinghier" from Semiramide. Mozart and Rossini form the core of her repertory, with frequent forays into the baroque as well.
J’nai Bridges, mezzo-soprano, memorably sang the role of Carmen, a young Peruvian, in Jimmy López and Nilo Cruz’s Bel Canto at the Lyric Opera of Chicago. Among a cast led by Danielle de Niese, Anthony Roth Costanzo and other fine singers, she earned one’s attention and sympathy. Upcoming engagements including Suzuki in San Diego, Britten’s Lucretia in Wolf Trap and Nefertiti in Akhnaten in Los Angeles.
Janai Brugger, soprano, studied with the great Shirley Verrett. She made a lovely Met debut as Liù in Turandot and will be prominent next season as Jemmy in Guillaume Tell, Pamina in The Magic Flute and Micaela in Carmen. She just won the 2016 Marian Anderson Vocal Award given by the Kennedy Center and Washington National Opera.
Eleonora Buratto, a soprano from Mantua, just made her Met debut as Norina in Don Pasquale. Her voice is lustrous, bringing to mind that of Anna Netrebko, and perhaps bigger than one usually associates with Norina. She has a winningly natural stage presence. In the winter of 2017 she will sing Micaela in Carmen at the Lyric Opera of Chicago.
Géraldine Chauvet, French mezzo-soprano, sings many roles in her native language, including Carmen, Charlotte, Dalila, Dulcinée (Don Quichotte), Giulietta and Nicklausse (Les Contes d’Hoffmann), Mère Marie (Carmelites), Mignon, all of the great mezzo characters by Berlioz, and a wide range of roles by Bellini, Donizetti, Gluck, Mozart, Strauss, Verdi and Wagner.
Lise Davidsen, a dramatic soprano from Norway, has been winning singing competitions and attracting attention for her rich voice and focused delivery, such as in this aria from Ariadne auf Naxos:
Olga Nikolskaja-Heikkilä, a lyric soprano from Finland, studied at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki and the Royal Danish Opera Academy. In 2015, the 150th anniversary of the birth of Carl Nielsen, Heikkilä starred in the composer's Maskarade in Copenhagen and elsewhere. She made a successful New York recital debut in the same year. Her wide-ranging repertory calls on her skills in several languages, including English and Russian.
Marie Lenormand, French mezzo-soprano, was trés charmant in Hérold's Les Pré-aux-Clercs at the 2015 Wexford festival. Her vivacious stage presence and free vocalism serve her in a vast range of repertory from Lully, Rameau and Handel to Johann Strauss, Humperdinck and Schoenberg.
Isabel Leonard, mezzo-soprano, is so talented and accomplished that it is hard to believe she is only 34. She sings leading roles at the Met and elsewhere, from standard repertory to new works such as Cold Mountain. Her glamorous looks have made her a favorite on HD transmissions, but it is her singing and acting that leave the most lasting impression. She is stealing the show now as Cherubino in Le Nozze di Figaro at the Met, where she will sing Charlotte in Werther next season as well as Zerlina in Don Giovanni.
Cecilia Violetta López, soprano, amazed audiences with her remarkably detailed and affecting Violetta when La Traviata was presented by the Martina Arroyo Foundation’s Prelude to Performance program in 2014. Since then her calendar has been filling with engagements in that role and others. Absolutely a singer to watch.
Nino Machaidze, coloratura soprano from the nation of Georgia, has had starring roles in great theaters from Vienna to Milan to Los Angeles. At the Met she has been an appealing Gilda and a funny Marie in La Fille du Régiment.
Erin Morley, soprano, has had a meteoric rise in recent years in iconic coloratura roles including Strauss’s Zerbinetta, Fiakermilli and Sophie, which she will sing in a starry new production of Der Rosenkavalier by Robert Carsen next season with Renée Fleming and Elina Garanca. Morely was just in Handel’s Orlando on a tour with The English Concert to Vienna, Amsterdam, London and New York’s Carnegie Hall.
Tamara Mumford, mezzo-soprano with ready access to contralto range, is an artist who deserves a much higher profile as she is excellent in everything she does. Mumford has sung more than 150 times at the Met ranging from small roles to breakthrough performances as Smeton in Anna Bolena, Margaret in Wozzeck and Hippolyta in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. She will play the Pilgrim next season in the Met premiere of L’Amour de Loin.
Niamh Caitriona O’Sullivan, mezzo-soprano, is a student of the legendary Veronica Dunne at the Royal Irish Academy of Music. She has been racking up victories and recognition at various European singing competitions. I heard her in Dublin and was taken with her artistry, technique and charisma, all of which are present in abundance even though she is still in school.
Joanna Parisi, soprano, starred as Lucrezia Borgia in the excellent Loft Opera production of Donizetti’s opera. In a tour-de-force performance, she proved a natural at handling the very difficult music while fearlessly meeting the complex dramatic challenges of the staging.
Olga Peretyatko, a Russian soprano, is married to Italian conductor Michele Mariotti, whose family has been a key part of the Rossini Festival in Pesaro. Peretyatko sings Rossini roles idiomatically and her stage presence is naturally charismatic. I recently heard her as an excellent Gilda in Vienna, and then, four days later, she and Plácido Domingo were the star attractions at the Opera Ball.
Brenda Rae, an American coloratura soprano, combines excellent technique with a high-flying voice and an irresistibly scintillating stage presence. I have heard her in Germany in Mozart, Strauss and Donizetti — often in complicated konzept productions — and hope she will have a higher profile in her homeland.
Jennifer Rivera, mezzo-soprano, recently starred as Sister Helen in Dead Man Walking in New Orleans with Michael Mayes. She persuasively sings roles that require temperament and intelligence, both of which she has in abundance. She is a wise and observant blogger about opera for the Huffington Post. Recently Rivera was named director of artistic development at the Center for Contemporary Opera.
Albina Shagimuratova, soprano, will make a role debut of the musically daunting Konstanze in Die Entführung aus dem Serail at the Met on April 22. She has specialized in stratospheric parts such as the Queen of the Night and Lucia in the world’s top theaters and adds Rossini’s Semiramide to her repertoire for the BBC Proms in London on Sept. 4.
Nadine Sierra first attracted my attention in 2009 when, as a 20-year old, she was the youngest-ever winner of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions. Just in the past year she made superb debuts as Gilda at the Met and La Scala. At the latter she and co-star Leo Nucci were called in front of the curtain to give an encore. Next season she will sing Zerlina in Don Giovanni and Ilia in Idomeneo at the Met and do three roles at the Paris Opera. Her future is very bright.
Mariangela Sicilia, soprano, was a standout in Mascagni’s Guglielmo Ratcliffe at the 2015 Wexford Festival Opera. She appears regularly at the Rossini Festival in Pesaro and other theaters in her native Italy. In addition to her role in Wexford, I have heard her give real beauty and specificity to Puccini arias that most sopranos sing by rote and without introspection.
Renée Tatum, mezzo-soprano from Southern California, has shone in small and medium-sized roles at the Met and appeared as a Rhinemaiden and a Valkyrie in various Ring productions. She will appear as Flosshilde and Grimgerde in three cycles at the Washington National Opera in May. I expect she will soon be cast in larger roles.
Nozuko Teto, South African soprano, thrillingly sang Palmyra in Koanga at Wexford Festival Opera, where many important international careers are launched. She was very impressive. I gather from friends in South Africa that she is excellent in Mozart roles.
Sonya Yoncheva is a Bulgarian soprano who has rocketed to stardom. Her singing is extraordinary. The only reason she did not make my previous list is that I had not yet heard her when it was published. She has excelled as Mimì, Desdemona, Donna Elvira and will sing Violetta in Paris in May and June, Munich in July and in March 2017 at the Met.
Please make a point of hearing as many of these young artists as possible but do not ignore the extraordinary veteran singers of every age who are the heart and soul of opera.