Metropolitan Opera star Sondra Radvanovsky makes her debut in the title role of Tosca with Opera Colorado

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All-star production opens April 24; four performances only

Sondra Radvanovsky (pictured), leading lady of New York’s Metropolitan Opera, will make her debut as Puccini’s tragic heroine in Opera Colorado’s upcoming production of Tosca playing at the Ellie Caulkins Opera House April 24, 27, 30 and May 2.

Conductor Stephen Lord will lead the performance featuring the Colorado Symphony Orchestra. Noted director Ron Daniels will stage the production also starring tenor Antonello Palombi as Cavaradossi and Greer Grimsley as the evil Baron Scarpia.

Tickets are available online at OperaColorado.org or by calling 800.982.ARTS.

A ruthless police chief's obsession with a celebrated opera singer leads to betrayal, murder and suicide in this operatic thriller. Set among the historical landmarks of 19th century Rome, this opulent production of Puccini's drama represents the best opera has to offer: an intensely dramatic storyline of cruelty and deception along with stirring and turbulent music from one of opera’s greatest composers, Giacomo Puccini.

American soprano Sondra Radvanovsky’s dramatic stage presence and stunning vocal gifts have firmly established her as one of the leading stars on the international stage today. The New York Times has praised her “rich, tremulous soprano voice and affecting intensity,” while The Times (UK) hailed her as “a true Verdian, with a big, juicy, vibrato-rich sound.” Most recently the San Francisco Chronicle declared, “even if nothing else happens during the rest of the San Francisco Opera's 2009 fall season, soprano Sondra Radvanovsky has already provided us with at least one extraordinary and indelible musical memory.” Ms. Radvanovsky has sung in every major opera house in the world including Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Paris Opera, Teatro alla Scala, Vienna State Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, San Francisco Opera, and numerous others. Her debut solo album, Verdi Arias, will be released on the Delos label on April 27.

Italian tenor Antonello Palombi was thrust into the international spotlight in 2006 when he unexpectedly stepped into the role of Radames in Aïda mid-performance at La Scala when the tenor who had started the performance was unable to continue. His star has continued to rise as he has performed at companies throughout Europe and North America, including Seattle Opera, Michigan Opera Theatre, Cincinnati Opera and Dallas Opera.

Greer Grimsley reprises the role of Scarpia at Opera Colorado. The San Diego Union Tribune counts Grimsley “in the first rank of this role’s great interpreters, a list that includes such heavyweights as Tito Gobbi and Cornell MacNeil.” Grimsley earned critical praise last year for his performances as Wotan in The Ring Cycle with Seattle Opera. His international career has also included performances with companies across North and South America and Europe.

Stage director Ron Daniels was a founding member of the Teatro Oficina in São Paulo. He has also worked extensively with the Royal Shakespeare Company, American Repertory Theatre in Cambridge, MA, the Royal National Theatre of Great Britain, The Shakespeare Theatre of Washington, D.C., The Public Theatre of New York and the Dallas Theater Center. Mr. Daniels is Opera Colorado’s 2009-2010 Nathaniel Merrill Honorary Director, an honor made possible by a generous gift from Pamela Merrill.

Tosca
By Giacomo Puccini

Saturday, April 24, 2010 at 7:30 pm
Tuesday, April 27, 2010 at 7:30 pm
Friday, April 30, 2010 at 7:30 pm
Sunday, May 2, 2010 at 2:00 pm

Ellie Caulkins Opera House
14th & Curtis Streets
Denver Performing Arts Complex

Tickets: $30 to $165

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