An enchanting voice, a regal presence and the ability to express the most subtle of emotions through singing: Kraków’s audiences will be captivated by the mezzo-soprano Elīna Garanča.
The star of the Metropolitan Opera in New York, Wiener Staatsoper, La Scala in Milan and London’s Royal Opera House performs at the ICE Kraków Congress Centre on 9 June. Her concert is this year’s second instalment of the cycle ICE Classic, organised by the City of Kraków and the Krakow Festival Office.
Elīna Garanča was born to a family of musicians: her father was a choir conductor and her mother a singer. Her first love was theatre, but when she failed her acting school entrance exams, she sought a different way to the stage. She soon discovered that she can express emotions through singing. One of the finest mezzo-sopranos of our era admits that she is fully addicted to it.
Her repertoire ranges from filigree bel canto roles (her trademark as she was starting her career) and the feisty Carmen, more recently expanding to parts requiring a fuller, darker, more dramatic timbre, such as Santuzza in Mascagni’s Cavalleria rusticana, Delilah in Saint-Saëns’ Samson and Delilah and Princess Eboli in Verdi’s Don Carlos. Her great dream is to one day perform as Amneris in Aida. Her voice enchants with its suppleness, velvety quality and huge range. However, she refrains from reaching for soprano parts, saying, “There’s so much wonderful music which I still haven’t sung. And anyway, mezzos have such fun: we get to play all the witches and bitches!”
At ICE Kraków, Elīna Garanča performs arias from Tchaikovsky’s The Maid of Orleans, Saint-Saëns’ Samson and Delilah and Gounod’s The Queen of Sheba, closing with Bizet’s Carmen in the grand finale. The Latvian artist is accompanied by Sinfonietta Cracovia under the baton of Karel Mark Chichon; the orchestra also performs the overture from Glinka’s Ruslan and Ludmilla, Meditation from Massenet’s Thaïs and a selection of Spanish paso dobles. (Barbara Skowrońska)
ICE Classic – a new brand of culture
The ICE Classic brand is a unique series of classical music concerts performed by outstanding opera soloists, instrumentalists and world-famous orchestras and conductors, providing the Krakow audiences with artistic experiences of the highest quality. All concerts of the cycle take place at the ICE Kraków Congress Centre.
