Erika Grimaldi

INTRODUCTION

Erika Grimaldi has a rich, mellow and round voice of quality and attractive timbre in good balance and of pure intonation. Her warm, flowery soprano voice stands out with impressive depth and steadiness unifying a personal musical expression with a captivating stage presence.

The artist is one of the most sought for lyric sopranos in Europe today, having delivered critically acclaimed performances in nearly a dozen roles at the prestigious Teatro Regio di Torino. Erika Grimaldi is equally at home at such major opera houses as Teatro dell’Opera di Roma, Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich, Deutsche Oper in Berlin, Teatro di San Carlo in Naples, and Opéra National de Montpellier.

She works regularly with Artistic Teams such as Noseda, Chailly, Luisotti, Allemandi, Penderecki, Santi, Lanzilotta, Rustioni, Sagripanti, Montanaro, Lopez-Cobos, Abbado, Bieito, Loy, Poda, Ollé, Sagi, etc.

RECENT AND FUTURE ENGAGEMENTS

Erika Grimaldi’s future projects include:

• a role debut as Amelia/Un ballo in maschera with Noseda and Homoki in Zürich, and at Teatre Principal de Maó in Menorca;
• the title role in Manon Lescaut at Teatro Regio di Torino;
• the title role in Tosca at the Puccini Festival on the 100th anniversary year of the death of Giacomo Puccini;
• a house debut as Maddalena/Andrea Chénier (concert version, w. M. Armiliato) at Zürich Opera House;
• a house debut as Contessa/Le nozze di Figaro at the Welsh National Opera;
• a house debut as Alice Ford/Falstaff at Teatro Carlo Felice di Genova;
• Desdemona/Otello and Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis w. the National Symphony Orchestra of Washington and Maestro G. Noseda at the Kennedy Center;
• a role debut as Cio Cio San/Madama Butterfly at Opera Nacional de Chile in Santiago;
• Verdi’s Requiem w. Maestro Noseda at the Tsinandali Festival in Georgia.

Among her most recent highlights are:

• Contessa/Le Nozze di Figaro at Moscow’s Bolshoi Theatre;
• Mimì/La Bohème and the title role in Aida at Teatro Regio di Torino;
• a role debut as Tosca at Ópera de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria;
• Lady Macbeth/Macbeth at Korea National Opera in Seoul;
• Verdi’s Requiem w. Auckland Philharmonic, in Milan with Claus Peter Flor, in Georgia with Maestro Noseda, and w. Czech Symphony Orchestra and Maestro Marcello Rota in Prague;
• Leonora/Il Trovatore (concert version) w. Auckland Philharmonic;
• Maddalena/Andrea Chénier (a role debut), Leonora/La Forza Del Destino, the title role in Manon Lescaut and a soprano soloist in Mahler’s 4 Symphony at Teatro Comunale di Bologna;
• Liù/Turandot at Teatro Regio di Torino and the Teatro Verdi di Padova;
• Alice Ford/Falstaff at the Teatro Petruzzelli di Bari;
• Nedda/Pagliacci in Trapani and Deutsche Oper Berlin;
• Mozart’s Requiem at the Granada Festival in Spain;
• Stabat Mater at Kennedy Center Washington;
• Stabat Mater by Rossini w. Maestro Abbado at Teatro Filarmonico in Verona;
• Symphony no. 8 Lieder der Vergänglichkeit, conducted by renowned Polish composer Krzysztof Penderecki at Bucarest Enescu Festival;
• Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with Orquesta ADDA Sinfónica and Orfeón Donostiarra in Spain;
• a Verdi recital at the Festival des Nuits Romantiques in Aix-Les-Bains, France;
• a recital at Festival Torroella in Spain in memory of Victoria De Los Angeles.

BIOGRAPHY

Praised by the San Francisco Chronicle for the “expansive warmth” and “expressive vigor” of her interpretation of Mimì in La bohème, as well as by the New York Times, which described her performance of Verdi’s Messa da Requiem as “strong and impressive”, Erika Grimaldi is widely considered as one of the most established and requested sopranos of her generations in theaters and festivals such as the Teatro alla Scala Milan, Bayerische Staatsoper Munich, San Francisco Opera, Deutsche Oper Berlin and the Arena of Verona, as well as the Teatro Regio Turin.

Born in Asti, Erika Grimaldi developed her passion for music in her early childhood, first learning to play the piano and subsequently approaching the art of singing at the age of 16. She obtained her diploma in both disciplines (Piano and Voice) at the Conservatoire “Giuseppe Verdi” in Turin, making her stage debut at the very young age of 18 as Serpina in La serva padrona. In the following years, she won several prestigious competitions such as the “Concorso Lirico Internazionale” in Orvieto, and was cast as Carolina in Il matrimonio segreto, Susanna in Le nozze di Figaro, Nannetta in Falstaff and Zerlina in Don Giovanni.

Recent Past Seasons

2018-2019

Highlights of 2018/2019 season were Verdi’s Requiem at Gulbenkian Foundation Lisbon, conducted by Michel Corboz and the role of Donna Anna/Don Giovanni at Teatro Regio in Turin. Erika has been on tour with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Gianandrea Noseda singing Rossini’s Stabat Mater in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, and Haifa. Then she played Nedda/Pagliacci at Berlin’s Deutsche Oper,  Liù in a Stefano Poda’s new production of Puccini’s Turandot in Turin and the role of Countess in Le nozze di Figaro at Moscow’s Bolshoi Teather. The last engagement of the year was Rossini’s Stabat Mater in Toulouse with Orchestre national du Capitole de Toulouse.

2017-2018

During season 2017/2018 Erika Grimaldi appeared at 70°th Edinburgh International Festival playing Mimí/La Bohème and singing Verdi’s Requiem, followed by her debut in the role of Mrs Alice in Verdi’s Falstaff, conducted by D. Renzetti in Turin. Then she was again Mimí in La Bohème at War Memorial Opera House in San Francisco. She performed Mathilde in Rossini’s Guglielmo Tell at Bayerische Staatsoper in Münich and Nedda in a new production of Leoncavallo’s Pagliacci, conducted by Nicola Luisotti with the direction of Gabriele Lavia. In the summer she sang Beethoven’s IX Symphony at Arena in Verona, conducted by Daniel Oren. In autumn she sang Verdi’s Requiem in Konzerthaus of Dortmund and in Alte Oper of Frankfurt, both conducted by Andrés Orozco-Estrada.

2015-2016

The 2015/2016 season marks a very important Grimaldi’s debut as Giovanna d’Arco at Teatro alla Scala in Milan under the baton of Riccardo Chailly, directed by Moshe Leiser. Then she performed again Mimí/La Bohème at Oviedo’s Teatro Campoamor with the direction of Emilio Sagi and sang Verdi’s Requiem at the Philharmonie de Paris. In Hong Kong Cultural Centre she appeared as Maria/Simon Boccanegra (conducted by Roberto Abbado for HKAF 2016) and again in Verdi’s Requiem. Then she played Armilla/La donna serpente in Turin, Micaela/Carmen at War Memorial Opera House in San Francisco, Mimí/La Bohème at Savonlinna Opera Festival. She distinguished herself again in Verdi’s Requiem on tour with London Symphony Orchestra conducted by G.Noseda (Barbican Centre in London, Lincoln Center in New York, Palau de la Musica in Barcellona). Finally, she played Alice Ford/Falstaff, conducted at Verbier Festival and Cousinier in Le Rossignol by  I. Stravinskyij at Stresa Festival.

EDUCATION & AWARDS

Graduated with distinction in singing and piano at Conservatorio Giuseppe Verdi in Turin, in 2008 Erika Grimaldi won the Adriano Belli competition at the Teatro Lirico Sperimentale in Spoleto and after that her engagements kept rising over 2009 and the soprano found herself in major venues both at home and abroad.