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

In 2024/25, Erika Grimaldi opened the season of the Teatro Regio of Turin in the title role of Manon Lescaut, a part that she also sang at the Zurich Opera. In Zurich, she also made her role debut as Amelia in a new staging of Un ballo in maschera. At the Teatro Municipal de Santiago (Chile), she sang her first Ciò-Ciò-San in Madama Butterfly. Erika also returned to the roles of Alice Ford in Falstaff at the Opera Carlo Felice Genova, Contessa in Le nozze di Figaro for the Welsh National Opera, performed Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis with the National Symphony Orchestra in Washington, a Puccini Anniversary Concert with the Malta Philharmonic Orchestra at the Teatru Astra in Gozo, and a gala concert celebrating the 100th anniversary of the Italian Embassy in Copenhagen.

Erika Grimaldi’s 2025/26 season includes several role debuts: in the title role of Suor Angelica, Giorgetta in Il tabarro and Nella in Gianni Schicchi with the National Symphony Orchestra at the Washington Kennedy Center and Carnegie Hall, New York, and as Abigaille in a new production of Nabucco at Theater Bonn, where she also appears as the protagonist of Tosca. Erika Grimaldi also returns to the roles of Leonora in Il trovatore at Opera Carlo Felice, Genova, Amelia in Un ballo in maschera at Teatre Principal de Maó, Menorca, and with the Zurich Opera on tour at the Edinburgh International Festival,  Desdemona in Otello at the Ópera de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, and Ciò-Ciò-San in Madama Butterfly (semi-concertante) with the Auckland Philharmonia in New Zealand. She also appears in Gala concerts in Malmö and Opera i Rebild (w. the Aalborg Symphony Orchestra and Maestro Bellincampi), and is a soloist in Teatro Carlo Felice di Genova’s New Year’s Gala Concert.

Among her future engagements are also her house debut at the Metropolitan Opera in New York as Mimì in La bohème, and a role debut in the title role in Mascagni’s Iris at Teatro Regio di Torino.

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

2023-2024

Erika Grimaldi’s 2023/24 season included two major Puccini role debuts: Manon Lescaut for the season opening of the Teatro Comunale di Bologna and Tosca at the Ópera de Las Palmas, Teatro Regio di Parma (jump-in), and the Festival Puccini Torre del Lago. She also sang Mimì in La bohème at the Teatro Regio di Torino, Desdemona in Otello with the National Symphony Orchestra conducted by Gianandrea Noseda at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC, and made her house debut as Maddalena/Andrea Chénier (concert version, w. M. Armiliato) at the Zurich Opera. In concert, she performed Verdi’s Messa da Requiem with the Czech National Symphony Orchestra and Maestro Marcello Rota in Prague, Rossini’s Stabat Mater at the Teatro Filarmonico in Verona, Mozart’s Requiem in Granada, and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 in Padova, Riva del Garda, and Bassano del Grappa, as well as on Orquesta ADDA Sinfónica and Orfeón Donostiarra’s tour with performances in Alicante, Madrid, Barcelona, and Zaragoza. Erika also did a Verdi recital at the Festival des Nuits Romantiques in Aix-Les-Bains, France.

2022-2023

In the 2022/23 season, Erika Grimaldi expanded her repertoire with the roles of Maddalena di Coigny in Andrea Chénier and Leonora di Vargas in La forza del destino at the Teatro Comunale di Bologna, where she was also a soloist in Gustav Mahler’s Fourth Symphony. She sang the title role in Aida at the Teatro Regio di Torino, and Lady Macbeth in Verdi’s Macbeth at the Korea National Opera in Seoul.  Erika Grimaldi gave a recital honoring the legendary soprano Victoria de los Ángeles at the Festival de Torroella de Montgrí.

2020-2022

Following the interruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, Erika Grimaldi returned to the stage as Alice Ford in a new production of Falstaff at the Teatro Petruzzelli in Bari. In New Zealand, she performed Verdi’s Messa da Requiem and made her role debut as Leonora in Il trovatore with the Auckland Philharmonia.

2019-2020

During the 2019/20 season, Erika starred as Liù in Turandot at the Teatro Verdi in Padua. She performed Verdi’s Messa da Requiem in Milan with the Orchestra Verdi under the baton of Claus Peter Flor, and took part in the Enescu Festival in Bucharest, singing Symphony No. 8 – Lieder der Vergänglichkeit conducted by the renowned composer Krzysztof Penderecki. She also appeared as Nedda in Pagliacci at Luglio Musicale in Trapani and as Fiordiligi in Così fan tutte at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow. Erika further distinguished herself in Rossini’s Stabat Mater, performed at both the Kennedy Center in Washington and Carnegie Hall in New York.

2018-2019

Highlights of the 2018/19 season were Verdi’s Requiem at the 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 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 Theatre. 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 the 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 the Arena in Verona, conducted by Daniel Oren. In autumn, she sang Verdi’s Requiem in the Konzerthaus of Dortmund and in Alte Oper of Frankfurt, both conducted by Andrés Orozco-Estrada.

2015-2016

The 2015/16 season marked 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 the 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 the London Symphony Orchestra conducted by G.Noseda (Barbican Centre in London, Lincoln Center in New York, Palau de la Musica in Barcelona). 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.

Erika Grimaldi wears exclusively high-fashion designer Eleonora Lastrucci.