A dramatic soprano recently garnering rave reviews for performances that are “electric – this high impact singing isn’t encountered every day” (Opera News) and “entirely riveting” (Washington Post), Francesca Mondanaro began the 2015-2016 making her house debut with Deutsche Oper Berlin as Abigaille in NABUCCO, a role she also performed with the Lyric Opera of Baltimore for the 2013-2014 season. F
rancesca previously covered the title role of NORMA there with Maestro Christian Badea, a role she has performed in concert for the Calvary Concert Series of New York and the Richard Tucker Music Foundation, as well as with Baltimore Concert Opera, Taconic Opera, and Martha Cardona Theater. Also in 2013, for Opera Delaware she reprised her recitals with stage director Fabrizio Melano (Metropolitan Opera), based on the life and career of Maria Callas. In recent seasons she sang Lady Macbeth in MACBETH for Baltimore Concert Opera, a role she has peformed for Taconic Opera and Sarasota Opera (where she sang both versions of the opera in the same season), Margherita /Elena in MEFISTOFELE for Taconic Opera, and the Mother/Witch in HANSEL AND GRETEL for Boheme Opera of New Jersey. Past performances include Abigaille in NABUCCO for Taconic Opera and Santuzza in CAVALLERIA RUSTICANA with New Jersey Verismo Opera and the Baltimore Concert Opera. She has performed the title role of ANNA BOLENA for both the Richard Tucker Music Foundation Concert Series and Tel Aviv’s International Vocal Arts Institute, and Donna Anna in DON GIOVANNI with Baltimore Concert Opera. Mondanaro has sung leading roles with such companies as the Anchorage Opera, Nashville Opera, Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, Skylight Opera Theatre, and the Spontini Festival in Italy. The 2017-2018 season will see her make a role debut as Fata Morgana in LOVE OF THREE ORANGES in Europe, and a return to the role of Santuzza in the US. She created the role of Clara in the world premiere of THE SANDMAN by Thomas Cabaniss, Music-Animateur of the Philadelphia Orchestra and sang in Terrence McNally’s Tony Award winning play MASTERCLASS at the Beam Music Center in Las Vegas, and at the Edward Albee Theater Conference in Valdez, for an audience which included August Wilson, John Guare, and Edward Albee. Mondanaro has broad experience with recital, vocal and sacred music. In 2015 she was featured in concert of bel canto heroines for Opera Delaware. Most recently she she was the soprano soloist in Brahms' EIN DEUTCHES REQUIEM for the Fairfield County Chorale, featured as the soprano soloist in the VERDI REQUIEM with the Southwest Florida Symphony, a soloist for the gala opening concert of the Henderson Pavilion with the Las Vegas Philharmonic, and made her Carnegie Hall debut with the New England Symphonium as the soloist for Schubert’s MASS IN G and Haydn’s ORGELMESSE. She has also performed Mozart’s BELLA MIA FIAMMA for the Bach Society of New York. Notable recital and concert appearances include a tribute to Maria Callas with stage director Fabrizio Melano for Baltimore’s Artscape Music Festival; Mondanaro co-starred in a BEL CANTO HEROINES recital at the Argentine Consulate in New York City (for which she sang a demanding program of the final scenes of ANNA BOLENA and ROBERTO DEVEREUX, and excerpts from NORMA). In 2012, Mondanaro sang the role of Lady Macbeth for MASTERLY SINGING: POWER BEHIND THE THRONE: CREATING LADY MACBETH for the Metropolitan Opera Guild. Mondanaro has been invited to be the featured soloist in, “THE STREPPONI PROJECT”, a planned 2016 recital tribute to the career of soprano Giuseppina Strepponi, which will include arias not heard since the 19th century. Mondanaro has been the recipient of many awards, including a grant from the prestigious Amadeus Fund in 2005. She was a finalist in the Licia Albanese Puccini Festival, and a winner of the Career Bridges Foundation Competition in 2006. Additionally, she was a grant winner from the Olga Forrai Foundation, and a prize winner of the Silverman Prize at the International Vocal Academy of Israel, the Anna Maria-Saritelli-diPanni Bel Canto Competition, the Metropolitan Opera Northwest Council Scholarship Award, the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions (district), the Stanley L. Richman Award at Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, the Five Towns Music and Art Competition, and the NFAA Arts Competition. MONDO VOICE STUDIO is the official page for the private vocal studio of Francesca Mondanaro, now teaching in NYC and Berlin! Francesca has been studying vocal technique for over 20 years, and observing countless lessons of vocal pedagogy through working with teachers Betti McDonald and Arthur Levy in New York (Professor at Mannes and Manhattan Schools), as well as studying with and observing lessons of Berlin teacher Janet Williams (Honorary Professor at Hanns Eisler Hochschule). Francesca graduated from the prestigious Curtis Institute of Music with Diplomas in Voice and Opera Performance. Beyond the hours of tutelage in conservatory, her own apprenticeships took place as a young artist at The Music Academy of the West under Marylin Horne, the Opera Theatre of St. Louis Ensemble Artist Program where she was awarded the Stanley L. Richman Award and invited back for a second season, the IVAI program under Joan Dornemann in both Tel Aviv and Montreal where she was the first singer to be unanimously voted by teaching staff for the Silver Award, and the Nashville Opera and Sarasota Opera young artist programs. Most importantly, her students are actors in Broadway productions, rock musicians that have made the Livewire charts, and classical musicians singing at opera companies in the US and abroad. They have performed with opera companies such as Seattle Opera, the Caramoor Opera Festival, the Metropolitan Opera, New York City Opera and more; on Broadway in productions such as the Phantom of the Opera, Bronx Tale, Sweeney Todd (National Tour), and others. "I believe a healthy vocal technique is the basis for EVERY style of singing, and my students get results. If you are a young professional, singing for the pure joy of it, or coming back to singing after having suffered from bad vocal advice or injury, come take a lesson and find out what your TRUE voice sounds like!"
Feel free to read more about Francesca at www.francescamondanaro.com.
