Rising-Star Soprano Ailyn Pérez, a Windy City Native, Returns to Ravinia for Mozart’s Don Giovanni with Chicago Symphony Orchestra (Aug 14, 16)
“Pérez, lovely and charming onstage, shows a lyric voice of great, billowing beauty.” — WQXR Operavore
Ailyn Pérez, born and bred in Chicago, returns to her hometown’s famous Ravinia Festival for two performances (Aug 14 & 16) as Zerlina in Mozart’s Don Giovanni – a role that the Dallas Morning News has said shows her to be “a singer of considerable nuance.” LA Opera Music Director James Conlon leads the Chicago Symphony Orchestra for the run, which also features baritone Christopher Maltman in the title role, baritone David Bizić as Leporello, soprano Tamara Wilson as Donna Anna and tenor Saimir Pirgu as Don Ottavio. The Chicago Tribune praised Pérez’s 2012 appearance at Ravinia, as Pamina in Die Zauberflöte, as “show-stopping…all floating pianissimos and diminuendos and delicate pathos, which roused the sold-out crowd to a long, well-deserved ovation.”
The soprano heads to Chicago after lauded performances in the title role of Verdi’s La Traviata at San Francisco Opera, where, according to the San Francisco Chronicle, “The evening’s brightest luminary was Ailyn Pérez, who embodied dying courtesan Violetta as a figure of glamour and vulnerability. Her singing was full-bodied and rich in color, with long-breathed phrases sumptuously sustained and an emotional depth to everything she undertook.” San Francisco Classical Voice added its praise about Pérez’s turn as Violetta, saying: “The star of the evening was Pérez. … Her allure and ability to give herself over, body and soul, to Verdi’s doomed heroine were so complete that it was hard to take your eyes off her.” Many more eyes were on the soprano for the July 5 performance of La Traviata, which was shown in a live simulcast to an audience of more than 26,000 people at San Francisco’s AT&T Park.
Pérez is having remarkable success on record, too. Love Duets, her debut album with tenor Stephen Costello (her husband and fellow Richard Tucker Award-winner), was an immediate hit on the UK Classical Chart upon its international release in May, and the success continued with its release in the U.S. last month, with Opera News writing: “Having conquered international opera stages both separately and together, they join forces here for a sublime collection of some of the most unabashedly romantic duets from opera and musical theater. Their chemistry is palpable and thrilling.”
Major debuts in fall, winter
Looking ahead to the fall, Pérez will make her Houston Grand Opera debut and her role debut as Desdemona in Verdi’s Otello on October 24, with further performances on October 26 and November 1, 4 and 7.The autumn will also bring some high-profile duo concertswith Stephen Costello, with shows on September 5, 10, 12 and 14 in San Diego, Washington DC, Philadelphia and Dallas, respectively. Winter brings another major debut, when Pérez will make her Metropolitan Opera debut and role debut as Micaëla in Bizet’s Carmen on February 6, 2015, with further performances on February 9, 13 and 26, as well as March 4 and 7.
Ailyn Pérez: upcoming engagements
Aug 1
Saint-Saveur, Quebec
Festival des Arts de Saint-Saveur
Concert with Stephen Costello
Aug 14 & 16
Chicago, IL
Ravinia Festival
Chicago Symphony Orchestra
Mozart: Don Giovanni (Zerlina)
Sep 5
San Diego, CA
San Diego Opera
Concert with Stephen Costello
Sep 10
Washington DC
Washington National Opera
Concert with Stephen Costello
Sep 12
Philadelphia, PA
Opera Philadelphia
Concert with Stephen Costello
Sep 14
Dallas, TX
The Dallas Opera
Concert with Stephen Costello
Oct 24, 26; Nov 1, 4 & 7
Houston, TX
Houston Grand Opera (debut)
Verdi: Otello (Desdemona, role debut)
Nov 28; Dec 2, 11 & 16
Hamburg, Germany
Hamburg State Opera
Puccini: La Bohème (Mimi)
January 5
London, England
Barbican Centre
Concert with Stephen Costello
February 6, 9, 13, 19, 26; March 4 & 7
New York, NY
Metropolitan Opera (debut)
Bizet: Carmen (Micaëla, role debut)
www.facebook.com/AilynPerezSoprano
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© 21C Media Group, July 2014
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