Cecilia Gasdia

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Cecilia Gasdia ([tʃeˈtʃiːlja ɡaˈzdiːa]; born August 14, 1960 in Verona ) is an Italian opera singer . In her heyday she was a dramatic coloratura soprano , with a warm, slightly bitter and dark timbre, and a spectacular virtuosity in the coloratura.

Life

Gasdia's grandparents were half from Naples and half from Austria . At the age of 5 she got her first piano lessons. She studied singing in Verona and in 1981 won first prize at the RAI Maria Callas competition . In 1981 she made her debut in Florence as Giulietta in Bellini's I Capuleti ei Montecchi , in 1982 at La Scala in Milan in the title role of Lucrezia Borgia ( Donizetti ) and at the Teatro San Carlo in Naples as Amina in Bellini's Sonnambula . Her international breakthrough came when she stepped in for Montserrat Caballé with sensational success at La Scala in Milan in the title role of Anna Bolena by Donizetti.

In the 1980s she made her debut as Violetta in a new production of La traviata at the Teatro Comunale in Florence under Franco Zeffirelli and Carlos Kleiber ; she appeared u. a. at the Paris Opera in Rossini's Moïse , Verdi's Jérusalem and in La traviata (the latter under Zubin Mehta ). She made her American debut as Gilda in Rigoletto in Philadelphia and New York with Riccardo Muti , with whom she also made Rossini's Stabat Mater at the Edinburgh Festival . In the course of time she has made guest appearances at all major Italian opera houses, in the Arena of Verona , at the Rossini Opera Festival Pesaro , at the Paris Opera, the Vienna State Opera , the Metropolitan Opera New York, the opera houses in Chicago , San Francisco , Houston , Zurich , Munich and at the Liceu in Barcelona.

Cecilia Gasdia sang more than 90 parts. She is particularly known for her virtuoso interpretations of 14 leading roles in operas by Gioachino Rossini (including Armida , Zelmira , Ermione , Mosè in Egitto , Maometto II , Otello , Semiramide , Il barbiere di Siviglia ), of which several studio recordings and live - Recordings were made, mostly in collaboration with I Solisti Veneti under Claudio Scimone . Violetta in Verdi's La traviata is also one of her star roles .

In June 1994 Gasdia sang in Mozart's Requiem alongside José Carreras and Ruggero Raimondi under the direction of Zubin Mehta in a concert for the benefit of the victims of the tragedy of ex-Yugoslavia . The concert was broadcast on more than 30 television channels around the world.

Cecilia Gasdia worked with Andrea Bocelli on several occasions in 2001 : In January in Mascagni's L'amico Fritz at the Teatro Filarmonico in Verona; in March – April on Bocelli's American tour with 8 concerts in the USA and Canada; and in June 2001 at a gala concert for the reopening of the Leaning Tower of Pisa .

Many of her roles have been recorded on records and she has received various prizes and honors: in 2002 the “Premio barocco” from Gallipoli, and in 2008 the “Salomone d'Oro” from the University of Florence . She was named “Personalità Europea 2005” and sang in 2001 at the big gala for the 200th birthday of the Teatro Verdi in Trieste. In 2003 she sang at the celebrations for the 25th anniversary of the pontificate of John Paul II in Toronto , Strasbourg , Munich, Buenos Aires and Rabat , and in the same year recorded the Preghiera per la Pace (Prayer for Peace) for EMI , written by the Pope in 1991.

In addition to her work in the field of classical music, she has also recorded Neapolitan canzones and Latin American songs (on CD Napoli Buenos Aires A / R , 2005), and worked with several Italian pop singers.

In May 2017 she ran as an independent candidate, but on the list of the Fratelli d'Italia party , in a regional election in Verona.

She has been the artistic director of the Verona Arena since 2018 .

literature

  • Gasdia, Cecilia. In: Kutsch / Riemens: Sängerlexikon , Vol. 2, pp. 1274 ff.
  • Who's Who in Italy 1998. Who's Who in Italy S. rl, Bresso / Milano 1998, Volume 1, ISBN 88-85246-26-5 , p. 903.

Web links

Remarks

  1. ↑ "[...], perchè ho due nonni austriaci e due nonni napolitani, ma comunque il papà di Roma [...]". Personal statement Gasdias made in a short speech on the occasion of her candidacy for the Fratelli d'Italia , May 2017.
  2. ^ "[...] I began to study piano when I was five years old [...]".

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Cecilia Gasdia Capodilista di Fratelli d 'Italia alle Amministrative 2017 a Verona (Italian) , accessed on January 2, 2018.
  2. ↑ a b c Soprano Cecilia Gasdia - A conversation with Bruce Duffie (English) , biography of and interview with Cecilia Gasdia on the occasion of her American debut as Giulietta in Bellini's I Capuleti ei Montecchi at the Lyric Opera in Chicago 1985, accessed on January 2, 2018 .
  3. ↑ a b c Gasdia, Cecilia. In: Kutsch / Riemens: Sängerlexikon , Vol. 2, pp. 1274 ff.
  4. ↑ a b c d e Official international homepage (English, Italian) , accessed on January 2, 2018.
personal data
SURNAME Gasdia, Cecilia
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Italian opera singer (soprano)
DATE OF BIRTH August 14, 1960
PLACE OF BIRTH Verona