Elīna Garanča


Elīna Garanča is a Latvian mezzo-soprano. She began to study singing in her hometown of Riga in 1996 and continued her studies in Vienna and in the United States. By 1999 she had won first place in the Mirjam Helin Singing Competition in Helsinki and had begun a career in Europe. Worldwide engagements followed her 2003 Salzburg Festival appearances.
WWW elinagaranca.com𝕏 ElinaGarancaFB elinagarancaIG elina.garanca

Early life and education

Elīna Garanča was born in the Latvian city of Riga into a musical family: her father was a choral director, and her mother Anita was a lieder singer, a professor at the Latvian Academy of Music, an associate professor at the Latvian Academy of Culture, a vocal music teacher at the Latvian National Opera, and also a private voice tutor.

Career in opera

She entered the Latvian Academy of Music in 1996 to study singing with Sergej Martinov. She continued her studies in Vienna with Irina Gavrilovich and in the United States with Virginia Zeani. Garanča began her professional career at the Meiningen Court Theatre, Meiningen, Germany in 1998, and later worked at the Frankfurt Opera. In 1999, she won the Mirjam Helin Singing Competition in Helsinki, Finland.
Garanča's international breakthrough came in 2003 at the Salzburg Festival when she sang Annio in a production of Mozart's La clemenza di Tito, conducted by Nikolaus Harnoncourt. Major engagements followed quickly, such as Charlotte in Werther, Dorabella in Così fan tutte at the Vienna State Opera and Dorabella in a Paris production directed by Patrice Chéreau. In 2006, she returned to La clemenza di Tito, this time singing the part of Sesto. On 12 January 2008 Garanča made her company and house debut at the Metropolitan Opera in New York, in the role of Rosina in Rossini's Il barbiere di Siviglia. Of her debut, Bernard Holland wrote in The New York Times: "Ms. Garanca is the real thing... Modern singing techniques adapt with difficulty to Rossini's early-19th-century emphasis on speed, lightness and athletic articulation, and Ms. Garanca was the only one onstage sounding completely comfortable. The lyric passages sang out; the episodes of racecourse delivery were fully in hand". Garanča sang the leading role of Georges Bizet's Carmen in the 2010 and 2015 productions of the Metropolitan Opera. In the opening concert of the 2011 Rheingau Musik Festival in the Eberbach Abbey she performed Alban Berg's Sieben frühe Lieder with the hr-Sinfonieorchester, conducted by Paavo Järvi.
In May 2018 Garanča made her stage role debut as Dalila in Camille Saint-Saëns' Samson et Dalila at the Vienna State Opera conducted by Marco Armiliato.
In 2018, she appeared in the Metropolitan Opera's performance of that opera.

Personal life

Garanča is married to the conductor Karel Mark Chichon, and they have two daughters. She is fluent in Latvian, French, German, Spanish, Russian, Italian, and English.

Awards and honours

Repertoire

Garanča's repertoire includes:
Year ComposerOperaRoleLocation
Wolfgang Amadeus MozartLa clemenza di TitoAnnio
Pietro MascagniCavalleria rusticanaLola
Pietro MascagniCavalleria rusticanaSantuzza
Wolfgang Amadeus MozartLe nozze di FigaroCherubino
Richard StraussDer RosenkavalierOctavian
Jules MassenetWertherCharlotte
Wolfgang Amadeus MozartCosì fan tutteDorabella
Wolfgang Amadeus MozartLa clemenza di TitoSesto
Gioachino RossiniThe Barber of SevilleRosina
Gioachino RossiniLa CenerentolaAngelina
2010Georges BizetCarmenCarmenMetropolitan Opera
Vincenzo BelliniI Capuleti e i MontecchiRomeo
2011Gaetano DonizettiAnna BolenaGiovanna SeymourWiener Staatsoper
2016Gaetano DonizettiRoberto DevereuxSaraMetropolitan Opera
Gaetano DonizettiLa favoriteLéonor de Guzman
Hector BerliozLes TroyensDidon
Wolfgang Amadeus MozartDon GiovanniDonna Elvira
Jules MassenetLa NavarraiseAnita
Johann StraussDie FledermausOrlofsky
Jacques OffenbachContes d'HoffmannNicklausse
Vincenzo BelliniNormaAdalgisa
Giuseppe VerdiDon CarlosEboli
Giuseppe VerdiFalstaffMeg Page
Hector BerliozLa damnation de FaustMarguerite
2018Camille Saint-SaënsSamson et DalilaDalilaVienna State Opera

2021		Richard WagnerParsifalKundryVienna State Opera

Recordings

Her recordings include the Grammy Award winning Bajazet conducted by Fabio Biondi, in which she sang the role of Andronicus. In 2005, Garanča signed an exclusive contract with Deutsche Grammophon.
Other audio recordings include:I Capuleti e i Montecchi by Vincenzo BelliniNorma by Vincenzo BelliniIl barbiere di Siviglia by Gioachino RossiniArie Favorite, OndineHabanera, Deutsche Grammophon 2010 2894778776Aria Cantilena, Deutsche GrammophonMozart: Opera and Concert Arias, EMI ClassicsBel Canto, Deutsche GrammophonRomantique, Deutsche GrammophonThe Opera Gala: Live from Baden-Baden ft. Anna Netrebko, Ramón Vargas, and Ludovic TézierElina: The Best of Elina Garanča, Deutsche Grammophon 2013 2894792241Revive: Elina Garanca and Orquestra de la Comunitat Valenciana and Roberto Abbado, Deutsche Grammophon 2016 2894795937Elina Garanca Meditation Karel Mark Chichon conducting Deutsche Radio Philharmonic and Latvian Radio Choir Deutsche Grammophon 2014 2894792071Elina Garanca Mozart Vivaldi Parliphone Records LTD A Warner Music Group Company Erato 2005 190295905996Elina Garanca Mozart Opera & Concert Arias Camerata Saltzburg Louis Langree Virgin Classics Elgar Barenboim Sea Pictures Elina Garanca Falstaff Staatskapelle Berlin Decca Classics 2020 2894850968Lieder Elīna Garanča, Malcolm Martineau, Robert Schumann Frauenliebe und Leben op. 42, Johannes Brahms, Heimweh II: “O wüsst’ ich doch den Weg zurück” op. 63 no. 8, Liebe und Frühling II: “Ich muss hinaus” op. 3 no. 3, Liebestreu op. 3 no. 1 · Mädchenlied op. 107 no. 5, O kühler Wald op. 72 no. 3 · Verzagen op. 72 no. 4, O liebliche Wangen op. 47 no. 4 · Geheimnis op. 71 no. 3, Wir wandelten op. 96 no. 2 · Alte Liebe op. 72 no. 1, Die Mainacht op. 43 no. 2 · Von ewiger Liebe op. 43 no. 1, November 6, 2020 Deutsche Grammophon 2020
DVD recordings include:Anna Bolena by Donizetti. Recording from Vienna State OperaLa Cenerentola by Gioachino RossiniCarmen by Georges Bizet