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Laura
Aikin
July
29, 2008
World renowned
American Soprano Laura Aikin is considered a leader amongst the
generation of dynamic Sopranos today. Possessing a range of over
three octaves and an arresting stage presence, her repertoire
embraces works from the Baroque to the contemporary on both the
concert and operatic stages. In great demand in both Europe and
America, she began her career as a member of the ensemble at
the Deutsche Staatsoper Berlin. At the Deutsche Staatsoper Berlin,
Laura Aikin has performed more than 300 times in such major roles
as Lulu (Lulu), Queen of the Night (Die Zauberflöte), Zerbinetta
(Ariadne auf Naxos), Amenaide (Tancredi), Sophie (Der Rosenkavalier),
Adele (Die Fledermaus), and Zaide (Zaide).
A regular guest
in the world's leading opera houses, Laura Aikin has performed
Aminta (Die Schweigsame Frau), Zerbinetta, Olympia, Adele, Sophie
and Queen of the Night at the Vienna State Opera. At La Scala
Milan she has sung Marzelline (Fidelio), Sophie, Soeur Constance
(Les Dialogues des Carmelites) and Zerbinetta. She sang Zerbinetta
at the Bavarian State Opera, Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, Opera
Lyon and Chatlet in Paris, for which she received Singer of the
Year at the Chatlet. She sang Lulu and Amenaide with Opernhaus
Zurich, Manon in Boulevarde Solitude at the Liceu in Barcelona,
Lulu and Konstanze with the Netherlands Opera, Lulu at the Bastille
in Paris, Alcina and Zaide at the Beaune Festival and Sophie
at the Semper Oper Dresden, the Flight Controller in Jonathan
Dove's opera Flight in Glyndebourne and Konstanze for Opera Frankfurt,
La Monnaie in Brussels, and Theater Basel, Lucia for Opéra
de Montpellier and Cundegonde in Candide at Teatro San Carlo
in Naples. In addition to numerous concert appearances since
1995 at the Salzburger Festspiele, she appeared in 1999 as the
Queen of the Night, in 2003 as Bad'iat in the world premiere
of Henze's opera L'Upupa, and as Blondchen in 2004 and as Konstanze
in 2006 as part of the Mozart21 season.
In the United
States Laura Aikin has sung Zerbinetta at the Chicago Lyric Opera,
Aspasia (Mitridate) at the Santa Fe Opera, Sophie, Queen of the
Night and Die Fiakermilli (Arabella) at the Metropolitan Opera
and Anne Truelove in the Rakes Progress and the Angel (St François
d'Assise) for San Francisco Opera.
As a concert
artist Miss Aikin has appeared in numerous major concert houses
throughout the world with orchestras such as the London, Chicago,
San Francisco, Vienna, San Francisco, Cleveland, Melbourne, La
Scala, MDR, NDR and BBC Symphony Orchestras, the Berlin, Munich,
London, Israel and Vienna Philharmonics, the Berliner and Desdener
Staatskapellen, the Bayerische Rundfunk Symphony Orchestra, the
Phlharmonisches Staatsorchester Hamburg, the Sudwestfunk Orchestra,
the Ensemble Intercontemporain, Tonhalle Zurich Symphony Orchestra,
Les Arts Florissant, Concerto Köln, Orchestra dell'Accademia
Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, Freiburger Baroque, Mozarteum Orchester
and Concentus Musicus. The many international festivals in which
she has performed include Mostly Mozart Festival in New York,
Schlesswig-Holstein, Melbourne, Edinburgh, Salzburg, Innsbruck,
Luzern, Handel Festival Halle, Wienerfestwochen and Berlinerfestwochen.
As a Lied singer, she has performed in Berlin, Milan, Munich,
Vienna, Dresden, Rome and San Francisco.
Recent appearances
included a command performance for Pope Benedict in Rome in a
world wide television broadcast celebrating the first anniversary
of his papacy, concerts with L'Orchestra di Santa Cecilia and
Vladimir Jurovskij, the New Years Eve Concert with the Berlin
Philharmonic and Sir Simon Rattle and her debuts with both the
Cleveland Orchestra and the San Francisco Symphony.
Upcoming concerts
appearances include Berg's Altenberg Lieder with Pierre Boulez
at the Paris Opera, Haydn's Creation with the St. Louis Symphony,
Brahms Requiem with the MDR. Future opera productions include
Die Ägyptische Helena at the Deutshce Oper Berlin, The Messiah
at Theater an der Wien and the world premiere of a new opera
being written for her by German composer Hans-Peter Kyburz at
the Paris Opera, Bastille.
Her critically
acclaimed recordings and DVD's include Beethoven's Christus am
Ölberg with Daniel Barenboim on the Chicago Symphony Orchestra's
Centenial Edition Recording, Songs and Cycles by Ned Rorem for
Orfeo with pianist Donald Sulzen, Schoenberg's Die Jakobsleiter
with the Sudwestfunk Symphony Orchestra, Respighi's La Campana
Sommersa with the Orchestre National de Montpellier, and DVDs
of Lulu from Opernhaus Zürich, Henze's L'Upupa, Die Entführung
aus dem Serail from the Salzburger Festspielen and Les Dialogues
des Carmelites from La Scala with Ricardo Muti, and Henze's Boulvarde
Solitude from the Gran Teatro del Liceo Barcelona. Soon to be
released a CD of Strauss songs with Pianist Donald Sulzen.
Miss Aikin began
her studies in her hometown of Buffalo, New York and Indiana
University, where she studied with Margaret Harshaw. On receiving
a two-year grant from the Deutsche Akademische Austauschdienst
(DAAD), she travelled to Europe to study at the Hochschule for
Musik in Munich with Kammersängerin Reri Grist. Since 1998
a student of Kammersängerin Brigitte Eisenfeld, she lives
with her family in Basiglio, Italy, a small village south of
Milan. |
