Karina Flores

Karina Flores
Born
Shakhty, Russia
Other nameKarina Grigoryan
Education
OccupationOpera singer (soprano)
Years active1999–present

Karina Flores, also known as Karina Grigoryan, is a Russian opera singer who has sung leading soprano roles with companies in her native Russia as well as in other European countries. For eight seasons she was a soloist with Helikon Opera in Moscow and has gone on to sing at the Teatro Regio in Turin, the Teatro Filarmonico in Verona, the Teatro San Carlo in Naples, and the Tyrolean State Theatre in Innsbruck, amongst others. She made her American debut in 2018 as the soprano soloist in a performance of the War Requiem at the Kennedy Center conducted by Gianandrea Noseda. On disc Flores appears as Lisa in Israeli Opera's 2012 recording of Pique Dame conducted by Vladimir Jurowski.

Life and career

Flores was born in the Russian city of Shakhty to parents of Armenian descent. She began her musical education at the conservatory in Shakhty and went on to study at the Rostov State Conservatory from 1999 to 2005. It was there that she made her stage debut in the title role of Madama Butterfly.[1] In 2006 she continued her vocal studies in Moscow under Ruben Lisitsian and from 2008 to 2011 in Rome at the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia under Renata Scotto.[2][3] During this time, she placed third in the 2008 Galina Vishnevskaya International Opera Singers Competition,[4] and she continued her professional career singing with Helikon Opera in Moscow and on tour. In 2009, she was awarded first prize in the International Competition “Ottavio Ziino” (soprano category).[5]

Flores was engaged as a soloist with Helikon Opera in 2006 and remained with the company for eight years.[1] Her numerous roles with Helikon included Rosina in The Barber of Seville,[6] Amelia in Un ballo in maschera,[7] the title roles of Aida and Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk,[8][9] and Stephana in Gordano's rarely performed Siberia.[10] In 2012 she also made her debut with Israeli Opera as Lisa in Tchaikovsky's Pique Dame. The production, conducted by Vladimir Jurowski, was later released on CD and DVD.[11][12] It was a role she would later reprise at the Heidenheim Opera Festival in 2019.[1]

Between 2014 and 2019, Flores made a number of European house debuts, including Santuzza in Cavalleria rusticana at the Teatro San Carlo in 2014,[13] Desdemona in Otello at the Teatro Filarmonico in Verona in 2018,[14] and Leonora in Il trovatore at the Teatro Regio in Turin in 2018.[15] She made her first appearance at the Tyrolean State Theatre in Innsbruck in 2015 in the title role of Adriana Lecouvreur for which she was nominated for the Österreichischer Musiktheaterpreis (Austrian Music Theatre Prize) in the "Best Female Lead" category.[16] In later seasons she returned to the theatre as Amelia in Un ballo in maschera (2016) and as Angelica in Suor Angelica (2019).

Flores made her American debut in 2018 as the soprano soloist in a performance of Britten's War Requiem at the Kennedy Center conducted by Gianandrea Noseda.[17][18] Her other concert appearances have included the soprano soloist in Brahms's German Requiem at the Teatro Regio in Turin conducted by Pinchas Steinberg in 2018 and the Mozart Requiem performed in Spain's Palma Cathedral in 2019.[19][20]

Between 2021 and 2024, Flores made several notable appearances across European stages and concert venues, including her debut as Donna Leonora in La forza del destino at Oper Klosterneuburg in 2021,[21][22][23] conducted by Christoph Campestrini and directed by Julian Roman Pölsler. In 2022, she performed in a symphonic concert featuring works by Shostakovich, Bizet, and Ernest Guiraud at the Perm Opera and Ballet Theatre conducted by Mihran Aghajanyan. The same season, she took on the title role in Aida at the Badisches Staatstheater Karlsruhe (2022–2023)[24] conducted by Yura Yang and Johannes Willig and directed by Jasmina Hadziahmetovic. In 2023, she appeared as soprano soloist in Verdi's Requiem with the Kaunas City Symphony Orchestra, Lithuania, conducted by Constantine Orbelian and Algimantas Liaučius. She returned to Oper Klosterneuburg in 2023 and 2024 as Elisabetta di Valois in Don Carlo,[25][26] conducted by Christoph Campestrini and directed by Günther Groissböck, with Monica I. Rusu-Radman joining the production in its 2024 revival.[25][27] In 2024, Flores performed the title role in Bellini's Norma at Oper Klosterneuburg, directed by Monica I. Rusu-Radman and conducted by Christoph Campestrini.[28][29][30]

Repertory

Role Opera Composer
Lisa Pique Dame Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Santuzza Cavalleria rusticana Pietro Mascagni
Stephana Siberia Umberto Giordano
Cio Cio San Madama Butterfly Giacomo Puccini
Soprano Soloist War Requiem Benjamin Britten
Soprano Soloist Requiem Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Suor Angelica Suor Angelica Giacomo Puccini
Floria Tosca Tosca Giacomo Puccini
Katerina Ismajlova Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk Dmitri Shostakovich
Amelia Un ballo in maschera Giuseppe Verdi
Elisabetta Don Carlos Giuseppe Verdi
Leonora La forza del destino Giuseppe Verdi
Desdemona Otello Giuseppe Verdi
Soprano Soloist Requiem Giuseppe Verdi
Aida Aida Giuseppe Verdi
Norma Norma Vincenzo Bellini
Tatyana Eugen Onegin Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Adriana Lecouvreur Adriana Lecouvreur Francesco Cilea
Leonora Il trovatore Giuseppe Verdi
Contessa The Marriage of Figaro Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Rosina The Barber of Seville Gioachino Rossini

References

  1. 1 2 3 Kubiak, Manfred F. (19 July 2019)."Karina Flores singt Lisa in Tschaikowskys Pique Dame". Heidenheimer Zeitung. Retrieved 22 March 2021 (in German).
  2. ↑ "«Students to teachers» concert took place in Helikon-Opera", 8 October 2006, helikon.ru. Retrieved 22 March 2021.
  3. ↑ "I concerti 2018–2019: Pinchas Steinberg", 27 October 2018, (programme), p. 11. Teatro Regio di Torino. Retrieved 22 March 2021 (in Italian).
  4. ↑ Winners, Galina Vishnevskaya International Opera Singers Competition. Retrieved 22 March 2021.
  5. ↑ cyruz (30 July 2009). "Albo D'Oro – 2009". Il Villaggio Della Musica (in Italian). Retrieved 6 May 2026.
  6. ↑ "Helikon-Opera tour to Khanty-Mansiysk", 12 May 2008. Helikon Opera. Retrieved 22 March 2021.
  7. ↑ "The premiere of "Un ballo in maschera" in Helikon-Opera", 5 September 2013, Helikon Opera. Retrieved 22 March 2021.
  8. ↑ Humbert, Jean-Marcel (10 April 2008). "Review: Aïda Massynova. Forum Opéra. Retrieved 22 March 2021 (in French).
  9. ↑ Eppstein, Ury (14 December 2006). "An influential opera that gets lost in the dark". The Jerusalem Post. Retrieved 22 March 2021.
  10. ↑ Williams, Glyn (22 October 2010)."Siberia in Moscow". The Opera Critic. Retrieved 22 March 2021.
  11. ↑ Pullinger, Mark (June 2018). "Tchaikovsky Pique Dame (Jurowski)". Gramophone. Retrieved 22 March 2021.
  12. ↑ Nice David (25 June 2020). "Tchaikovsky: Pique Dame". BBC Music Magazine. Retrieved 22 March 2021.
  13. ↑ Basile, Mario (10 July 2014). "Il progetto del San Carlo l'opera nei weekend d'estate". La Repubblica. Retrieved 22 March 2021 (in Italian).
  14. ↑ Bosetto, Angela (8 February 2018). "Otello, luci e ombre sul secondo cast". L'Arena. Retrieved 22 March 2021 (in Italian).
  15. ↑ Giordano, Daniele (5 October 2018). "L'opera che passione... Il trovatore al Teatro Regio di Torino". Corriere dello Spettacolo. Retrieved 22 March 2021 (in Italian).
  16. ↑ Burianek, Stephan (2016). "Tiroler Landestheater: Eine überzeugende Vorstellung". Österreichischer Musiktheaterpreis Das Magazin, p. 12. Verlag Kulturbüro. Retrieved 22 March 2021 (in German).
  17. ↑ Rucker, Patrick (30 November 2018). "NSO brilliant in performance of Britten's 'War Requiem'". The Washington Post. Retrieved 22 March 2021.
  18. ↑ Jepson, Barbara (30 November 2018). "Benjamin Britten's 'War Requiem' Review: Mixing Sacred and Secular". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 22 March 2021 (subscription required).
  19. ↑ Gallarati, Paolo (28 October 2018). "La Messa da Requiem e il Requiem tedesco aprono la stagione del Regio tra le proteste". La Stampa. Retrieved 22 March 2021 (in Italian).
  20. ↑ Aguiló, Josep María (16 April 2019). "Doña Sofía preside en la Catedral de Palma un concierto solidario en favor de Proyecto Hombre". ABC. Retrieved 22 March 2021 (in Spanish).
  21. ↑ "Klosterneuburg/ Stiftshof/"operaklosterneuburg": La forza del destino". Online Merker (in German). Retrieved 6 May 2026.
  22. ↑ "Oper Klosterneuburg: Verdis La forza mit vokalem Glanz". Der Standard (in Austrian German). Retrieved 6 May 2026.
  23. ↑ "Manfred A. Schmid: Ein künstlerisches Opernereignis von bleibender Aktualität. Zur Klosterneuburger Don Carlo Premiere. Besprechung". schoepfblog.at (in German). 20 July 2023. Retrieved 6 May 2026.
  24. ↑ Honigsammler (14 July 2022). "Gestern im Badischen Staatstheater in Karlsruhe (2011–2024): Verdi – Aida, 13. 07. 2022". Badisches Staatstheater Karlsruhe. Retrieved 6 May 2026.
  25. 1 2 Manfred A. Schmid. "Klosterneuburg / Kaiserhof: Don Carlo – Premiere". Online Merker (in German). Retrieved 6 May 2026.
  26. ↑ "Himmlische Stimmen zu B-Movie-Bildern für Verdis Don Carlo". Der Standard (in Austrian German). Retrieved 6 May 2026.
  27. ↑ "Wiederaufnahme Don Carlo!". radioklassik.at (in German). Retrieved 6 May 2026.
  28. ↑ Schmitt, Josef (7 July 2024). "Norma in Klosterneuburg: Karina Flores überzeugt mit wohl dosiertem Gefühl". Die Presse (in German). Retrieved 6 May 2026.
  29. ↑ "Klosterneuburg / Kaiserhof: Norma". Online Merker (in German). Retrieved 6 May 2026.
  30. ↑ "Norma in Klosterneuburg gerät zur altbackenen Operation Hinkelstein". Der Standard (in Austrian German). Retrieved 6 May 2026.
This page is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.