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Finnish-Canadian
soprano Eilana
Lappalainen has become one of the respected
interpreters of Strauss' Salome. Since her 1996 role debut in the acclaimed
Felsenstein production, which performed for six consecutive years, she has
performed the role in Seattle, New
York, Nashville, Kentucky, Warsaw, Trieste, Mannheim, Tokyo, Kyoto,
Kagoshima, Morioka, Nagoya, Kanazawa, Fukuoka, Kumamoto, Toyama, Katowice,
Ottawa, Montreal, Wintertur, Detroit, Bergen, Vilnius, Syros, the Peralada
Festival and Tel Aviv. The Opera News review of the Seattle production
states: Lappalainen's extraordinary physical lightness and agility, her
diverse vocal palette and her grasp of the character's complexity were
deeply moving... Her dance of the seven veils is simply the best I've ever
seen (including Welitsch, Borkh and Stratas on film, perhaps the
greatest Salome ever.)"
In Ms. Lappalainen's debut
with Opera de Montreal as Salome,
she sparked one critic to write: Eilana
Lappalainen is a revelation! - La Presse. In the same season she made her
debuts in Hamburgische Staatsoper as Elsa in Lohengrin and at the
Prague State Opera in Der Freischutz.
Additional engagements have taken the young soprano to San Francisco
Opera, the Deutsche Oper Berlin, the Finnish National Opera, Opera Bellas
Artes in Mexico City, Arizona, Portland, Cincinnati, Virginia, Opera
Hamilton and Opera Lyra in Ottawa. Her performances in these houses included
the core of her repertoire: Lulu, Lohengrin, Der fliegende Hollaender,
Der Rosenkavalier, Arabella, Jenufa, Madama Butterfly, Tosca, I Pagliacci,
La Traviata, Wozzeck, Turandot, Fanciulla del West etc .
The past seven seasons heard Ms. Lappalainen in both concert and opera
performances internationally. She sang Beatrice in Der Vipern by
Christian Jost for her Bern, Switzerland debut, as well as a concert and
recording the following year with the Symphony in Wintertur. She sang
Salome at the Michigan Opera Theater, Opera North in Bergen Norway,
Polish National Opera, Perolada Festival in Spain, another Japan tour, the
New Israeli Opera, and the Lithuanian National Opera in a David Aldon
production. Rome heard her Marie in Wozzeck directed by Gian Carlo
Del Monaco, and in Israel heard her Marie in a Manfred Beilharz production.
She sang Agathe in Freischutz in Bayern Germany, as well as Madama
Butterfly and Pagliacci for a German summer Festival. She made
her debut as Leonore in Il Trovatore with Virginia Opera and covered
Karita Mattila at the Liceu in Barcelona with the role of Leonore in
Beethoven's Fidelio. She performed Donna Anna in Don Giovanni,
Silvia in Mascangni's Zanetto and Santuzza in Cavalleria,
the title role in Tosca and Salome, as well as concerts such as the
Verdi Requiem, Faure Requiem, Mahler Songs and a Verdi Gala featuring
selections from Aida, Il Trovatore and Un ballo in Maschera. This
summer 2014 she sang Tatjana's aria in Eugen Onegin, Il Tramonto and a Puccini
gala singing Madama Butterfly, Tosca and Turandot with the International
Festival of the Aegean.
In those same seasons, Ms. Lappalainen sang concerts in Taranto and Catania
Italy, Katowice Poland, Mexico City, Taluca and Guanajuato Mexico, and
numerous concerts in the Czech Republic including works like the Verdi
Requiem and Tosca. She returned to Carnegie Hall singing the
Verdi Requiem, Mascagni's Zanetto, Gala Concerts, Mendelssohn's
"Hymn of Praise", Paulus' s "To be certain of the dawn"
and again the Mozart Requiem. In 2013, she celebrated many concert debut's
including Vienna singing Schubert's Mass in G and Mozart Requiem, Zurich
debut with Rossini's Stabat Mater, Firenze Italy with the Mozart Requiem, and
her Istanbul debut with Beethoven's "Ah Perfido".
Career highlights for Ms. Lappalainen include: her debut at La Scala in
a Peter Stein production of the world premiere of Corghi's Tat'jana, singing the main role; her performance as Abigaille in Nabucco
at the National Theater in Warsaw; and her debut with the New Israeli Opera
as Marie in Wozzeck. She
also performed Mefistofele in Montreal; Elsa in Lohengrin in
Trier; Hanna in The Merry Widow in Hamilton; and has sung in Madama
Butterfly, Jenufa, Der fliegende Hollaender, Giovanna d'Arco and Eugene
Onegin. In concert she sang with the Berliner Rundfunk
Sinfonie-Orchester in a program of all Berg and Mahler and in Wagner's Goetterdammerung
at the Bruckner Festival in Linz. In
the same period she made her first solo CD of Italian arias in St.
Petersburg. Ms. Lappalainen
starred as Salome with New York City Opera, Seattle Opera, Kentucky
Opera, Nashville Opera, Polish National Opera, Opera Lyra and two tours in
Japan (one tour including ten cities). She sang the role of Senta in Der
fliegende Hollaender in Japan and for the Minnesota Opera, and the title
role of Tosca, and Nedda in I Pagliacci for a summer Festspiel
in Burg Hohenstein near Wiesbaden. Ms. Lappalainen has also performed in
productions of La Fanciulla del West, Der Freischutz, Nedda
in I Pagliacci and Santuzza in Cavalleria Rusticana in Dessau.
On concert stages she performed in a Wagner/Strauss Lieder Abend and in
concerts in Ottawa and Wiesbaden.
In
recent seasons Ms.
Lappalainen has had the pleasure to return to the Opera Bellas Artes, performing Marie in Wozzeck
in a live national broadcast in Mexico. She debuted with the San Francisco
Opera as Rosalinda in Die
Fledermaus, and in the
title role of Lulu directed by Lotfi Mansouri. She also sang at the
Deutsche Oper Berlin as Senta in a new Gotz Friedrich production of Der
fliegende Hollaender, Salome
and her first Maddalena in Andrea Chenier with the Anhaltisches
Theater Dessau and continued performances of the Verdi Requiem, La
Traviata and Jenufa. In Dessau she sang the title role in a new
production of Verdi's Giovanna d'Arco with original Schiller text. In
addition, Ms. Lappalainen performed in a concert series featuring French
repertoire in Wiesbaden, Gala performances at the theater in Furth, and
Verdi Galas at the Schauspielhaus and the Philharmonie in Berlin. In Greece in July 2015 she sang the title role in Medea by Luigi Cherubini, which marks her role debut.
At the start of the first five years of her International career, Ms.
Lappalainen sang the title role of Jenufa. Ms. Lappalainen also returned to the Deutsche Oper
Berlin in Der fliegende Hollaender, to Essen for Arabella and Die
Fledermaus and did her first Ellen Orford in Peter Grimes.
She had a huge success as Salome in her Italian debut at the
Teatro Giuseppe Verdi in Trieste. Audiences
in Wiesbaden and Bremen heard her in Der fliegende Hollaender and she
sang Elsa in Lohengrin in Wurzburg and, in Dessau, Tosca and
her first Marschallin in Der Rosenkavalier.
Ms. Lappalainen opened San Francisco's summer season with the title
role of Lulu. She did her Austrian debut in Linz as Elsa in Lohengrin,
as Violetta in the Landes Buhne Dresden;s La Traviata and as
Arabella in Essen. Dessau heard
her as Marta in Tiefland, in Der Graf von Luxemburg and in the
Felsenstein productions of La Boheme and Der fliegende Hollaender.
She also sang Gala concerts with Tulsa Opera and in Alabama, Koln,
Frankfurt, Munich, Berlin and Dusseldorf.
Ms.
Lappalainen has sung the title role of Jenufa for the Portland Opera,
Elsa in Lohengrin in Halle and Dessau, and the title role in Lucia
di Lammermoor with Opera Columbus as well as with Opera Lyra and Opera
Hamilton. With Virginia Opera she performed the roles of Violetta in La
Traviata, Micaela in Carmen and Liu in Turandot (a role
she repeated later with the Arizona Opera). Opera Hamilton heard her as Mimi
in La Boheme and in the title role in Madama Butterfly.
She has sung with the Finnish National Opera as Mimi, the Cincinnati
Opera as Nedda in I Pagliacci and at the Opera Bellas Artes in Mexico
as Cio-Cio-San in Madama Butterfly, as Nedda in I Pagliacci and
as Arabella in
Bielefeld. With the Anhaltisches Theater in Dessau she scored triumphs
in roles such as Violetta, Marguerita, Arabella, Desdemona and Amalia in I
Masnadieri as well as in the operetta roles of Hanna in The Merry
Widow and the title role in Victoria und Ihr Hussar. She was
performing the roles at the Anhaltisches Theater Dessau as a member of the
Ensemble under the direction of Johannes Felsenstein. Prior to her German
and International debuts, Eilana was a Resident Artist singing 30 leading
roles at Opera San Jose under the direction of her Mentor Irene Dalis.
On the concert stage,
Eilana Lappalainen has sung opera galas with the Finnish Radio Symphony
Orchestra (one of which featured scenes from Fidelio and Otello
and
was televised throughout Finland)
and also toured Finland in recital. In
2005 she sang at an opera gala at La
Piccola Scala in Syros, Greece and at a recital for the Summer Festival
Urkuy ja Aaria in Espoo, Finland. Ms.
Lappalainen made her Carnegie Hall debut in the Mozart Requiem in 2005, her
Weill Recital Hall debut in 2006 and returned to Carnegie Hall in 2007 in
Verdi's Requiem. She sang in
Verdi Galas and recitals in Espoo, Finland, and performed the Verdi Requiem
in the Czech Republic. She has
also sung at a Verdi gala in Japan in 2005. She has done recitals in Germany
and California, made her New York recital debut with the Sibelius Society,
and also sang in an Italian Aria performance at Roy Thompson Hall in
Toronto. She also sang the Four Last Songs by Strauss with the Romanian Radio
Symphony Orchestra and the Filharmonie Katowice. The same city heard her with the Radio
Symphony Orchestra as Salome and in June 2014 she was presented in a DVD in Warsaw singing
Beethoven's "Ah Perfido". In Bari, Italy, Ms. Lappalainen sang Wagner's
Wesendonck-Lieder and in Mexico Mahler's Fourth Symphony. She returned to Mexico
2015 to sing Arabella and Tatjana from Eugen Onegin in concert with the State of Mexico Symphony Orchestra of Toluca.
The 2016-2018 seasons brought Ms Lappalainen to celebrate another debut in Macau, China singing Beethoven. Additionally she sang Haydn's Mass in time of war, Forrest Requiem, Dvorak Te Deum, and Vivaldi Gloria at Carnegie Hall. In Florence Italy she performed, Terry Johnson's Song of the Captive, and Beethoven's Ah Perfido. In Vienna she performed the Austrian debut of Mullhullands Missa Romantica, Poulenc's Gloria, and Mozart's Requiem. She performed the soprano soloist in Rossini's Stabat Mater in Florence & Belluno Italy and Greece. Other concerts included Rossini Stabat Mater and Kodaly Te Deum, and her debut in Athens in a grand Opera Gala at the Megaron Musiki. She also sang the role of Nedda in I Pagliacci and the title role in Madama Butterfly.
Eilana
Lappalainen recorded a live broadcast of Salome (2004) with the
National Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra, a solo CD of Italian arias in St.
Petersburg, Russia, a CD as Salome in a live performance, and a CD of
Verdiis arias and duets with the Anhalisches Symphony Dessau. Her voice
has also been heard as Mimi in the film Cafe and Tobacco. Eilana sang
the role of Silvia in Mascagni's Zanetto in a studio recording with Jennifer
Lamore released by Elisium recordings in 2008. With the same label, 2012
marks her release of her new CD of Mahler songs. New release of a DVD includes Eilana
singing Beethoven shared with a Julian Cochran recording. She performed the same work, Beethoven's "Ah Perfido", with the Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra in Florida, and in Istanbul Turkey.
Ms. Lappalainen's career has
placed her on International stages as a leading artist. This experience has
launched her into positions and extended responsibilities, such as General Director
of the Greek Opera Studio, Berlin Opera Studio and Vienna Opera Studio, Artistic Director (Opera Division)
for the Young Artists Festival Bayreuth, Stage director and vocal teacher for the Young Artists Programs,
Festival Manager and Artistic Director Opera Division
for the International Festival of the Aegean and the Artistic Adminstrator for MidAmerica
Productions.
Upcoming engagements include the release of her Dramatic Diva CD in 2020, the role of Santuzza in Cavalleria Rusticana in Italy, Beethoven’s Mass in C, Vivaldi Gloria and Mozart Coronation Mass, Mozart’s Solemn Vespers, Beethoven’s 9th Symphony in Vienna. In Carnegie Hall in 2021, she is performing Forest’s Te Deum and Schubert’s Mass in G. She will make her Venice debut singing the Verdi Requiem and return to Oxford Philharmonic singing Beethoven’s “Ah Perfido”. Eilana will also be singing her first Elisabetta in Verdi’s Don Carlo in Greece. As a season highlight, Eilana will sing the title role of Eleni in a world Premiere of Eleni written by Nestor Taylor based on the book by Nicolas Gage at both Carnegie Hall and in Athens, Greece.
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