On June 23, 2018 María José Siri will make her Parisian debut in a gala concert at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées featuring Verdi arias and duets with tenor Gregory Kunde and Michele Mariotti leading the Orchestra del Teatro Comunale of Bologna.

“I’m so happy to be finally singing in Paris, a city I love very much. As a young singer I studied for a year at the Conservatoire Municipal W. A. Mozart and only have the best memories of this incredible city full of music, culture and art. The Théâtre des Champs Élysées is a beautiful venue and I can’t wait to sing there for the first time. It’s wonderful to make this debut with music by one of my favourite composers, Giuseppe Verdi, with the Orchestra of the Teatro Comunale and under the baton of Michele Mariotti, with whom I have always worked on Verdi operas so far, and all of these collaborations have been extremely satisfiying and fruitful. The first time we worked together was in 2015 when I made my role debut as Amelia in Un ballo in maschera at the Teatro Comunale of Bologna. The year after I returned there as Odabella in Attila, another role debut, and just earlier this month I performed the role of Elisabetta di Valois in Don Carlo under his musical direction in Bologna. With Gregory Kunde I’ve also performed a number of times and I consider him one of the finest tenors of our days. He was my Riccardo in the Ballo in Bologna in 2015, my Des Grieux in Manon Lescaut in Turin and Geneve, my Andrea Chénier in Rome and we sang a concert performance of Aida in Moscow, an opera we will be singing together again this summer at the Arena of Verona. I think our voices blend very well and I’m delighted he is my partner at this important concert.”

María José Siri has sung eleven Verdi parts during her career. The Uruguayan soprano performed the title role of Aida more than 100 times from Tokyo to the Arena of Verona, La Scala, Hamburg and Valencia, Odabella in Attila, Lucrezia Contarini in I due Foscari, Leonora in Il trovatore and La forza del destino, Amelia Grimaldi in Simon Boccanegra, Amelia in Un ballo in maschera, Elisabetta in the French 5-act-version and the Italian version of Don Carlo, Desdemona in Otello and Violetta Valery in La traviata. She als has the soprano part of Verdi’s Messa da Requiem under her belt.

After this Paris debut, María José Siri will end her highly successful 2017/18 season will travel to the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires for Verdi’s Messa da Requiem and will return to the Arena of Verona as the protagonist of Aida. Already announced engagements for the 2018/19 season include Odabella in Attila for the Festival Verdi at the Teatro Regio Parma, the title role in a new production of Manon Lescaut at the Teatro alla Scala, and also at the Hamburg State Opera and Deutsche Oper Berlin, Maddalena di Coigny in Andrea Chénier at the Deutsche Oper Berlin, Madama Butterfly at the Royal Opera House Muscat, and Amelia in Un ballo in maschera at the Maifestspiele in Wiesbaden.

Information about the June 23 gala concert at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées:

María José Siri, soprano; Gregory Kunde, tenor

Orchestra del Teatro Comunale di Bologna, Michele Mariotti conductor

http://www.theatrechampselysees.fr/saison/recital/recital-de-chant/m-jose-siri-gregory-kunde

[Photo by Victor Santiago]