Elisabete Matos
Encyclopedia
Elisabete Matos is a Portuguese
soprano.
http://www.guimaraesdigital.com/index.php?a=noticias&id=25770 http://www.reflexodigital.com/index.php?cat=3&item=2741&dir= http://www.guimaraesdigital.com/index.php?a=noticias&id=25660, Portugal and she began her first musical studies in at the Conservatório de Música Calouste Gulbenkian de Braga.
Firstly she started to study violin
and then singing, alongside.
After she finished the Conservatory, Matos won a scholarship from the renowned Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation
which allowed her to finish her studies in Madrid
, Spain.
A second place in a European Singing Contest made her be noticed and her international career was launched by the roles of Donna Elvira in Mozart's opera Don Giovanni
and Alice Ford from Verdi's Falstaff
at the Hamburg Opera.
Shortly after that, in the year of 1997, she made a triumphal debut in Madrid at the reopening of the Teatro Real
as an opera house, interpreting the leading role of Marigaila in the opening of Divinas Palabras
, by Antón García Abril, with Plácido Domingo
in the tenor part. Her performance impressed him very much and he invited her to sing with him Massenet's Le Cid
(Chimène) and Dolly from Sly
, by Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari
with José Carreras
.
After all these successes, Elisabete Matos has sung in many major opera houses around the world, like the Gran Teatre del Liceu, La Fenice
, Teatro Nacional de São Carlos
(Lisbon
), Teatro Real
, La Scala
, Maestranza de Sevilla, Teatro Regio di Torino and the Teatro di San Carlo
(Naples
). She has made appearances too at the Macerata Festival and the Mérida Festival, Japan, Washington
, Chicago
and all around Spain.
In 2001, Matos participated in the commemorations of the centenary of Giuseppe Verdi's death, singing again with Plácido Domingo
, José Carreras
and other names, under the musical direction of Zubin Mehta
, in Rome. Currently she lives in Madrid and is considered the greatest and most internationally known Portuguese opera singer.
In January 2009 she will sing the title role of La Gioconda
in Tokyo for the Fujiwara Opera
.
Elisabete Matos portrayed Minnie in two performances of Puccini's La Fanciulla del West at the Metropolitan Opera during the 2010-2011 season. She received excellent reviews.
, Elisabete Matos owns a large voice capable of a dramatic intensity with a timbre of sheer beauty. Her most performed composers are Puccini and Wagner, but she has also sung the works of many others, counting more than fifty roles in her repertory.
Portugal
Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...
soprano.
Biography
Elisabete Matos was born in Caldas da Taipas, GuimarãesGuimarães
Guimarães Municipality is located in northwestern Portugal in the province of Minho and in the Braga District. It contains the city of Guimarães.The present Mayor is António Magalhães Silva, elected by the Socialist Party.-Parishes:-Economy:...
http://www.guimaraesdigital.com/index.php?a=noticias&id=25770 http://www.reflexodigital.com/index.php?cat=3&item=2741&dir= http://www.guimaraesdigital.com/index.php?a=noticias&id=25660, Portugal and she began her first musical studies in at the Conservatório de Música Calouste Gulbenkian de Braga.
Firstly she started to study violin
Violin
The violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....
and then singing, alongside.
After she finished the Conservatory, Matos won a scholarship from the renowned Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation
Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation
The Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation is a Portuguese private foundation of public utility whose statutory aims are in the fields of arts, charity, education, and science...
which allowed her to finish her studies in Madrid
Madrid
Madrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million and the entire population of the Madrid metropolitan area is calculated to be 6.271 million. It is the third largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan...
, Spain.
A second place in a European Singing Contest made her be noticed and her international career was launched by the roles of Donna Elvira in Mozart's opera Don Giovanni
Don Giovanni
Don Giovanni is an opera in two acts with music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and with an Italian libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte. It was premiered by the Prague Italian opera at the Teatro di Praga on October 29, 1787...
and Alice Ford from Verdi's Falstaff
Falstaff (opera)
Falstaff is an operatic commedia lirica in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi, adapted by Arrigo Boito from Shakespeare's plays The Merry Wives of Windsor and scenes from Henry IV. It was Verdi's last opera, written in the composer's ninth decade, and only the second of his 26 operas to be a comedy...
at the Hamburg Opera.
Shortly after that, in the year of 1997, she made a triumphal debut in Madrid at the reopening of the Teatro Real
Teatro Real
The Teatro Real or simply El Real , is a major opera house located in Madrid, Spain.-History:...
as an opera house, interpreting the leading role of Marigaila in the opening of Divinas Palabras
Divinas palabras
Divinas palabras is a 1987 Spanish film directed by José Luis García Sánchez. It stars Ana Belén, Francisco Rabal and Imanol Arias. The film is based upon the play by Ramón del Valle-Inclán...
, by Antón García Abril, with Plácido Domingo
Plácido Domingo
Plácido Domingo KBE , born José Plácido Domingo Embil, is a Spanish tenor and conductor known for his versatile and strong voice, possessing a ringing and dramatic tone throughout its range...
in the tenor part. Her performance impressed him very much and he invited her to sing with him Massenet's Le Cid
Le Cid (opera)
Le Cid is an opera in four acts and ten tableaux by Jules Massenet to a French libretto by Louis Gallet, Édouard Blau and Adolphe d'Ennery. It is based on the play of the same name by Pierre Corneille....
(Chimène) and Dolly from Sly
Sly (opera)
Sly, ovvero La leggenda del dormiente risvegliato is an opera in three acts by Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari to an Italian libretto by Giovacchino Forzano, based on the Prologue to William Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew Sly, ovvero La leggenda del dormiente risvegliato (English: Sly, or The Legend...
, by Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari
Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari
Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari was an Italian composer and teacher. He is best known for his comic operas such as Il segreto di Susanna...
with José Carreras
José Carreras
Josep Maria Carreras i Coll , better known as José Carreras , is a Spanish Catalan tenor particularly known for his performances in the operas of Verdi and Puccini...
.
After all these successes, Elisabete Matos has sung in many major opera houses around the world, like the Gran Teatre del Liceu, La Fenice
La Fenice
Teatro La Fenice is an opera house in Venice, Italy. It is one of the most famous theatres in Europe, the site of many famous operatic premieres. Its name reflects its role in permitting an opera company to "rise from the ashes" despite losing the use of two theatres...
, Teatro Nacional de São Carlos
Teatro Nacional de São Carlos
The Teatro Nacional de São Carlos is an opera house in Lisbon, Portugal. It was opened on July 30, 1793 by Queen Maria I as a replacement for the Tejo Opera House, which was destroyed in the 1755 Lisbon earthquake...
(Lisbon
Lisbon
Lisbon is the capital city and largest city of Portugal with a population of 545,245 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Lisbon extends beyond the administrative city limits with a population of 3 million on an area of , making it the 9th most populous urban...
), Teatro Real
Teatro Real
The Teatro Real or simply El Real , is a major opera house located in Madrid, Spain.-History:...
, La Scala
La Scala
La Scala , is a world renowned opera house in Milan, Italy. The theatre was inaugurated on 3 August 1778 and was originally known as the New Royal-Ducal Theatre at La Scala...
, Maestranza de Sevilla, Teatro Regio di Torino and the Teatro di San Carlo
Teatro di San Carlo
The Real Teatro di San Carlo is an opera house in Naples, Italy. It is the oldest continuously active such venue in Europe.Founded by the Bourbon Charles VII of Naples of the Spanish branch of the dynasty, the theatre was inaugurated on 4 November 1737 — the king's name day — with a performance...
(Naples
Naples
Naples is a city in Southern Italy, situated on the country's west coast by the Gulf of Naples. Lying between two notable volcanic regions, Mount Vesuvius and the Phlegraean Fields, it is the capital of the region of Campania and of the province of Naples...
). She has made appearances too at the Macerata Festival and the Mérida Festival, Japan, Washington
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
, Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
and all around Spain.
In 2001, Matos participated in the commemorations of the centenary of Giuseppe Verdi's death, singing again with Plácido Domingo
Plácido Domingo
Plácido Domingo KBE , born José Plácido Domingo Embil, is a Spanish tenor and conductor known for his versatile and strong voice, possessing a ringing and dramatic tone throughout its range...
, José Carreras
José Carreras
Josep Maria Carreras i Coll , better known as José Carreras , is a Spanish Catalan tenor particularly known for his performances in the operas of Verdi and Puccini...
and other names, under the musical direction of Zubin Mehta
Zubin Mehta
Zubin Mehta is an Indian conductor of western classical music. He is the Music Director for Life of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra.-Biography:...
, in Rome. Currently she lives in Madrid and is considered the greatest and most internationally known Portuguese opera singer.
In January 2009 she will sing the title role of La Gioconda
La Gioconda (opera)
La Gioconda is an opera in four acts by Amilcare Ponchielli set to an Italian libretto by Arrigo Boito, based on Angelo, tyran de Padoue, a play in prose by Victor Hugo, dating from 1835...
in Tokyo for the Fujiwara Opera
Fujiwara Opera
The is an opera company located in Tokyo, Japan and is notably that nation's first and oldest professional opera company. It was founded in 1934 by operatic tenor Yoshie Fujiwara...
.
Elisabete Matos portrayed Minnie in two performances of Puccini's La Fanciulla del West at the Metropolitan Opera during the 2010-2011 season. She received excellent reviews.
Repertory
A lirico-spinto sopranoSoprano
A soprano is a voice type with a vocal range from approximately middle C to "high A" in choral music, or to "soprano C" or higher in operatic music. In four-part chorale style harmony, the soprano takes the highest part, which usually encompasses the melody...
, Elisabete Matos owns a large voice capable of a dramatic intensity with a timbre of sheer beauty. Her most performed composers are Puccini and Wagner, but she has also sung the works of many others, counting more than fifty roles in her repertory.
Roles in opera
- Norma, Norma (Bellini)
- Micaela from Carmen (Bizet)
- Dolores in La Dolores (Bretón)
- Margarita, Margaritala Tornera (Chapí)
- Salud, La Vida Breve (Falla)
- Marigailla, Divinas Palabras (García Abril)
- Iphigénie, Iphigénie en Tauride (Gluck)
- Rosa, Gaudí (Joan Guinjoán)
- La del Alba, Don Quijote (Halffeter)
- Kátja, Kátja Kabanowá (Janáček)
- Zazà, Zazà (Leoncavallo)
- Santuzza, Cavalleria rusticana (Mascagni)
- Chiméne, Le Cid (Massenet)
- Donna Elvira, Don Giovanni (Mozart)
- Contessa, Le nozze di Figaro (Mozart)
- Ermissende, Els Pirineus (Pedrell)
- Mimí, La Bohème (Puccini)
- Minnie, La fanciulla del West (Puccini)
- Tosca, Tosca (Puccini)
- Suor Angelica, Suor Angelica (Puccini)
- Principessa Turandot, Turandot (Puccini)
- Gioconda, La Gioconda (Ponchelli)
- Mme Lidoine Les dialogues des Carmélites (Poulanc)
- Contessa, Capriccio (Strauss)
- Abigaille, Nabucco (Verdi)
- Elisabetta, Don Carlo (Verdi)
- Amelia, Simón Boccanegra (Verdi)
- Lisa, La Battaglia di Legnano (Verdi)
- Amelia, Gustavo III (Verdi)
- Amelia, Ballo in maschera (Verdi)
- Leonora, Il trovatore (Verdi)
- Alice Ford, Falstaff (Verdi)
- Sieglinde, Die Walküre (Wagner)
- Senta, Der Fliegende Holänder (Wagner)
- Freia, Das Rheingold (Wagner)
- Elsa, Lohengrin (Wagner)
- Gutrune und Dritte Norn, Götterdämmerung (Wagner)
- Elisabeth, Tanhäuser (Wagner)
- Dolly, Sly (Wolf-Ferrari)
Recordings
- La Dolores (Tomás Bretón), with Elisabete Matos, Plácido Domingo, Tito Beltrán, Conductor Antoni Ros Marbá, DECCA (winner of the 2000 Latin Grammy for Best Classical Album)
- Requiem (Suppé), with Elisabete Matos, César Hernández, Giorgio Cebrian and the Orchestra and Corus of the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, Conductor Michel Corboz VIRGIN