Transylvania State Philharmonic Choir and Orchestra & Pier Giorgio Morandi
Biographie Transylvania State Philharmonic Choir and Orchestra & Pier Giorgio Morandi
Melody Moore
is enjoying a thriving career on the world’s leading stages, prompting Opera News to label her “a revelation,” and of her sold-out appearance at Carnegie Hall to rave, “As I left the auditorium, I could only think: more of Moore, please.”
Ms. Moore enjoyed a triumphant return to LA Opera during the 2021-2022 season, repeating her tremendous success in the role of Amneris in Verdi’s Aida opposite Latonia Moore in the title role and tenor Russell Thomas as Radames. Concert highlights of the season included Beethoven’s 9th Symphony with the Minnesota Orchestra under the baton of Juraj Valčuha and the Mother in Hansel and Gretel with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, with Sir Donald Runnicles at the helm. The season also saw the release of Moore’s interpretation of the title role in Puccini’s Madama Butterfly (available on Pentatone), and the recording of a critically acclaimed concert of Puccini’s Tosca, captured live in Berlin, Germany. Ms. Moore continues to remain active in the recording studio throughout the season, marking the 100th anniversary of the birth of legendary soprano Renata Tebaldi with an album featuring selections from the Italian repertoire for which she was most famous (to be released in 2023), and singing Kathie/Linford in the world premiere recording of Gordon Getty’s opera, Goodbye, Mr. Chips. In the fall of 2022, Moore will make a much-anticipated return to San Francisco Opera as Mère Marie in the Olivier Py production of Dialogues des Carmélites.
Despite a number of postponements and cancelled productions due to COVID closures, the 2020-2021 season offered Ms. Moore an opportunity to focus on recording projects, and that season’s resulting releases of Mascagni’s Cavalleria Rusticana and Puccini’s La Fanciulla del West (both released on the Pentatone label) have been widely praised by reviewers and consumers alike.
Highlights of the 2019-2020 season included her debut as Amneris in a new production of Aida at the Houston Grand Opera. Concert highlights included her debut with the Houston Symphony Orchestra in Mahler’s Das klagende Lied under the baton of Music Director Andrés Orozco-Estrada.
In the 2018-2019 season, Ms. Moore returned to Houston Grand Opera to reprise the roles of Senta in the season opening production of Die fliegende Holländer led by Music Director Patrick Summers, and Donna Elvira in Mozart’s Don Giovanni in a new production by Kasper Holten, and returned to LA Opera for a role debut as Gertrude in Hänsel and Gretel under the baton of Music Director James Conlon. On the concert stage, she debuted with the Dresdner Philharmonie in the roles of Giorgetta in Puccini’s Il Tabarro and Santuzza in Mascagni’s Cavalleria Rusticana, both of which were recorded for commercial release by Pentatone. Ms. Moore also sang Senta with the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, under the baton of Music Director Edo de Waart, enjoyed a debut with the Grant Park Music Festival for Delius’ A Mass of Life, and sang the title role in Salome in Daegu, South Korea. In the 2017-2018 season, Moore made three major role debuts: Elisabetta in Don Carlo at Washington National Opera; the title role in Salome at Florida Grand Opera; and Tatyana in Eugene Onegin at Hawaii Opera Theatre, as well as singing her signature roles of Tosca in a return to Opéra de Montréal and Senta in Wagner’s Der fliegende Holländer in a new production by Tomer Zvulun at The Atlanta Opera. Her portrayal of Desdemona in a full recording of Verdi’s Otello was also released by Pentatone.
Other recent career highlights include a house and role debut at Seattle Opera in the title role of Janáček’s Kátya Kabanová; appearances with San Francisco Opera in the title role of Tosca, Susan Rescorla in Heart of a Soldier, Mimì in La bohème, and the Countess in Le nozze di Figaro; Houston Grand Opera as Julie in Show Boat, Marta in the American premiere of Weinberg’s The Passenger, the title role in Carmen, Dorabella in Così fan tutte; Washington National Opera as the title role of Catán’s Florencia en el Amazonas, Phillip Glass’ Appomatox, and in Francesca Zambello’s highly acclaimed production of Wagner’s full Ring cycle; LA Opera as Tosca, the Countess in Le nozze di Figaro and in productions of Der Zwerg and Der Zerbrochene Krug; Opéra de Montréal as Cio-Cio San in Madama Butterfly; Glimmerglass Festival as Lady Macbeth in Verdi’s Macbeth and Senta in Der fliegende Holländer; Lincoln Center Festival in The Passenger; English National Opera as Mimi and as Marguerite in Faust; New York City Opera as Rita Clayton in the New York premiere of Stephen Schwartz’s Séance on a Wet Afternoon and as Regine St. Laurent in Rufus Wainwright’s Prima Donna; and Austin Lyric Opera as Senta in Der fliegende Holländer. Additional performances include the title roles of Manon Lescaut at New Orleans Opera, Tosca with the Lyric Opera of Kansas City, Pamina in Die Zauberflöte at Opéra de Bordeaux; and Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni with The Atlanta Opera and Opera Colorado.
On the concert stage, Ms. Moore has appeared with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra for Bruckner’s Te Deum led by Music Director Donald Runnicles; Bard SummerScape Festival as the title role in Turandot; Bavarian Radio Symphony in performances and a recording of excerpts of Gordon Getty’s opera, Plump Jack, conducted by Ulf Shirmer and with the New Century Chamber Orchestra conducted by Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg. She has joined Rufus Wainwright for gala concerts at the Kimmel Center in Philadelphia and at Roy Thomson Hall in Toronto.
A Masters of Music graduate of the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music, Melody Moore is a former Adler Fellow of San Francisco Opera and an alumni of the prestigious Merola program.
Roxana Constantinescu
Hailed by the international press as a “world-class mezzo-soprano where from her rich lower register, reminiscent of a vintage port wine, to her radiant top her singing is seamless and her acting, too, is remarkably accomplished” (Star Tribune), Roxana Constantinescu is renowned for the complexity of her musicianship, her ability to approach differing styles with the same beauty, commitment and honesty.
Recently she celebrated her debut in Wagner’s Tetralogy “Der Ring des Nibelungen” at the Dresden Philharmonic under the baton of renowned Marek Janowski and made her stage debut at the Opéra de Paris with the role Bradamante in Händel’s Alcina, performed in concerts in Bilbao, Lisbon, Cracow, Vienna or Marseille, working with Lawrence Foster, Masaaki Suzuki, Cristian Macelaru and returned to the George Enescu Festival in Bucharest under the baton of Jose Cura. She delivered a compelling title role debut in Vivaldi’s Juditha Triumphans at the Greek National Opera, a new production filmed by Mezzo TV and broadcast worldwide. Roxana concluded with great acclaim a european concert tour alongside Balthasar Neumann Chor and Ensemble, under the baton of Thomas Hengelbrock. Roxana performed in Konzerthaus Wien, Luxembourg Philharmonie, Laeiszhalle Hamburg and the Essen Philharmonie-to name some of the venues. She debuted in Verdi’s Requiem at the Auditorium di Milano and returned to work with Masaaki Suzuki and the Seattle Symphony. In the opera field her last performances were at the Opera de Montpellier in Britten’s Midsummer Night’s Dream-the role of Hermia, preceded by successful appearances at the Opera de Oviedo and Teatro Lirico di Cagliari in the title role of Carmen.
Last seasons included Beethoven’s Symphony no. 9 at the George Enescu Festival in Romania, followed by a Gala Concert with Roberto Alagna at the Musikkens Hus Aalborg, and a programme of Mozart and Bach at the Tchaikovsky Concert Hall (Moscow) conducted by Helmuth Rilling. Constantinescu sang Elijah with the Bach Collegium Japan in Leipzig and did a revival of Hasse’s Siroe at Opéra de Lausanne; Handel’s Messiah at the Auditorium in Grafenegg with the Tonkünstler-Orchester Vienna and Matthew Halls; Rossini’s Stabat Mater at Théâtre du Champs-Elysées under James Gaffigan; recording and concert performances of Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis at the Tokyo Opera City Concert Hall with the Bach Collegium Japan and Masaaki Suzuki; appearances with the Internationale Bachakademie Stuttgart and Hans-Christoph Rademann at the Walt Disney Hall, Princeton and Fort Lauderdale and a return to Moscow under the baton of Helmuth Rilling. Roxana has made debuts at the Konzerthaus Berlin with Bach’s St. John Passion and at the Verbier Festival in Verdi’s Falstaff, and house debuts at Ópera de Oviedo as Cherubino in Le Nozze di Figaro, and the National Center of Performing Arts Beijing as Rosina in Il Barbiere di Siviglia. She appeared in Hasse’s Siroe in concert performances at the Tchaikovsky Concert Hall, Moscow, Concertgebouw, Amsterdam and the Krakow Congress Center, and has returned to Teatro La Fenice as Adalgisa in Norma and to the L.A. Philharmonic for a programme of Mozart and Arvo Pärt, conducted by Gustavo Dudamel.
Roxana Constantinescu has made highly acclaimed debuts at Zurich Opera House and Teatro la Fenice as Adalgisa in Norma; at the Israeli Opera as Fenena in Nabucco; at L’Opéra Royal de Versailles as Emira in a new production of Siroe; at Teatro dell’Opera di Roma in Manon Lescaut; and at the Los Angeles Philharmonic in a new production of Così fan tutte. Other performances have included Rosina in Il Barbiere di Siviglia at Wiener Staatsoper, Deutsche Oper Berlin and the New National Theatre Tokyo; Despina in Così fan tutte and Zerlina in Don Giovanni for Los Angeles Opera; Nicklausse in Les Contes d’Hoffmann in a new production at Theater an der Wien; Dorabella in Così fan tutte and Fatime in Oberon at Théâtre du Capitole Toulouse; her role debut as Charlotte in Werther for Minnesota Opera and the title role in La Cenerentola for Minnesota Opera and the Romanian National Opera Bucharest.
Between 2007 and 2010 Roxana Constantinescu was a member of the soloist ensemble at Vienna State Opera, where she made her role debuts as Rosina, Cherubino, Zerlina, Nicklausse, Lola, Fjodor and Stéphano to name but a few.
Roxana has appeared with some of the foremost conductors of her time: Seiji Ozawa, Pierre Boulez, Riccardo Muti, Fabio Luisi, James Conlon, Helmuth Rilling, Gustavo Dudamel, Kirill Petrenko, Graeme Jenkins, Sir Neville Marriner, Jeffrey Tate, Daniel Oren, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Peter Schneider, Asher Fisch, Bertrand de Billy, Franz Welser-Möst, Manfred Honeck, Marco Armiliato and Riccardo Frizza. She has performed with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Vienna Philharmonic, Munich Philharmonic, Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Seattle Symphony Orchestra and Radio Symphony Orchestra Stuttgart, among others.
Roxana is also an accomplished art song recitalist, having given recitals at Carnegie Hall, Wigmore Hall, Musikverein Vienna, Abbaye de Lessay and Goethe’s House.
She has recorded for BIS Records, PentaTone Music, Hänssler Classic, OEHMS Classics, SWR, CSO Resound, Artmode Records, Weltbild and Carus Verlag. Her CD recording of Stravinsky’s Pulcinella under the baton of Pierre Boulez was nominated in 2010 for a Grammy Award
Pier Giorgio Morandi
played for ten years as principal oboist in Orchestra del Teatro alla Scala in Milan. He studied composition at Conservatorio G. Verdi in Milan, and orchestra conducting at Salzburg Mozarteum with M° Ferdinand Leitner. During the years spent at La Scala, Morandi was assistant conductor of M° Riccardo Muti and later of M° Giuseppe Patanè, from whom he gained a lot of experience in refining the stylistic Italian repertoire and in learning all the secrets of the Italian operatic tradition.
In 1987 he studied in Tanglewood, USA, with M° Leonard Bernstein and M° Seiji Ozawa. In the same year, Morandi won the “Tanglewood Competition”, also known as “Bernstein Prize”. In 1989 he became Deputy Principal Conductor at Teatro dell’Opera in Rome, where he conducted Ernani, Madama Butterfly and several symphonic concerts. In 1990 he recorded his first opera with Roma opera house, Paisiello’s Don Chisciotte. From 1991 and for the following five years, he was Principal Guest Conductor at Budapest National Opera House.
He was Principal Guest Conductor at Helsingborg Symphony Orchestra and at Royal Opera House in Stockholm, and he is currently Honorary Principle Conductor at Croatian National Theatre in Zagreb.
Morandi has a wide Italian operatic repertoire and he has been working as regular guest conductor in all the major opera houses in Italy, Europe and worldwide: Palermo, Teatro dell’Opera di Roma,
Teatro alla Scala, San Carlo di Napoli, Marseille, La Maestranza in Seville, Bunka Kaikan in Tokyo, Osaka, National Opera Theatre in Seoul, Colon in Buenos Aires, Stockholm Royal Opera House, Theatre Royal de La Monnaie in Brussels, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Staatsoper Berlin, Oper Frankfurt, Wiener Staatsoper, MET Opera, Macerata Opera Festival, Arena di Verona, Opernhaus Zürich, Goteborg, Teatro Regio di Parma, Puccini Festival in Torre del Lago, Bilbao, Maiorca, Las Palmas, Valencia, Copenhagen Royal Opera House, Seattle Opera, Royal Albert Hall in London.
An appreciated interpreter of symphonic repertoire, Morandi has worked, among others, with Budapest Radio Orchestra, Budapest Philharmonic Orchestra, Budapest State Orchestra, Flamish Radio Orchestra, Roma’s Santa Cecilia Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra del Filarmonico di Verona, Fukuoka Philharmonic Orchestra, Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra, Osaka Philharmonic Orchestra, Helsingborg Symphony Orchestra.
Future engagements: Falstaff, L’Elisir d’amore and Tosca at Wiener Staatsoper, his return to MET with Carmen, and some concerts with the Haarus Symfoniorkester and Müpa in Budapest.
A prolific recording artist, Morandi appeared in several releases, including the Verdi Gala DVD with tenor José Cura and the London Symphony Orchestra; two Sony Classic CD’s of the European tour with tenor Vittorio Grigolo, records with Jonas Kaufamann and several CDs with Naxos.
