New York City Opera Presents ANNA CATERINA ANTONACCI In Concert

New York City Opera will present the celebrated Italian soprano Anna Caterina Antonacci in her highly anticipated return to New York on Tuesday, February 20 at 7:30 p.m. Due to popular demand, City Opera has added a second performance the following night, Wednesday, February 21 at 7:30 p.m. Both concerts will be at Zankel Hall at Carnegie Hall. Ms. Antonacci will perform a program tailored for City Opera featuring works by Debussy, Nadia Boulanger, Respighi, Britten, and Poulenc with her longtime collaborator pianist Donald Sulzen. The concerts will be Ms. Antonacci's first appearance in the U.S. in nearly three seasons.

"City Opera is privileged to present the singular artistry of Anna Caterina Antonacci in her long-overdue return to the New York stage," said New York City Opera General Director Michael Capasso. "This much-anticipated recital continues City Opera's proud legacy of bringing its audience the very finest talent the world has to offer and we are honored to do so at Zankel Hall at Carnegie Hall."

A versatile performer whose singular voice, fearless presence, and incisive interpretations defy classification, Italian soprano Anna Caterina Antonacci is recognized as one of the most compelling singers of her generation. She began her career as a mezzo-soprano specializing in the operas of Rossini, including the title roles in Rossini's Ermione, Armida, Zelmira, La gazza ladra, La donna del lago, and Elisabetta, regina d'Inghilterra. Beginning in the early 2000s, Ms. Antonacci has built a diverse repertoire of soprano and mezzo roles boasting some of opera's most challenging and complex heroines, such as Cassandre in Berlioz's Les Troyens, Dulcinée in Massenet's Don Quichotte, and the title roles in Cherubini's Medea, and Bizet's Carmen. In recent years, she has garnered great acclaim for her performances as Elle in Poulenc's La Voix Humaine. Ms. Antonacci is also a frequent and in-demand recitalist and has performed innovative song programs at Wigmore Hall, Concertgebouw, Grand Théâtre du Génève, Alice Tully Hall, and as part of Lincoln Center's White Light Festival.

Ms. Antonacci's appearances in the U.S. have been rare and special occurrences. The two concerts presented by City Opera are Ms. Antonacci's first appearances in New York since March 2015 and her only U.S. appearance of the 2017/2018 season. Joined by her frequent collaborator Donald Sulzen, Ms. Antonacci will perform five songs by Debussy set to poems by Paul Verlaine followed by a set of songs by the influential composer Nadia Boulanger and Respighi's 1924 song cycle Deità Silvane. In the second half of the program, Ms. Antonacci and Mr. Sulzen will perform Britten's On this Island and Poulenc's Le travail du Peintre. Poulenc's infrequently performed monologue for soprano La dame de Monte-Carlo, set to text by Jean Cocteau and often considered a companion piece to Poulenc's La Voix Humaine, crowns the program.

In addition to his frequent collaborations with Ms. Antonacci, American pianist Donald Sulzen is the official pianist of the Munich Piano Trio and has performed in the most prestigious concert halls in Europe, the U.S., South America, and Japan. His discography includes over 30 recordings, including L'alba separa dalla luce l'ombra with Ms. Antonacci, recorded live at Wigmore Hall in 2012.

ANNA CATERINA ANTONACCI IN CONCERT

Zankel Hall at Carnegie Hall

Tuesday, February 20, 7:30 p.m.

Wednesday, February 21, 7:30 p.m.

Anna Caterina Antonacci, Soprano

Donald Sulzen, Piano

DEBUSSY Mandoline

C'est l'extase
Il pleure dans mon coeur
Green

NADIA BOULANGER Versailles
Cantique
Soleils couchants
Chanson "Elle a vendu mon coeur"
Mon coeur
Vous m'avez dit
C'était en juin

RESPIGHI Deità Silvane

BRITTEN On this Island

POULENC Le travail du Peintre

La dame de Monte-Carlo

For tickets to Anna Caterina Antonacci in Concert:

Carnegie Hall Box Office

57th Street and Seventh Avenue

Monday through Saturday, 11 AM-6 PM
Sunday, 12 PM-6 PM
CarnegieCharge: 212-247-7800

Monday through Sunday, 8 AM-8 PM

http://www.carnegiehall.org/

ABOUT NEW YORK CITY OPERA

Since its founding in 1943 by Mayor Fiorello La Guardia as "The People's Opera" New York City Opera has been a critical part of the city's cultural life. During its history, New York City Opera launched the careers of dozens of major artists and presented engaging productions of both mainstream and unusual operas alongside commissions and regional premieres. The result was a uniquely American Opera Company of international stature.

For more than seven decades, New York City Opera maintained a distinct identity, adhering to its unique mission: affordable ticket prices, a devotion to American works, English-language performances, the promotion of up-and-coming American singers, and seasons of accessible, vibrant and compelling productions intended to introduce new audiences to the art form. Stars who launched their careers at New York City Opera include Plácido Domingo, Catherine Malfitano, Sherrill Milnes, Samuel Ramey, Beverly Sills, Tatiana Troyanos, Carol Vaness, Shirley Verrett, among dozens of other great artists.

In 1999, New York City Opera founded VOX, Contemporary Opera Lab, an annual concert series that offered composers and librettists the opportunity to hear excerpts of their works performed by professional singers and musicians. For decades New York City Opera has been committed to introducing opera to the young, bringing the art form to new audiences with educational outreach performances in New York City's public schools.

Now, having returned to the stage, New York City Opera continues its legacy at a new, state-of-the-art home at Jazz at Lincoln Center's Rose Theater with revitalized outreach and education programs, and programming designed to welcome and inspire a new generation of City Opera audiences. The 2016 - 2017 season included Leoncavallo's Pagliacci and Rachmaninoff's Aleko, the New York premiere of Tobin Stokes' Fallujah, 10 sold-out performances of Harold Prince's production of Leonard Bernstein's Candide, and the U.S. premiere of Literes's baroque opera, Los Elementos, at Harlem Stage. City Opera opened New York City's 2017/2018 cultural season with a new production of Puccini's beloved La fanciulla del West. In October 2017, City Opera presented the first installment of its Chamber Opera series with the New York premiere of Tobias Picker's Dolores Claiborne, based on the novel by Stephen King and presented in a new chamber adaptation prepared for City Opera by the composer. In January 2018, City Opera presents the New York premiere of the world's first mariachi opera, José "Pepe" Martinez and Leonard Foglia's Cruzar la Cara de la Luna as part of its Ópera en Español series. The Chamber Opera series continues in March with a unique pairing of Rameau's Pigmalion and Donizetti's first opera Il Pigmalione. Having presented Respighi's rarely heard La campana sommersa in April 2017, City Opera presents another 20th-century Italian rarity with Montemezzi's L'amore dei tre Re in April 2018. City Opera began its singular LGBT Opera initiative last June with the New York premiere of Péter Eötvös's Angels in America and continues that initiative this May with the long-awaited U.S. premiere of Charles Wuorinen's Brokeback Mountain.

For more information please visit: www.nycopera.com