Laura Claycomb
Encyclopedia
Laura Claycomb is an American lyric coloratura
soprano
opera singer.
with Geneva Opera. This role was also the vehicle of her debut at the Paris Bastille, with the Munich Radio Orchestra, Los Angeles Opera
and Pittsburgh Opera.
Another of her roles is Gilda in Rigoletto
, which she has performed at Canadian Opera Company
, Opéra de Lausanne, Opéra Bastille
, Pittsburgh Opera
, New Israeli Opera, Teatro Municipal de Santiago de Chile, Canadian Opera Company, Teatro Municipale Giuseppe Verdi Salerno, Houston Grand Opera
, and The Dallas Opera
.
Her Lucia di Lammermoor at Houston Grand Opera "literally catapulted the opening night audience to its feet with her creativity and versatility." (Don Moser, Houston Voice).
Other notable roles have been her first Lucia di Lammermoor
, Linda di Chamounix
; "La fille du régiment
"; Comtesse Adele in Le Comte Ory, Cleopatra in Giulio Cesare
; Morgana in Alcina
; Olympia in Les contes d'Hoffmann
, and Ophelie in Hamlet
.
She got her start at San Francisco Opera
where she held an Adler fellowship, singing roles such as Xenia in Boris Godunov
, Papagena in Die Zauberflöte
, Duchesse Medina-Sidonia in Milhaud's Christoph Colombe, Marie in La fille du régiment
and Fiakermilli in Arabella
. Her role-debut of Zerbinetta in Ariadne auf Naxos
was the vehicle of her return to San Francisco Opera
in 2002. She reprised the role at the Richard-Strauss-Festspiele in Garmisch with Ulf Schirmer
and at Los Angeles Opera
.
, she sang Marie at Turin's Teatro Regio in Luca Ronconi
's production and again as Ismene in Graham Vick's production of Mitridate, Rè di Ponto. She followed with Princess Rezia in Haydn
's L'Incontro Improvviso for L'Opéra de Nice and L'Opéra de Bordeaux, and Serpetta in Mozart
's La finta giardiniera
at the Kennedy Center
in Washington, D.C.
with Patrick Summers conducting.
After her debut at La Scala
in the title role of Linda di Chamounix, she sang Marie in Rome and her first Sophie in Keith Warner's production of Der Rosenkavalier
at the Spoleto Festival in Italy. Other appearances include her role-debut at L'Opéra de Lausanne as Adina in L'Elisir d'amore and as Konstanze in Die Entführung aus dem Serail
with Vlaamse Opera, a role she reprised at the Berlin Staatsoper.
Following success at Houston Grand Opera as Gilda in Rigoletto in 2001, Laura Claycomb forged a special relationship with audiences in Houston, returning to sing Lucia di Lammermoor, Cleopatra in Giulio Cesare, Ilia in Idomeneo and the title role of La Fille du Régiment.
In Trieste, Ms. Claycomb debuted the role of Ophelie in Thomas' Hamlet; in Toulouse, she debuted Philine in Mignon and at Brussels' Théâtre de la Monnaie, she debuted Tytania in Britten's A Midsummer Night's Dream.
style, she has sung with some of the world's most renowned early music conductors and ensembles. She sang Cleopatra in Handel
's Giulio Cesare in Montpellier
, Drusilla in Monteverdi
's L'incoronazione di Poppea
at the Netherlands Opera, and Fedra in Traetta's Ippolito ed Aricia in Montpellier
with Christophe Rousset and Les Talens Lyriques. She reprised the role of Cleopatra for the Drottningholm Festival with Roy Goodman
conducting and more recently at Houston Grand Opera
with music director Patrick Summers. With Richard Hickox
, Ms. Claycomb debuted the role of Morgana in Alcina
at English National Opera
. With Marc Minkowski
and Les Musiciens du Louvre
, she debuted the role of Ginevra in Ariodante
at L'Opera Garnier in Paris; Ms. Claycomb reprised the role in Munich
with Harry Bicket. She debuted the title role of Semele at the Flemish Opera with Michael Hofstetter conducting. Most recently, she sang Polissena in Radamisto in a new David Alden production at Santa Fe with Harry Bicket conducting.
Ms. Claycomb also has a close relationship with Baroque conductor Emmanuelle Haïm
, and performed varied French and Italian Baroque repertoire with Haïm on tour in the United States (St. Paul Chamber Orchestra and New World Symphony
) and with her group Le Concert d'Astrée at the Aldeburgh Festival
, in Paris, on tour in France, on BBC radio
. The soprano performed excerpts with countertenor David Daniels at the 2007 Cortona Festival in Italy with Ms. Haïm and le Concert d'Astrée. Her first recording collaboration with Haïm is Händel's Arcadian duets" on Virgin Veritas/EMI.
in Peter Sellars
's new production of Ligeti
's Le Grand Macabre
, reprising the role of Amanda in the same production at the Théâtre du Châtelet
in Paris. She can be heard on the Grammy-nominated recording of Le Grand Macabre
for Sony
with Esa-Pekka Salonen
conducting. Concerts of Humperdinck's Hänsel und Gretel (role debut as Gretel
) with the London Symphony Orchestra
, Copland
's The Tender Land
(role debut as Laurie Moss), The Rake's Progress
(role debut as Anne Trulove) all at London's Barbican
, as well as Mistress Page in Vaughan Williams
' Sir John in Love in Newcastle
with the Northern Sinfonia
and its recording for Chandos are some highlights of her operatic collaboration with conductor Richard Hickox
. Ms. Claycomb debuted Cunegonde
in Candide
at Opera Pacific
with John Demain. In 2006, Ms. Claycomb originated the role of Queen Wealtheow in Elliot Goldenthal's opera Grendel in a Julie Taymor production with Los Angeles Opera and Lincoln Center Festival. She added Anne Trulove in the Rake's Progress to her stage roles in 2007 with a new Robert LePage production she originated at Brussels' Théâtre de la Monnaie and reprised at Opéra de Lyon.
, she has sung Debussy
's Le martyre de Saint Sébastien
(Angel
) with the Swedish Radio Orchestra and Mendelssohn
's A Midsummer Night's Dream
' with the Los Angeles Philharmonic
. Ms. Claycomb sang the world-premiere of Salonen
's Five Fragments After Sappho
with the composer conducting at the Ojai Festival, with the Los Angeles Philharmonic
in Los Angeles, with the London Sinfonietta
at the Queen Elizabeth Hall
, and with Ensemble Sospeso at Carnegie Hall
. She reprised the Sappho songs with Ensemble Modern
in Japan on a program including Stravinsky
's Japanese Lyrics and [Balmont] Songs with Dominique My conducting.
She was the soprano soloist in Carmina Burana
at the re-opening gala of the Blossom Festival with the Cleveland Orchestra
with Franz Welser-Möst
conducting, again in the Messiah
again with Cleveland Orchestra
at Severance Hall
, returned with Pierre Boulez
for the title role of Stravinsky
's Rossignol
and with Matthias Pintscher in Debussy's "Le Martyr de St. Sebastien." With Sir Roger Norrington
and the Stuttgart Radio Orchestra, Ms. Claycomb has made tours as Teresa in Berlioz
's Benvenuto Cellini
' (recorded for Hanssler Classics) and as the soprano soloist in Vaughan Williams
' A Sea Symphony
. With the San Francisco Symphony
and Michael Tilson Thomas
, she sang concerts of Schoenberg
's Herzgewächse and Toch
's Chinesische Flöte, concerts and a recording of Mahler
's Fourth Symphony
for San Francisco Symphony
's own label, Mahler's 8th Symphony, and concerts of Strauss
' Brentano
Lieder. With the London Symphony Orchestra
, Ms. Claycomb sang Humperdinck's Hansel und Gretel with Richard Hickox conducting, Mahler's Second Symphony
with Andrew Davis
conducting, Carmina Burana and Barber's Knoxville, Summer of 1915 with Hickox conducting, as well as concerts of Berlioz's "Benvenuto Cellini" with Sir Colin Davis (recorded for LSO LIVE label.) Most recently, she joined the LSO for Mahler's Fourth Symphony with Valery Gergiev in London and Athens.
Her collaboration in concert with Richard Hickox
in addition to their many operatic collaborations also includes Grainger
at the BBC Proms, Vaughan Williams
' A Sea Symphony
at the Gulbenkian
in Lisbon
, a stunning Haydn
Creation at the Spoleto Festival and Handel
's Messiah
with the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra
.
In London's Royal Albert Hall
, she sang a Mozart program including Der Schauspieldirektor
with Ivan Fischer
and the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment
, which was also broadcast on BBC Radio
. On another all-Mozart program in Switzerland, Ms. Claycomb was the feature, singing a program of 6 concert arias with the Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne
and conductor Jonathan Darlington. She appeared as Madame Silberklang in Der Schauspieldirektor
with the Munich Radio Orchestra and Sebastian Weigle, and another Mozart concert with Ulf Schirmer. Ms. Claycomb also performed Beethoven
's rarely-heard oratorio Christus am Ölberg with the Flemish Opera Orchestra and Ivan Törz.
She sang her first Brahms
Requiem
at the Teatro Lirico di Cagliari with Gerard Korsten, a concert of bel canto excerpts with John Demain and Opera Pacific
as well as at the Lanaudière Festival with Yannick Nezet-Sequin, and was the feature of New Year's concerts with Vlaamse Opera, with George Pehlavanian conducting.
With an avid interest in recital repertoire, chamber music
, and neglected composers, she combines this music into her recital schedule with pianists Roger Vignoles
, Peter Grunberg and Iain Burnside. In past years, Ms. Claycomb reprised Messiaen
's Chants de terre et de ciel with Grunberg on "Cal Performances" to rave reviews, as well performing three world-premieres at One World Theater in Austin
on a chamber concert with Nina Kotova
, José Feghali
, and Ron Neal. Her recitals have taken her from San Francisco, to Chicago
, San Antonio, Houston, Brussels
, Bruges
(Concertgebouw), Santiago de Compostela, Spain, the Tuscan Sun Festival in Cortona
, Italy and a BBC Voices recital on English radio. Her most recent recital at the Théâtre de la Monnaie with Burnside was received enthusiastically in Brussels
.
in Moscow in 1994, the Operetta Prize at the Belvedere Competition in Vienna
in 1992 and First Prize in the National Opera Association Competition in 1992. A native Texan, she studied with Barbara Hill Moore at Southern Methodist University
, where she received degrees in both Vocal Performance and Foreign Languages; she studied with the late Norma Newton from 1994 until Newton's death in 2008. She makes her home in Italy.
Coloratura
Coloratura has several meanings. The word is originally from Italian, literally meaning "coloring", and derives from the Latin word colorare . When used in English, the term specifically refers to elaborate melody, particularly in vocal music and especially in operatic singing of the 18th and...
soprano
Soprano
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...
opera singer.
Background
Laura Claycomb grew up in Dallas, Texas, where she excelled in church and school choir, winning numerous youthful competitions (NATS, U.I.L., Texas All-State Choir.) She won a full scholarship to Southern Methodist University, where she completed two bachelors' degrees in vocal performance and foreign languages.Early career
She gained international attention for the first time in 1994 after stepping in at the last minute to perform Giulietta in I Capuleti e i MontecchiI Capuleti e i Montecchi
I Capuleti e i Montecchi is an Italian opera in two acts by Vincenzo Bellini.The libretto by Felice Romani was a reworking of the story of Romeo and Juliet for an opera by Nicola Vaccai called Giulietta e Romeo. This was based on Italian sources rather than taken directly from Shakespeare...
with Geneva Opera. This role was also the vehicle of her debut at the Paris Bastille, with the Munich Radio Orchestra, Los Angeles Opera
Los Angeles Opera
The Los Angeles Opera is an opera company in Los Angeles, California. It is the fourth largest opera company in the United States. The company's home base is the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, part of the Los Angeles Music Center.-Current leadership:...
and Pittsburgh Opera.
Another of her roles is Gilda in Rigoletto
Rigoletto
Rigoletto is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi. The Italian libretto was written by Francesco Maria Piave based on the play Le roi s'amuse by Victor Hugo. It was first performed at La Fenice in Venice on March 11, 1851...
, which she has performed at Canadian Opera Company
Canadian Opera Company
The Canadian Opera Company is an opera company in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is the largest opera company in Canada and the third largest producer of opera in North America. The COC performs in its own opera house, the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts.-History:For 40 years until...
, Opéra de Lausanne, Opéra Bastille
Opéra Bastille
L'Opéra Bastille ' is a modern opera house in Paris, France. It is the home base of the Opéra national de Paris and was designed to replace the Palais Garnier, which is nowadays mainly used for ballet performances....
, Pittsburgh Opera
Pittsburgh Opera
Pittsburgh Opera is an American opera company based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It is one of two opera companies in the city, the other being Opera Theatre of Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh Opera gives performances in several venues, primarily at the Benedum Center, with other performances at the...
, New Israeli Opera, Teatro Municipal de Santiago de Chile, Canadian Opera Company, Teatro Municipale Giuseppe Verdi Salerno, Houston Grand Opera
Houston Grand Opera
Houston Grand Opera Houston Grand Opera was founded in 1955 through the joint efforts of Maestro Walter Herbert and cultural leaders Mrs. Louis G. Lobit, Edward Bing and Charles Cockrell...
, and The Dallas Opera
Dallas Opera
The Dallas Opera is an opera company located in Dallas, Texas . The company was founded in 1957 as the Dallas Civic Opera by Laurence Kelly and Nicolà Rescigno, both of whom had been active with the Lyric Opera of Chicago, the first as administrator, the second as artistic director.-The company's...
.
Her Lucia di Lammermoor at Houston Grand Opera "literally catapulted the opening night audience to its feet with her creativity and versatility." (Don Moser, Houston Voice).
Other notable roles have been her first Lucia di Lammermoor
Lucia di Lammermoor
Lucia di Lammermoor is a dramma tragico in three acts by Gaetano Donizetti. Salvadore Cammarano wrote the Italian language libretto loosely based upon Sir Walter Scott's historical novel The Bride of Lammermoor....
, Linda di Chamounix
Linda di Chamounix
Linda di Chamounix is an operatic melodramma semiserio in three acts by Gaetano Donizetti. The Italian libretto was written by Gaetano Rossi. It premiered in Vienna, at the Kärntnertortheater, on May 19, 1842.-Performance history:...
; "La fille du régiment
La fille du régiment
La fille du régiment is an opéra comique in two acts by Gaetano Donizetti. It was written while the composer was living in Paris, with a French libretto by Jules-Henri Vernoy de Saint-Georges and Jean-François Bayard.La figlia del reggimento, a slightly different Italian-language version , was...
"; Comtesse Adele in Le Comte Ory, Cleopatra in Giulio Cesare
Giulio Cesare
Giulio Cesare in Egitto , commonly known simply as Giulio Cesare, is an Italian opera in three acts written for the Royal Academy of Music by George Frideric Handel in 1724...
; Morgana in Alcina
Alcina
Alcina is an opera seria by George Frideric Handel. Handel used the libretto of L'isola di Alcina, an opera that was set in 1728 in Rome by Riccardo Broschi, which he acquired the year after, during his travels in Italy...
; Olympia in Les contes d'Hoffmann
Les contes d'Hoffmann
Les contes d'Hoffmann is an opéra by Jacques Offenbach. The French libretto was written by Jules Barbier, based on short stories by E. T. A...
, and Ophelie in Hamlet
Hamlet
The Tragical History of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, or more simply Hamlet, is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1599 and 1601...
.
She got her start at San Francisco Opera
San Francisco Opera
San Francisco Opera is an American opera company, based in San Francisco, California.It was founded in 1923 by Gaetano Merola and is the second largest opera company in North America...
where she held an Adler fellowship, singing roles such as Xenia in Boris Godunov
Boris Godunov (opera)
Boris Godunov is an opera by Modest Mussorgsky . The work was composed between 1868 and 1873 in Saint Petersburg, Russia. It is Mussorgsky's only completed opera and is considered his masterpiece. Its subjects are the Russian ruler Boris Godunov, who reigned as Tsar during the Time of Troubles,...
, Papagena in Die Zauberflöte
The Magic Flute
The Magic Flute is an opera in two acts composed in 1791 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to a German libretto by Emanuel Schikaneder. The work is in the form of a Singspiel, a popular form that included both singing and spoken dialogue....
, Duchesse Medina-Sidonia in Milhaud's Christoph Colombe, Marie in La fille du régiment
La fille du régiment
La fille du régiment is an opéra comique in two acts by Gaetano Donizetti. It was written while the composer was living in Paris, with a French libretto by Jules-Henri Vernoy de Saint-Georges and Jean-François Bayard.La figlia del reggimento, a slightly different Italian-language version , was...
and Fiakermilli in Arabella
Arabella
Arabella is a lyric comedy or opera in 3 acts by Richard Strauss to a German libretto by Hugo von Hofmannsthal, their sixth and last operatic collaboration. It was first performed on 1 July 1933, at the Dresden Sächsisches Staatstheater....
. Her role-debut of Zerbinetta in Ariadne auf Naxos
Ariadne auf Naxos
Ariadne auf Naxos is an opera by Richard Strauss with a German libretto by Hugo von Hofmannsthal. Bringing together slapstick comedy and consuming beautiful music, the opera's theme is the competition between high and low art for the public's attention.- First version :The opera was originally...
was the vehicle of her return to San Francisco Opera
San Francisco Opera
San Francisco Opera is an American opera company, based in San Francisco, California.It was founded in 1923 by Gaetano Merola and is the second largest opera company in North America...
in 2002. She reprised the role at the Richard-Strauss-Festspiele in Garmisch with Ulf Schirmer
Ulf Schirmer
Ulf Schirmer is a German conductor. He studied at the Bremen Conservatory, and also at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater Hamburg with György Ligeti, Christoph von Dohnányi and Horst Stein....
and at Los Angeles Opera
Los Angeles Opera
The Los Angeles Opera is an opera company in Los Angeles, California. It is the fourth largest opera company in the United States. The company's home base is the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, part of the Los Angeles Music Center.-Current leadership:...
.
Career Performances
Following her European debut in GenevaGeneva
Geneva In the national languages of Switzerland the city is known as Genf , Ginevra and Genevra is the second-most-populous city in Switzerland and is the most populous city of Romandie, the French-speaking part of Switzerland...
, she sang Marie at Turin's Teatro Regio in Luca Ronconi
Luca Ronconi
Luca Ronconi is an Italian actor, theater director, and opera director.- Biography :After growing up in Tunisia, where his mother was a school teacher, he graduated from the Academy of Dramatic Art in Rome in 1953. He acted in productions of Luigi Squarzina, Orazio Costa, Michelangelo Antonioni...
's production and again as Ismene in Graham Vick's production of Mitridate, Rè di Ponto. She followed with Princess Rezia in Haydn
Joseph Haydn
Franz Joseph Haydn , known as Joseph Haydn , was an Austrian composer, one of the most prolific and prominent composers of the Classical period. He is often called the "Father of the Symphony" and "Father of the String Quartet" because of his important contributions to these forms...
's L'Incontro Improvviso for L'Opéra de Nice and L'Opéra de Bordeaux, and Serpetta in Mozart
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart , baptismal name Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart , was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical era. He composed over 600 works, many acknowledged as pinnacles of symphonic, concertante, chamber, piano, operatic, and choral music...
's La finta giardiniera
La finta giardiniera
La finta giardiniera , K. 196, is an Italian opera by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Mozart wrote it in Munich in January 1775 when he was 18 years old and it received its first performance on January 13 at the Salvatortheater in Munich...
at the Kennedy Center
John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts
The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts is a performing arts center located on the Potomac River, adjacent to the Watergate complex in Washington, D.C...
in Washington, D.C.
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....
with Patrick Summers conducting.
After her debut at 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...
in the title role of Linda di Chamounix, she sang Marie in Rome and her first Sophie in Keith Warner's production of Der Rosenkavalier
Der Rosenkavalier
Der Rosenkavalier is a comic opera in three acts by Richard Strauss to an original German libretto by Hugo von Hofmannsthal. It is loosely adapted from the novel Les amours du chevalier de Faublas by Louvet de Couvrai and Molière’s comedy Monsieur de Pourceaugnac...
at the Spoleto Festival in Italy. Other appearances include her role-debut at L'Opéra de Lausanne as Adina in L'Elisir d'amore and as Konstanze in Die Entführung aus dem Serail
Die Entführung aus dem Serail
Die Entführung aus dem Serail is an opera Singspiel in three acts by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. The German libretto is by Christoph Friedrich Bretzner with adaptations by Gottlieb Stephanie...
with Vlaamse Opera, a role she reprised at the Berlin Staatsoper.
Following success at Houston Grand Opera as Gilda in Rigoletto in 2001, Laura Claycomb forged a special relationship with audiences in Houston, returning to sing Lucia di Lammermoor, Cleopatra in Giulio Cesare, Ilia in Idomeneo and the title role of La Fille du Régiment.
In Trieste, Ms. Claycomb debuted the role of Ophelie in Thomas' Hamlet; in Toulouse, she debuted Philine in Mignon and at Brussels' Théâtre de la Monnaie, she debuted Tytania in Britten's A Midsummer Night's Dream.
Baroque opera
In the BaroqueBaroque music
Baroque music describes a style of Western Classical music approximately extending from 1600 to 1760. This era follows the Renaissance and was followed in turn by the Classical era...
style, she has sung with some of the world's most renowned early music conductors and ensembles. She sang Cleopatra in Handel
George Frideric Handel
George Frideric Handel was a German-British Baroque composer, famous for his operas, oratorios, anthems and organ concertos. Handel was born in 1685, in a family indifferent to music...
's Giulio Cesare in Montpellier
Montpellier
-Neighbourhoods:Since 2001, Montpellier has been divided into seven official neighbourhoods, themselves divided into sub-neighbourhoods. Each of them possesses a neighbourhood council....
, Drusilla in Monteverdi
Claudio Monteverdi
Claudio Giovanni Antonio Monteverdi – 29 November 1643) was an Italian composer, gambist, and singer.Monteverdi's work, often regarded as revolutionary, marked the transition from the Renaissance style of music to that of the Baroque period. He developed two individual styles of composition – the...
's L'incoronazione di Poppea
L'incoronazione di Poppea
L'incoronazione di Poppea is an Italian baroque opera comprising a prologue and three acts, first performed in Venice during the 1642–43 carnival season. The music, attributed to Claudio Monteverdi, is a setting of a libretto by Giovanni Francesco Busenello...
at the Netherlands Opera, and Fedra in Traetta's Ippolito ed Aricia in Montpellier
Montpellier
-Neighbourhoods:Since 2001, Montpellier has been divided into seven official neighbourhoods, themselves divided into sub-neighbourhoods. Each of them possesses a neighbourhood council....
with Christophe Rousset and Les Talens Lyriques. She reprised the role of Cleopatra for the Drottningholm Festival with Roy Goodman
Roy Goodman
Roy Goodman is a conductor and violinist, specialising in the performance and direction of early music...
conducting and more recently at Houston Grand Opera
Houston Grand Opera
Houston Grand Opera Houston Grand Opera was founded in 1955 through the joint efforts of Maestro Walter Herbert and cultural leaders Mrs. Louis G. Lobit, Edward Bing and Charles Cockrell...
with music director Patrick Summers. With Richard Hickox
Richard Hickox
Richard Sidney Hickox CBE was an English conductor of choral, orchestral and operatic music.-Early life:Hickox was born in Stokenchurch in Buckinghamshire into a musical family...
, Ms. Claycomb debuted the role of Morgana in Alcina
Alcina
Alcina is an opera seria by George Frideric Handel. Handel used the libretto of L'isola di Alcina, an opera that was set in 1728 in Rome by Riccardo Broschi, which he acquired the year after, during his travels in Italy...
at English National Opera
English National Opera
English National Opera is an opera company based in London, resident at the London Coliseum in St. Martin's Lane. It is one of the two principal opera companies in London, along with the Royal Opera, Covent Garden...
. With Marc Minkowski
Marc Minkowski
Marc Minkowski is a French conductor of classical music, especially known for his interpretations of French Baroque works. His mother is American, and his father was Alexandre Minkowski, a Polish-French professor of pediatrics and one of the founders of neonatology...
and Les Musiciens du Louvre
Les Musiciens du Louvre
Les Musiciens du Louvre is a French period instrument ensemble, formed in 1982. Originally based in Paris, since 1996 it has been based in the Couvent des Minimes in Grenoble. The Guardian considers it one of the best orchestras in the world.- History:Founded by Marc Minkowski in 1982, the...
, she debuted the role of Ginevra in Ariodante
Ariodante
Ariodante is an opera seria in three acts by Handel. The anonymous Italian libretto was based on a work by Antonio Salvi, which in turn was adapted from Canti 5 and 6 of Ludovico Ariosto's Orlando Furioso...
at L'Opera Garnier in Paris; Ms. Claycomb reprised the role in Munich
Munich
Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...
with Harry Bicket. She debuted the title role of Semele at the Flemish Opera with Michael Hofstetter conducting. Most recently, she sang Polissena in Radamisto in a new David Alden production at Santa Fe with Harry Bicket conducting.
Ms. Claycomb also has a close relationship with Baroque conductor Emmanuelle Haïm
Emmanuelle Haïm
Emmanuelle Haïm is a French harpsichordist and conductor with a particular interest in early music and Baroque music....
, and performed varied French and Italian Baroque repertoire with Haïm on tour in the United States (St. Paul Chamber Orchestra and New World Symphony
New World Symphony Orchestra
The New World Symphony is the United States' only full-time orchestral academy preparing musicians for careers in symphony orchestras and ensembles...
) and with her group Le Concert d'Astrée at the Aldeburgh Festival
Aldeburgh Festival
The Aldeburgh Festival is an English arts festival devoted mainly to classical music. It takes place each June in the Aldeburgh area of Suffolk, centred on the main concert hall at Snape Maltings...
, in Paris, on tour in France, on BBC radio
BBC Radio
BBC Radio is a service of the British Broadcasting Corporation which has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a Royal Charter since 1927. For a history of BBC radio prior to 1927 see British Broadcasting Company...
. The soprano performed excerpts with countertenor David Daniels at the 2007 Cortona Festival in Italy with Ms. Haïm and le Concert d'Astrée. Her first recording collaboration with Haïm is Händel's Arcadian duets" on Virgin Veritas/EMI.
Modern music
In modern music, she made her debut at the Salzburg FestivalSalzburg Festival
The Salzburg Festival is a prominent festival of music and drama established in 1920. It is held each summer within the Austrian town of Salzburg, the birthplace of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart...
in Peter Sellars
Peter Sellars
Peter Sellars is an American theatre director, noted for his unique contemporary stagings of classical and contemporary operas and plays...
's new production of Ligeti
György Ligeti
György Sándor Ligeti was a composer of contemporary classical music. Born in a Hungarian Jewish family in Transylvania, Romania, he briefly lived in Hungary before becoming an Austrian citizen.-Early life:...
's Le Grand Macabre
Le Grand Macabre
Le Grand Macabre is György Ligeti's only opera. The opera has two acts and its libretto – loosely based on the 1934 play, La Balade du grand macabre, by Michel De Ghelderode – was written by Ligeti in collaboration with Michael Meschke...
, reprising the role of Amanda in the same production at the Théâtre du Châtelet
Théâtre du Châtelet
The Théâtre du Châtelet is a theatre and opera house, located in the place du Châtelet in the 1st arrondissement of Paris, France.One of two theatres built on the site of a châtelet, a small castle or fortress, it was designed by Gabriel Davioud at the request of Baron Haussmann between 1860 and...
in Paris. She can be heard on the Grammy-nominated recording of Le Grand Macabre
Le Grand Macabre
Le Grand Macabre is György Ligeti's only opera. The opera has two acts and its libretto – loosely based on the 1934 play, La Balade du grand macabre, by Michel De Ghelderode – was written by Ligeti in collaboration with Michael Meschke...
for Sony
Sony
, commonly referred to as Sony, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan and the world's fifth largest media conglomerate measured by revenues....
with Esa-Pekka Salonen
Esa-Pekka Salonen
Esa-Pekka Salonen is a Finnish orchestral conductor and composer. He is currently Principal Conductor and Artistic Advisor of the Philharmonia Orchestra in London and Conductor Laureate of the Los Angeles Philharmonic.-Early career:...
conducting. Concerts of Humperdinck's Hänsel und Gretel (role debut as Gretel
Gretel
Gretel is a German shortening of the name Margarete. It may refer to:*Gretel, one of the main characters in the Brothers Grimm fairy tale Hansel and Gretel...
) with the London Symphony Orchestra
London Symphony Orchestra
The London Symphony Orchestra is a major orchestra of the United Kingdom, as well as one of the best-known orchestras in the world. Since 1982, the LSO has been based in London's Barbican Centre.-History:...
, Copland
Aaron Copland
Aaron Copland was an American composer, composition teacher, writer, and later in his career a conductor of his own and other American music. He was instrumental in forging a distinctly American style of composition, and is often referred to as "the Dean of American Composers"...
's The Tender Land
The Tender Land
The Tender Land is an opera with music by Aaron Copland and libretto by Horace Everett, a pseudonym for Erik Johns. The opera tells of a farm family in the Midwest of the United States. Copland was inspired to write this opera after viewing the Depression-era photographs of Walker Evans and...
(role debut as Laurie Moss), The Rake's Progress
The Rake's Progress
The Rake's Progress is an opera in three acts and an epilogue by Igor Stravinsky. The libretto, written by W. H. Auden and Chester Kallman, is based loosely on the eight paintings and engravings A Rake's Progress of William Hogarth, which Stravinsky had seen on May 2, 1947, in a Chicago...
(role debut as Anne Trulove) all at London's Barbican
Barbican
A barbican, from medieval Latin barbecana, signifying the "outer fortification of a city or castle," with cognates in the Romance languages A barbican, from medieval Latin barbecana, signifying the "outer fortification of a city or castle," with cognates in the Romance languages A barbican, from...
, as well as Mistress Page in Vaughan Williams
Ralph Vaughan Williams
Ralph Vaughan Williams OM was an English composer of symphonies, chamber music, opera, choral music, and film scores. He was also a collector of English folk music and song: this activity both influenced his editorial approach to the English Hymnal, beginning in 1904, in which he included many...
' Sir John in Love in Newcastle
Newcastle upon Tyne
Newcastle upon Tyne is a city and metropolitan borough of Tyne and Wear, in North East England. Historically a part of Northumberland, it is situated on the north bank of the River Tyne...
with the Northern Sinfonia
Northern Sinfonia
The Northern Sinfonia is a British chamber orchestra, based initially in Newcastle upon Tyne, and currently in Gateshead. For the first 46 years of its history, the orchestra gave the bulk of its concerts at the City Hall, Newcastle upon Tyne. Since 2004, the orchestra has been resident at The...
and its recording for Chandos are some highlights of her operatic collaboration with conductor Richard Hickox
Richard Hickox
Richard Sidney Hickox CBE was an English conductor of choral, orchestral and operatic music.-Early life:Hickox was born in Stokenchurch in Buckinghamshire into a musical family...
. Ms. Claycomb debuted Cunegonde
Cunégonde
Cunégonde is a fictional character in Voltaire's novel Candide. She is the title character's aristocratic cousin. Her name is probably derived from Cunigunde of Luxemburg....
in Candide
Candide (operetta)
Candide is an operetta with music composed by Leonard Bernstein, based on the novella of the same name by Voltaire. The operetta was first performed in 1956 with a libretto by Lillian Hellman; but since 1974 it has been generally performed with a book by Hugh Wheeler which is more faithful to...
at Opera Pacific
Opera Pacific
Opera Pacific was an opera company located in the Orange County, California, United States city of Santa Ana. It operated for 22 seasons before closing in 2008 after several seasons of deepening financial difficulties.-History:...
with John Demain. In 2006, Ms. Claycomb originated the role of Queen Wealtheow in Elliot Goldenthal's opera Grendel in a Julie Taymor production with Los Angeles Opera and Lincoln Center Festival. She added Anne Trulove in the Rake's Progress to her stage roles in 2007 with a new Robert LePage production she originated at Brussels' Théâtre de la Monnaie and reprised at Opéra de Lyon.
Concerts
In concert music, with Esa-Pekka SalonenEsa-Pekka Salonen
Esa-Pekka Salonen is a Finnish orchestral conductor and composer. He is currently Principal Conductor and Artistic Advisor of the Philharmonia Orchestra in London and Conductor Laureate of the Los Angeles Philharmonic.-Early career:...
, she has sung Debussy
Claude Debussy
Claude-Achille Debussy was a French composer. Along with Maurice Ravel, he was one of the most prominent figures working within the field of impressionist music, though he himself intensely disliked the term when applied to his compositions...
's Le martyre de Saint Sébastien
Le martyre de Saint Sébastien
Le martyre de Saint Sébastien, L 124 is a musical work by the French composer Claude Debussy.Written in 1911, the work—a five-act musical mystery play on the subject of Saint Sebastian -- was produced in collaboration with Gabriele d'Annunzio and designed as a vehicle for Ida Rubinstein...
(Angel
Angel
Angels are mythical beings often depicted as messengers of God in the Hebrew and Christian Bibles along with the Quran. The English word angel is derived from the Greek ἄγγελος, a translation of in the Hebrew Bible ; a similar term, ملائكة , is used in the Qur'an...
) with the Swedish Radio Orchestra and Mendelssohn
Felix Mendelssohn
Jakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn Barthóldy , use the form 'Mendelssohn' and not 'Mendelssohn Bartholdy'. The Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians gives ' Felix Mendelssohn' as the entry, with 'Mendelssohn' used in the body text...
's A Midsummer Night's Dream
A Midsummer Night's Dream
A Midsummer Night's Dream is a play that was written by William Shakespeare. It is believed to have been written between 1590 and 1596. It portrays the events surrounding the marriage of the Duke of Athens, Theseus, and the Queen of the Amazons, Hippolyta...
' with the Los Angeles Philharmonic
Los Angeles Philharmonic
The Los Angeles Philharmonic is an American orchestra based in Los Angeles, California, United States. It has a regular season of concerts from October through June at the Walt Disney Concert Hall, and a summer season at the Hollywood Bowl from July through September...
. Ms. Claycomb sang the world-premiere of Salonen
Esa-Pekka Salonen
Esa-Pekka Salonen is a Finnish orchestral conductor and composer. He is currently Principal Conductor and Artistic Advisor of the Philharmonia Orchestra in London and Conductor Laureate of the Los Angeles Philharmonic.-Early career:...
's Five Fragments After Sappho
Sappho
Sappho was an Ancient Greek poet, born on the island of Lesbos. Later Greeks included her in the list of nine lyric poets. Her birth was sometime between 630 and 612 BC, and it is said that she died around 570 BC, but little is known for certain about her life...
with the composer conducting at the Ojai Festival, with the Los Angeles Philharmonic
Los Angeles Philharmonic
The Los Angeles Philharmonic is an American orchestra based in Los Angeles, California, United States. It has a regular season of concerts from October through June at the Walt Disney Concert Hall, and a summer season at the Hollywood Bowl from July through September...
in Los Angeles, with the London Sinfonietta
London Sinfonietta
The London Sinfonietta is an English chamber orchestra founded in 1968 and based in London. The ensemble specialises in contemporary music and works across a wide range of genres, performing modern classics alongside world premieres, and includes music by electronica artists as well as folk and...
at the Queen Elizabeth Hall
Queen Elizabeth Hall
The Queen Elizabeth Hall is a music venue on the South Bank in London, United Kingdom that hosts daily classical, jazz, and avant-garde music and dance performances. The QEH forms part of Southbank Centre arts complex and stands alongside the Royal Festival Hall, which was built for the Festival...
, and with Ensemble Sospeso at Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, United States, located at 881 Seventh Avenue, occupying the east stretch of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street and West 57th Street, two blocks south of Central Park....
. She reprised the Sappho songs with Ensemble Modern
Ensemble Modern
Ensemble Modern is a chamber ensemble dedicated to the music of modern composers. Formed in 1980, the group is based in Frankfurt, Germany and made up variously of about twenty members from numerous countries....
in Japan on a program including Stravinsky
Igor Stravinsky
Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky ; 6 April 1971) was a Russian, later naturalized French, and then naturalized American composer, pianist, and conductor....
's Japanese Lyrics and [Balmont] Songs with Dominique My conducting.
She was the soprano soloist in Carmina Burana
Carmina Burana (Orff)
Carmina Burana is a scenic cantata composed by Carl Orff in 1935 and 1936. It is based on 24 of the poems found in the medieval collection Carmina Burana...
at the re-opening gala of the Blossom Festival with the Cleveland Orchestra
Cleveland Orchestra
The Cleveland Orchestra is an American orchestra based in Cleveland, Ohio. It is one of the five American orchestras informally referred to as the "Big Five". Founded in 1918, the orchestra plays most of its concerts at Severance Hall...
with Franz Welser-Möst
Franz Welser-Möst
Franz Welser-Möst is an Austrian conductor who is currently the music director for the Cleveland Orchestra and the Vienna State Opera.- Biography :...
conducting, again in the Messiah
Messiah (Handel)
Messiah is an English-language oratorio composed in 1741 by George Frideric Handel, with a scriptural text compiled by Charles Jennens from the King James Bible and the Book of Common Prayer. It was first performed in Dublin on 13 April 1742, and received its London premiere nearly a year later...
again with Cleveland Orchestra
Cleveland Orchestra
The Cleveland Orchestra is an American orchestra based in Cleveland, Ohio. It is one of the five American orchestras informally referred to as the "Big Five". Founded in 1918, the orchestra plays most of its concerts at Severance Hall...
at Severance Hall
Severance Hall
Severance Hall is a concert hall located in the University Circle neighborhood of Cleveland, Ohio. The hall has been the home of the Cleveland Orchestra since its opening on February 5, 1931...
, returned with Pierre Boulez
Pierre Boulez
Pierre Boulez is a French composer of contemporary classical music, a pianist, and a conductor.-Early years:Boulez was born in Montbrison, Loire, France. As a child he began piano lessons and demonstrated aptitude in both music and mathematics...
for the title role of Stravinsky
Igor Stravinsky
Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky ; 6 April 1971) was a Russian, later naturalized French, and then naturalized American composer, pianist, and conductor....
's Rossignol
Rossignol
Rossignol is a French word meaning nightingale. It may also refer to:People* The Rossignols, a family of French cryptographers* André Rossignol* Felix Rossignol* Jean Antoine Rossignol* Jim Rossignol* Jules Rossignol* Michelle Rossignol...
and with Matthias Pintscher in Debussy's "Le Martyr de St. Sebastien." With Sir Roger Norrington
Roger Norrington
Sir Roger Arthur Carver Norrington, CBE is a British conductor. He is the son of Sir Arthur Norrington and his brother is Humphrey Thomas Norrington....
and the Stuttgart Radio Orchestra, Ms. Claycomb has made tours as Teresa in Berlioz
Hector Berlioz
Hector Berlioz was a French Romantic composer, best known for his compositions Symphonie fantastique and Grande messe des morts . Berlioz made significant contributions to the modern orchestra with his Treatise on Instrumentation. He specified huge orchestral forces for some of his works; as a...
's Benvenuto Cellini
Benvenuto Cellini (opera)
Benvenuto Cellini is an opera in two acts with music by Hector Berlioz and libretto by Léon de Wailly and Henri Auguste Barbier. It was the first of Berlioz's operas. The story is loosely based on the memoirs of the Florentine sculptor Benvenuto Cellini. The opera is technically very challenging...
' (recorded for Hanssler Classics) and as the soprano soloist in Vaughan Williams
Ralph Vaughan Williams
Ralph Vaughan Williams OM was an English composer of symphonies, chamber music, opera, choral music, and film scores. He was also a collector of English folk music and song: this activity both influenced his editorial approach to the English Hymnal, beginning in 1904, in which he included many...
' A Sea Symphony
A Sea Symphony (Vaughan Williams)
A Sea Symphony is a choral symphony by Ralph Vaughan Williams, written between 1903 and 1909. Vaughan Williams's first and longest symphony, it was first performed at the Leeds Festival in 1910, with the composer conducting. The symphony's maturity belies the composer's relative youth when it was...
. With the San Francisco Symphony
San Francisco Symphony
The San Francisco Symphony is an orchestra based in San Francisco, California. Since 1980, the orchestra has performed at the Louise M. Davies Symphony Hall. The San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra and the San Francisco Symphony Chorus are part of the organization...
and Michael Tilson Thomas
Michael Tilson Thomas
Michael Tilson Thomas is an American conductor, pianist and composer. He is currently music director of the San Francisco Symphony, and artistic director of the New World Symphony Orchestra.-Early years:...
, she sang concerts of Schoenberg
Arnold Schoenberg
Arnold Schoenberg was an Austrian composer, associated with the expressionist movement in German poetry and art, and leader of the Second Viennese School...
's Herzgewächse and Toch
Ernst Toch
Ernst Toch was a composer of classical music and film scores.- Biography :Toch, born in Leopoldstadt, Vienna, into the family of a humble Jewish leather dealer when the city was at its 19th-century cultural zenith, sought throughout his life to introduce new approaches to music...
's Chinesische Flöte, concerts and a recording of Mahler
Gustav Mahler
Gustav Mahler was a late-Romantic Austrian composer and one of the leading conductors of his generation. He was born in the village of Kalischt, Bohemia, in what was then Austria-Hungary, now Kaliště in the Czech Republic...
's Fourth Symphony
Symphony No. 4 (Mahler)
The Symphony No. 4 by Gustav Mahler was written between 1899 and 1901, though it incorporates a song originally written in 1892. The song, "Das himmlische Leben", presents a child's vision of Heaven. It is sung by a soprano in the work's fourth and last movement...
for San Francisco Symphony
San Francisco Symphony
The San Francisco Symphony is an orchestra based in San Francisco, California. Since 1980, the orchestra has performed at the Louise M. Davies Symphony Hall. The San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra and the San Francisco Symphony Chorus are part of the organization...
's own label, Mahler's 8th Symphony, and concerts of Strauss
Richard Strauss
Richard Georg Strauss was a leading German composer of the late Romantic and early modern eras. He is known for his operas, which include Der Rosenkavalier and Salome; his Lieder, especially his Four Last Songs; and his tone poems and orchestral works, such as Death and Transfiguration, Till...
' Brentano
Brentano
There are some famous people named Brentano or von Brentano:* Antonie Brentano* August Brentano, bookseller* Bernard von Brentano, novelist* Christian Brentano* Clemens Brentano, poet and novelist, brother of Bettina von Arnim There are some famous people named Brentano or von Brentano:* Antonie...
Lieder. With the London Symphony Orchestra
London Symphony Orchestra
The London Symphony Orchestra is a major orchestra of the United Kingdom, as well as one of the best-known orchestras in the world. Since 1982, the LSO has been based in London's Barbican Centre.-History:...
, Ms. Claycomb sang Humperdinck's Hansel und Gretel with Richard Hickox conducting, Mahler's Second Symphony
Symphony No. 2 (Mahler)
The Symphony No. 2 by Gustav Mahler, known as the Resurrection, was written between 1888 and 1894, and first performed in 1895. Apart from the Eighth Symphony, this symphony was Mahler's most popular and successful work during his lifetime. It is his first major work that would eventually mark his...
with Andrew Davis
Andrew Davis (conductor)
Sir Andrew Frank Davis CBE is a British conductor.Born in Ashridge, Hertfordshire to Robert J. Davis and his wife Florence J. née Badminton, Davis grew up in Chesham, Buckinghamshire, and in Watford. Davis attended Watford Boys' Grammar School, where he studied classics in his sixth form years...
conducting, Carmina Burana and Barber's Knoxville, Summer of 1915 with Hickox conducting, as well as concerts of Berlioz's "Benvenuto Cellini" with Sir Colin Davis (recorded for LSO LIVE label.) Most recently, she joined the LSO for Mahler's Fourth Symphony with Valery Gergiev in London and Athens.
Her collaboration in concert with Richard Hickox
Richard Hickox
Richard Sidney Hickox CBE was an English conductor of choral, orchestral and operatic music.-Early life:Hickox was born in Stokenchurch in Buckinghamshire into a musical family...
in addition to their many operatic collaborations also includes Grainger
Grainger
Grainger may refer to:People*Grainger ,Places*Grainger County, Tennessee, county located in Tennessee, USA.*Grainger Falls, waterfall in Chalky Inland, Fiordland, NZ.*Grainger Market, covered market in Newcastle upon Tyne, England....
at the BBC Proms, Vaughan Williams
Ralph Vaughan Williams
Ralph Vaughan Williams OM was an English composer of symphonies, chamber music, opera, choral music, and film scores. He was also a collector of English folk music and song: this activity both influenced his editorial approach to the English Hymnal, beginning in 1904, in which he included many...
' A Sea Symphony
A Sea Symphony (Vaughan Williams)
A Sea Symphony is a choral symphony by Ralph Vaughan Williams, written between 1903 and 1909. Vaughan Williams's first and longest symphony, it was first performed at the Leeds Festival in 1910, with the composer conducting. The symphony's maturity belies the composer's relative youth when it was...
at the Gulbenkian
Gulbenkian
Gulbenkian is an Armenian surname. It may refer to:People:*Calouste Gulbenkian, an Armenian businessman*Nubar Gulbenkian, his son, also a businessmanOther:*Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, a charitable institution...
in 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...
, a stunning Haydn
Joseph Haydn
Franz Joseph Haydn , known as Joseph Haydn , was an Austrian composer, one of the most prolific and prominent composers of the Classical period. He is often called the "Father of the Symphony" and "Father of the String Quartet" because of his important contributions to these forms...
Creation at the Spoleto Festival and Handel
George Frideric Handel
George Frideric Handel was a German-British Baroque composer, famous for his operas, oratorios, anthems and organ concertos. Handel was born in 1685, in a family indifferent to music...
's Messiah
Messiah (Handel)
Messiah is an English-language oratorio composed in 1741 by George Frideric Handel, with a scriptural text compiled by Charles Jennens from the King James Bible and the Book of Common Prayer. It was first performed in Dublin on 13 April 1742, and received its London premiere nearly a year later...
with the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra
San Francisco Symphony
The San Francisco Symphony is an orchestra based in San Francisco, California. Since 1980, the orchestra has performed at the Louise M. Davies Symphony Hall. The San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra and the San Francisco Symphony Chorus are part of the organization...
.
In London's Royal Albert Hall
Royal Albert Hall
The Royal Albert Hall is a concert hall situated on the northern edge of the South Kensington area, in the City of Westminster, London, England, best known for holding the annual summer Proms concerts since 1941....
, she sang a Mozart program including Der Schauspieldirektor
Der Schauspieldirektor
Der Schauspieldirektor , K. 486, is a comic Singspiel written by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to a German libretto by Gottlieb Stephanie, an Austrian Schauspieldirektor....
with Ivan Fischer
Iván Fischer
Iván Fischer is a Hungarian conductor and composer. Born in Budapest into a Jewish musical family, Fischer initially studied piano, violin, cello and composition in Budapest...
and the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment
Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment
The Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment is a British period instrument orchestra. The OAE is a resident orchestra of the Southbank Centre, London, associate orchestra at Glyndebourne Festival Opera and has its headquarters at Kings Place...
, which was also broadcast on BBC Radio
BBC Radio
BBC Radio is a service of the British Broadcasting Corporation which has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a Royal Charter since 1927. For a history of BBC radio prior to 1927 see British Broadcasting Company...
. On another all-Mozart program in Switzerland, Ms. Claycomb was the feature, singing a program of 6 concert arias with the Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne
Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne
The Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne is a Swiss chamber orchestra based in Lausanne, Switzerland.The violinist and conductor Victor Desarzens founded the orchestra in 1942, and served as its first artistic director for 30 years...
and conductor Jonathan Darlington. She appeared as Madame Silberklang in Der Schauspieldirektor
Der Schauspieldirektor
Der Schauspieldirektor , K. 486, is a comic Singspiel written by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to a German libretto by Gottlieb Stephanie, an Austrian Schauspieldirektor....
with the Munich Radio Orchestra and Sebastian Weigle, and another Mozart concert with Ulf Schirmer. Ms. Claycomb also performed Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven was a German composer and pianist. A crucial figure in the transition between the Classical and Romantic eras in Western art music, he remains one of the most famous and influential composers of all time.Born in Bonn, then the capital of the Electorate of Cologne and part of...
's rarely-heard oratorio Christus am Ölberg with the Flemish Opera Orchestra and Ivan Törz.
She sang her first Brahms
Johannes Brahms
Johannes Brahms was a German composer and pianist, and one of the leading musicians of the Romantic period. Born in Hamburg, Brahms spent much of his professional life in Vienna, Austria, where he was a leader of the musical scene...
Requiem
Ein deutsches Requiem
A German Requiem, To Words of the Holy Scriptures, Op. 45 by Johannes Brahms, is a large-scale work for chorus, orchestra, and a soprano and a baritone soloist, composed between 1865 and 1868. It comprises seven movements, which together last 65 to 80 minutes, making this work Brahms's longest...
at the Teatro Lirico di Cagliari with Gerard Korsten, a concert of bel canto excerpts with John Demain and Opera Pacific
Opera Pacific
Opera Pacific was an opera company located in the Orange County, California, United States city of Santa Ana. It operated for 22 seasons before closing in 2008 after several seasons of deepening financial difficulties.-History:...
as well as at the Lanaudière Festival with Yannick Nezet-Sequin, and was the feature of New Year's concerts with Vlaamse Opera, with George Pehlavanian conducting.
With an avid interest in recital repertoire, chamber music
Chamber music
Chamber music is a form of classical music, written for a small group of instruments which traditionally could be accommodated in a palace chamber. Most broadly, it includes any art music that is performed by a small number of performers with one performer to a part...
, and neglected composers, she combines this music into her recital schedule with pianists Roger Vignoles
Roger Vignoles
Roger Vignoles is a British pianist and accompanist. He regularly performs with the world’s leading singers – including Kiri Te Kanawa, Thomas Allen, Anne Sofie von Otter, Thomas Hampson, Gitta-Maria Sjøberg, Sarah Walker, Susan Graham, Felicity Lott, Stephan Genz, Monica Groop, Wolfgang Holzmair,...
, Peter Grunberg and Iain Burnside. In past years, Ms. Claycomb reprised Messiaen
Olivier Messiaen
Olivier Messiaen was a French composer, organist and ornithologist, one of the major composers of the 20th century. His music is rhythmically complex ; harmonically and melodically it is based on modes of limited transposition, which he abstracted from his early compositions and improvisations...
's Chants de terre et de ciel with Grunberg on "Cal Performances" to rave reviews, as well performing three world-premieres at One World Theater in Austin
Austin, Texas
Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of :Texas and the seat of Travis County. Located in Central Texas on the eastern edge of the American Southwest, it is the fourth-largest city in Texas and the 14th most populous city in the United States. It was the third-fastest-growing large city in...
on a chamber concert with Nina Kotova
Nina Kotova
Nina Kotova is a Russian Americancellist.Nina Kotova was accepted by the cello faculty into an adult class of the Moscow Conservatory at the age of seven, while studying at the Central Music School Pre-Conservatory. Nina gave her first performance as a soloist with an orchestra at the age of 11 and...
, José Feghali
José Feghali
José Feghali is a Brazilian pianist, currently an Artist-in-Residence at TCU's school of music in piano. He was the Gold Medalist winner of the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition in 1985.- Education :...
, and Ron Neal. Her recitals have taken her from San Francisco, to 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...
, San Antonio, Houston, Brussels
Brussels
Brussels , officially the Brussels Region or Brussels-Capital Region , is the capital of Belgium and the de facto capital of the European Union...
, Bruges
Bruges
Bruges is the capital and largest city of the province of West Flanders in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is located in the northwest of the country....
(Concertgebouw), Santiago de Compostela, Spain, the Tuscan Sun Festival in Cortona
Cortona
Cortona is a town and comune in the province of Arezzo, in Tuscany, Italy. It is the main cultural and artistic center of the Val di Chiana after Arezzo.-History:...
, Italy and a BBC Voices recital on English radio. Her most recent recital at the Théâtre de la Monnaie with Burnside was received enthusiastically in Brussels
Brussels
Brussels , officially the Brussels Region or Brussels-Capital Region , is the capital of Belgium and the de facto capital of the European Union...
.
Awards
Claycomb recently was the recipient of the 2011 Maria Callas Debut Artist Award for her performances as Gilda in Dallas Opera's production of Rigoletto. She has also won the Silver Medal at the International Tchaikovsky CompetitionInternational Tchaikovsky Competition
The International Tchaikovsky Competition is a classical music competition held every four years in Moscow, Russia for pianists, violinists, and cellists between 16 and 30 years of age, and singers between 19 and 32 years of age...
in Moscow in 1994, the Operetta Prize at the Belvedere Competition in Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
in 1992 and First Prize in the National Opera Association Competition in 1992. A native Texan, she studied with Barbara Hill Moore at Southern Methodist University
Southern Methodist University
Southern Methodist University is a private university in Dallas, Texas, United States. Founded in 1911 by the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, SMU operates campuses in Dallas, Plano, and Taos, New Mexico. SMU is owned by the South Central Jurisdiction of the United Methodist Church...
, where she received degrees in both Vocal Performance and Foreign Languages; she studied with the late Norma Newton from 1994 until Newton's death in 2008. She makes her home in Italy.
Recordings and Videos
- Ligeti: Le Grand Macabre / Ligeti /Salonen, Philharmonia Orch, Willard White, Graham Clark, Sybille Ehlert, Jard van Nes, Frode Olsen, Charlotte Hellekant, Steven Cole, Derek Lee Ragin, et al.., Sony B00000ICMU CD, 1999
- Vaughan-Williams Vaughan Williams: Sir John in Love / Richard HickoxRichard HickoxRichard Sidney Hickox CBE was an English conductor of choral, orchestral and operatic music.-Early life:Hickox was born in Stokenchurch in Buckinghamshire into a musical family...
/ Anne-Marie Owens, Sarah Connolly, Northern Sinfonia and Chorus, Brian Bannatyne-Scott, Donald Maxwell, Roderick Williams, Susan Gritton, Matthew Best, Mark PadmoreMark PadmoreMark Padmore is a British tenor appearing in concerts, recitals, and opera.Born in London 8 March 1961, and raised in Canterbury, Kent in England. Padmore studied clarinet and piano prior to his gaining a choral scholarship to King's College, Cambridge...
, Stephen VarcoeStephen VarcoeStephen Varcoe is an English classical bass-baritone singer, appearing internationally in opera and concert, known for Baroque and contemporary music and a notable singer of Lieder.- Professional career :...
, Stephan Loges, John Bowen, Richard Lloyd-Morgan, Laura Claycomb, Henry Moss, Mark Richardson CHANDOS, B00005M0ER, CD/MP3, 2001 - Handel: Arcadian Duets / Dessay, Gens, Asawa, Haim, et al., VIRGIN 07243545524272002, CD/DIGITALMP3, 2001
- Mahler: Symphony no 4 / Tilson Thomas, Claycomb, San Francisco SO/DELOS SACD Hybrid, 2002
- Il Salotto Vol 6 - La Partenza / Laura Claycomb, Bruce Ford, Manuela Custer, Roberto Servile, Dominic Natoli, Nicola Rossi Giordano, Dean Robinson, Brindley Sherratt / OPERA RARA ORR227 CD, 2004
- Il Salotto Vol 7- Primo Dolce Affano / Bruce Ford, Elizabeth Vidal, Laura Claycomb, Manuela Custer, William Matteuzzi, Roberto Servile, Alastair Miles, piano - David Harper / OPERA RARA ORR230 CD, 2005
- Vocal Teamwork / Annick Massis, Bruce Ford, Majella Cullagh, Alastair Miles, Jennifer Larmore, Mirco Palazzi, Laura Claycomb, Peter GlossopPeter GlossopPeter Glossop was an English baritone who was the only Englishman to have sung Verdi's great tragic baritone roles at La Scala, Milan...
, Della Jones, Alexander Oliver, Yvonne Kenny, Rockwell Blake, Daniela Barcellona, William Matteuzzi, Jane Eaglen, Christian du Plessis, Deborah Cook. London Philharmonic Orchestra, BBC Concert Orchestra, Philharmonia Orchestra - conductors David ParryDavid Parry (conductor)David Parry is an English conductor who is particularly known for his work within the field of opera. Described as "a man of the theatre with whom directors love to work; he is good with singers; he knows the British opera world like the back of his hand...
, James Judd, Giuliano Carella / OPERA RARA ORR233 CD, 2005 - Giacomo Meyerbeer: L’esule di Granata (Highlights) / Manuela Custer, Laura Claycomb, Mirco Palazzi, Paul Austin Kelly, Brindley Sherratt, Ashley Catling. Geoffrey Mitchell Choir, Academy of St Martin in the Fields, Giuliano Carella - conductor / OPERA RARA ORR234 CD, 2006
- Benvenuto Cellini Berlioz: Benvenuto Cellini / Norrington / SWR Stuttgart Radio Orchestra / Ford, Maltman, Ekkehard Vogler, Franz Hawlata, Ralf Lukas, Reinhard Mayr, Johannes Chum, Middle German Radio Chorus-Leipzig, 2007
- Entre Nous: Celebrating Offenbach / Jennifer Larmore, Alastair Miles, Yvonne Kenny, Mark Stone, Diana Montague, Laura Claycomb, Elizabeth Vidal, Colin Lee, Loic Felix, Mark Wilde, Cassandre Berthon, Mark le Brocq, Alexandra Sherman, Andre Cognet. London Philharmonic Orchestra, Geoffrey Mitchell Choir, David Parry - conductor / OPERA RARA ORR243 CD, 2007
- Giovanni Pacini: Alessandro nell’Indie / Bruce Ford, Jennifer Larmore, Laura Claycomb, Mark Wilde, Dean Robinson. London Philharmonic Orchestra, Geoffrey Mitchell Choir, David Parry - conductor/ OPERA RARA ORC35 CD, 2008
- Berlioz: Benvenuto Cellini / Colin Davis / London Symphony Orchestra / London Symphony Chorus / Gregory Kunde, Laura Claycomb, Darren Jeffery, Peter Coleman-Wright, Andrew Kennedy, Isabelle Cals, Jacques Imbrailo, John Relyea, Andrew Foster-Williams, Alasdair Elliot, 2008
- Ambroise Thomas: La Cour de Célimène / Laura Claycomb, Joan Rodgers, Alastair Miles, Sébastien Droy, Nicole Tibbels. Geoffrey Mitchell Choir, Philharmonia Orchestra, Andrew Litton - conductor/ OPERA RARA ORC37 CD, 2008
- Igor Stravinsky: The Rake's Progress/ Laura Claycomb, Andrew Kennedy, William Shimell, Julianne Young, Dagmar PeckováDagmar PeckováDagmar Pecková is a Czech operatic mezzo-soprano.Born in the Medlešice district of Chrudim, Pecková studied singing at the Prague Conservatory. She then became part of the young artist's program at the Semperoper in Dresden in 1985. After two years in the program she was made a principal artist...
/ Robert LePage, Théâtre de la Monnaie, Kazushi Ono / "BBC/OPUS ARTE" B00118DQY2 "DVD", 2008 - Fabrizio Cassol/Bach: Pitié! / AKA MOON, Laura Claycomb, Melissa Givens, Cristina Zavalloni, Serge Kakudji, Magic Malik, Airelle Besson, Sanne Van Hek, Tcha Limberger, Philippe Thurion, Lode Vercampt, Monica Brett-Crowther, Alexandre Cavalière / CYPRESS RECORDS, CD, 2008
- Carl Orff: Carmina Burana HYBRID SACD - DSD Richard Hickox - Conductor, London Symphony Orchestra, Laura Claycomb, Barry Banks, Christopher Maltman / ""CHANDOS RECORDS"", "CD", 2008
- Mahler: Symphony # 8 HYBRID SACD - DSD, Michael Tilson Thomas - Conductor, Erin Wall, Elza van den Heever, Laura Claycomb, Katarina Karneus, Yvonne Naef, Anthony Dean Griffey, Quinn Kelsey, James Morris, San Francisco Symphony Chorus, San Francisco Girls Chorus, Pacific Boychoir, San Francisco Symphony / ""SAN FRANCISCO SYMPHONY LABEL"", "SACD", 2008
External links
- Laura Claycomb Official Website
- San Francisco Classical Voice Article http://www.sfcv.org/arts_revs/sfsym_5_24_05.php
- San Francisco Chronicle Article http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/chronicle/archive/2003/06/08/PK162114.DTL&type=music
- Janos Gerebens article
- French review
- Kommersant article
- Vremya Russian Interview
- Kultura Russian interview