Elena Mosuc

Biography

The Romanian-swiss Elena Mosuc, born in Iasi (Romania), was at first educated at the local “George Enescu” — Conservatory. Before completing her studies she was already given the opportunity to celebrate her debut as a soloist in the opera house of her native city, where she sang the roles of the Queen of the Night, Lucia, Gilda and Violetta. In 1991, she won the international music competition organised by the “ARD” German Television Channel I in Munich and also the Monte-Carlo competition of that year. In November 1993, she was awarded the “European Furtherance Prize for Music” and in late 1995 the “Premio Bellini d’ Oro” in Catania. In 2002 she received the “Premio Zenatello di Verona” and in 2004 the “Premio Verdi di Modena” and the “Premio Verdi di Verona”. In the year 2005, the Romanian president bestowed upon her the title “Officer of the Arts”; this is one of the highest honour which can be awarded to a musician in that country. In 2009, she was given the price of the Italian critics “Lina Pagliughi: Siola d’oro ” together with the medal of high patronage of the President of the Italian Republic, Giorgio Napolitano. Also in 2009, she made her doctor’s degree in music science with “The Theme of Madness in the Italian opera of the first half of the 19-th century”. In Romania she has recently been appointed “Woman of the year 2009”. In 2010, she became honorary citizen of her native city.

Since the beginning of her career, Elena Mosuc was connected closely to the Zurich Opera House, and she has appeared there in many roles; these include the Queen of the Night, Konstanze, Donna Anna, Lucia di Lammermoor, Linda (Linda di Chamounix), Elvira, Gilda, Violetta, Luisa Miller, Sophie, Zerbinetta, Aminta/Timidia (The silent woman), Musetta, Micaëla, Marguerite, Liù, Medora (Il Corsaro), Nedda, Mrs. Alice Ford, Olympia, Antonia and Giulietta. She has worked with many of the greatest conductors including Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Franz Welser-Moest, Christoph von Dohnányi, Placido Domingo, Vladimir Fedoseyev, Ralf Weikert, as well as Marco Armiliato, Alan Gilbert, Paolo Carignani, Adam Fischer, Marc Minkowski, Michel Plasson, Nello Santi, Carlo Rizzi, Peter Schneider and Marcello Viotti.

Guest star appearances take her continuously to all the important opera houses in Europe (among others to Barcelona, Berlin, Hamburg, Munich, Vienna, Salzburg, Paris, London, Milan, Rome, Venice, Verona, Brussels, Amsterdam), as well as to the USA (a.o. New-York, Dallas) and also to Japan and China. She also appears regularly as a concert singer and in this field has worked with Sir Colin Davis, James Conlon, David Zinman, Michael Gielen, Fabio Luisi, Bruno Campanella, Bertrand de Billy, Daniel Oren, Stefan Soltesz, Leopold Hager, Roberto Rizzi Brignoli, Pinchas Steinberg, Yves Abel, Gustavo Dudamel, Daniel Harding, Ivor Bolton and Gianandrea Noseda. Elena Mosuc also continues to give frequent concerts and to appear in opera soirees in her native country.

Elena Mosuc has established her reputation as one of the world’s most versatile and expressive sopranos. Sensational performances as the Queen of the Night in Amsterdam, Berlin, London, Paris, Rome, Tokyo and Shanghai have been followed by triumphs at the Bavarian State Opera in the title roles of Lucia di Lammermoor and La Traviata. In Essen’s Aalto Theatre she has had outstanding success as Luisa Miller and as Elvira in Bellini’s I Puritani. Her debut performances as Gilda and as Violetta in the Verona Arena were received with unanimous acclaim by public and critics alike. Other important und successful engagements brought her to the Deutsche Opera Berlin, where her debut involved all four principal female roles (Olympia, Antonia, Giulietta and Stella) in Les Contes d’ Hoffmann, to the State Opera Berlin (Zerbinetta), to the Teatro Filarmonico di Verona (Donna Anna in Don Giovanni and La Traviata) and to the Teatro La Fenice (La Traviata). Elena’s opera performances have given her the opportunity to work with very famous directors such as Franco Zeffirelli, Liliana Cavani, Sven-Eric Bechtolf, Philippe Arlaud, Pierre Audi, Ruth Berghaus, Jürgen Flimm, Claus Guth, Stefan Herheim, Dietrich Hilsdorf, Nicolas Joël, Guy Joosten, Martin Kusej, Cesare Lievi, Philippe Sireuil, Marco Arturo Marelli, Christine Mielitz, Jonathan Miller, Giancarlo del Monaco, Renata Scotto, Andrei Serban, Grischa Asagaroff and Graham Vick.

She shared the stage with renowned colleagues, among them: Leo Nucci, Alfredo Kraus, Neil Shicoff, José Cura, Giuseppe Giacomini, Giorgio Zancanaro, Renato Bruson, Juan Pons, Giacomo Aragall, Lucia Popp, Peter Seiffert, Ann Murray, Ruggiero Raimondi, Jonas Kaufmann, Agnes Baltsa, Mirella Freni, Katia Ricciarelli, José Carreras, Plácido Domingo, Juan Diego Flórez, Marcello Giordani, Marcelo Alvarez, Rolando Villazón, Thomas Hampson, Angela Gheorghiu, Roberto Alagna, Kurt Moll, Kurt Rydl, Francisco Araiza, Barbara Bonney, Gwyneth Jones, Maria Guleghina, Matti Salminen and others.

Highlights of recent seasons include her highly acclaimed role debuts as Norma, Mimì and Maria Stuarda in Zurich and at the State Opera Berlin. Thereupon she appeared with sensational success as Violetta at the New Israeli Opera, at the Vienna State Opera at the New National Theatre Tokyo, at the Deutsche Oper Berlin, at the Teatro Regio Torino and in the Verona Arena, as Lucia di Lammermoor at the Théâtre Capitole de Toulouse, at the Deutsche Oper Berlin, at the Theatre Royal de la Monnaie in Brussels, at the Opera Festival Avenches, at the Teatro Regio di Torino and lately in Dallas, as Elvira (I Puritani) at the Vienna State Opera, as Anna Bolena at the Konzerthaus Vienna, as Micaëla in the Verona Arena, as Gilda at the Teatro Regio di Parma, at the Vienna and the Bavarian State Opera, at the Teatro Verdi Trieste, at the Palacio Euskalduna in Bilbao and at the Teatro alla Scala, as Donna Anna (Don Giovanni) at the New National Theatre Tokyo and in Zurich, as Zerbinetta (Ariadne auf Naxos) in Zurich, Genova and at the Salzburg Festival, in all principal female roles in Les Contes d’Hoffmann at the State Opera of Hamburg and in Zurich, and lately as Lucrezia Borgia at the Theatre Royal de la Monnaie in Brussels. Absolute highlights were her triumphant debuts as Violetta Valéry at the Teatro alla Scala in Milan under the baton of Maestro Lorin Maazel and at the Metropolitan Opera New York as Olympia and recently as Lucia at the Dallas Opera.

In 2014 she sang Violetta (La Traviata) at the Bolshoi Theatre.

Her discography includes not only her solo albums Au jardin de mon Coeur, Mozart Portrait, Notre Amour (with many of the little-known tunes that were inspired by the folk melodies of her native country) and Donizetti Heroines, but among others also Gualberto Brunetti’s Stabat Mater, a world premier recording, With Compliments (arias by Händel with the Zurich Chamber Orchestra), the complete recording of the operetta Schön ist die Welt (by Léhar) and Mahlers 2nd Symphony under the baton of Valery Gergiev. The artist is also featured on DVD in several roles including Musetta in La Bohème, Gilda with Leo Nucci in Rigoletto, Zerbinetta in Ariadne auf Naxos and Queen of the Night in The magic Flute. Especially noteworthy among her numerous TV appearances was the glamorous FIFA centennial gala conducted by Valery Gergiev, which was broadcast live in more than 120 countries all over the world. And finally, her first Television film — The Genius of Mozart —recorded by the BBC deserves a special mention.