Erin Wall
Encyclopedia
Erin Wall is a Canadian opera
tic soprano
.
She studied at the Vancouver Academy of Music
, Western Washington University
, Rice University
and Music Academy of the West
and was a finalist at the Cardiff Singer of the World competition in Wales
in 2003, a competition where 951 singers from 56 nations applied and 483 were offered auditions, and in which she sang in the group of five finalists: "... no doubt she was cheered to hear the leading scream of 'Bravoooooo!' [sic] from the unmistakable voice of Matthew Epstein ... artistic director of Chicago Lyric Opera."
In July 2002 she made her international debut in London with a performance in the War Requiem
of Benjamin Britten
.
Following graduation from the Lyric Opera of Chicago
's Lyric Opera Center for American Artists, she was engaged for three seasons with the company. Making a significant impression as the understudy for Karita Mattila
, she appeared in Chicago on opening night in September 2004 as Donna Anna in Don Giovanni
, filling in for Karita Mattila
. Mark Thomas Ketterson
of Opera News
said "(she) sang gloriously..defiantly launching her voluminous soprano through the fabric of the ensembles and coursing through the coloratura with precision and verve. …..This was as beautifully vocalized a Donna Anna as one is likely to encounter today". Opera Today expressed similar enthusiasm.
Other roles have included Gerhilde in Die Walküre
, the Flowermaiden in Parsifal
, Marguerite in Faust
and Freia in Das Rheingold
while, in March 2006, she sang Fiordiligi in Così fan tutte
.
At the 2006 Mostly Mozart Festival in New York she caught the attention of Alex Ross
who noted that "Erin Wall, a young Canadian, sang "Bella mia fiamma … Resta, o cara" (Mozart) with grace and fire, showing the sort of righteous rage that would make for a great Donna Anna. I hope someone from the Met was taking notes". Internationally, she has appeared in Paris, Aix-en-Provence
and Vienna
.
During the 2007 summer festival season of the Santa Fe Opera
she sang the role of Daphne in Richard Strauss
' Daphne
: "Erin Wall took on the leading role, a perilous undertaking for a soprano still early in her career, but she displayed an impressive command of Strauss's taxing music". This was followed by the role of Donna Anna in Don Giovanni
at the Washington National Opera
in late October/November 2007: "Erin Wall was a sympathetic Donna Anna who fleshed out the character with a truly noble bearing and filled out the melodic lines with a combination of steel and sweetness. Sure coloratura and incisive phrasing (including hairpin shifts of dynamics) completed the impressive vocal package."
On April 13, 2009, Erin Wall made her debut at the Metropolitan Opera
in New York as Donna Anna in Don Giovanni
to critical acclaim.
On July 24, 2011, Erin Wall sang along with legendary baritone Ruggero Raimondi at the opening of the Gran Teatro Nacional, in Lima, Peru.
Opera
Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
tic 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...
.
She studied at the Vancouver Academy of Music
Vancouver Academy of Music
The Vancouver Academy of Music is a Canadian music conservatory located in Vancouver, British Columbia. The school was founded as the Community Music School of Greater Vancouver in 1969 through efforts made by the Vancouver Community Arts Council. The school was originally located on West 12th...
, Western Washington University
Western Washington University
Western Washington University is one of six state-funded, four-year universities of higher education in the U.S. state of Washington. It is located in Bellingham and offers bachelor's and master's degrees.-History:...
, Rice University
Rice University
William Marsh Rice University, commonly referred to as Rice University or Rice, is a private research university located on a heavily wooded campus in Houston, Texas, United States...
and Music Academy of the West
Music Academy of the West
The Music Academy of the West is a music conservatory located in Montecito, California near Santa Barbara, California. Every year, it hosts a summer music festival for the community highlighted by concerts and workshops directed by famous composers, conductors, and artists.A yearly maximum of 135...
and was a finalist at the Cardiff Singer of the World competition in Wales
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
in 2003, a competition where 951 singers from 56 nations applied and 483 were offered auditions, and in which she sang in the group of five finalists: "... no doubt she was cheered to hear the leading scream of 'Bravoooooo!' [sic] from the unmistakable voice of Matthew Epstein ... artistic director of Chicago Lyric Opera."
In July 2002 she made her international debut in London with a performance in the War Requiem
War Requiem
The War Requiem, Op. 66 is a large-scale, non-liturgical setting of the Requiem Mass composed by Benjamin Britten mostly in 1961 and completed January 1962. Interspersed with the traditional Latin texts, in telling juxtaposition, are settings of Wilfred Owen poems...
of Benjamin Britten
Benjamin Britten
Edward Benjamin Britten, Baron Britten, OM CH was an English composer, conductor, and pianist. He showed talent from an early age, and first came to public attention with the a cappella choral work A Boy Was Born in 1934. With the premiere of his opera Peter Grimes in 1945, he leapt to...
.
Following graduation from the Lyric Opera of Chicago
Lyric Opera of Chicago
Lyric Opera of Chicago is one of the leading opera companies in the United States. It was founded in Chicago in 1952, under the name 'Lyric Theatre of Chicago' by Carol Fox, Nicolà Rescigno and Lawrence Kelly, with a season that included Maria Callas's American debut in Norma...
's Lyric Opera Center for American Artists, she was engaged for three seasons with the company. Making a significant impression as the understudy for Karita Mattila
Karita Mattila
Karita Marjatta Mattila is a leading opera soprano. She was born in Somero, Finland.Mattila appears regularly in the major opera houses worldwide, including the Metropolitan Opera, the Royal Opera House in London, Théâtre du Châtelet, Opéra Bastille, the Lyric Opera of Chicago, San Francisco...
, she appeared in Chicago on opening night in September 2004 as Donna Anna in Don Giovanni
Don Giovanni
Don Giovanni is an opera in two acts with music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and with an Italian libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte. It was premiered by the Prague Italian opera at the Teatro di Praga on October 29, 1787...
, filling in for Karita Mattila
Karita Mattila
Karita Marjatta Mattila is a leading opera soprano. She was born in Somero, Finland.Mattila appears regularly in the major opera houses worldwide, including the Metropolitan Opera, the Royal Opera House in London, Théâtre du Châtelet, Opéra Bastille, the Lyric Opera of Chicago, San Francisco...
. Mark Thomas Ketterson
Mark Thomas Ketterson
Mark Thomas Ketterson is an American performing arts critic and writer. He is the Chicago correspondent for Opera News magazine and he has also written for Playbill,...
of Opera News
Opera News
Opera News is an American classical music magazine. It has been published since 1936 by the Metropolitan Opera Guild, a non-profit organization located at Lincoln Center which was founded to support the Metropolitan Opera of New York City...
said "(she) sang gloriously..defiantly launching her voluminous soprano through the fabric of the ensembles and coursing through the coloratura with precision and verve. …..This was as beautifully vocalized a Donna Anna as one is likely to encounter today". Opera Today expressed similar enthusiasm.
Other roles have included Gerhilde in Die Walküre
Die Walküre
Die Walküre , WWV 86B, is the second of the four operas that form the cycle Der Ring des Nibelungen , by Richard Wagner...
, the Flowermaiden in Parsifal
Parsifal
Parsifal is an opera in three acts by Richard Wagner. It is loosely based on Wolfram von Eschenbach's Parzival, the 13th century epic poem of the Arthurian knight Parzival and his quest for the Holy Grail, and on Chrétien de Troyes' Perceval, the Story of the Grail.Wagner first conceived the work...
, Marguerite in Faust
Faust (opera)
Faust is a drame lyrique in five acts by Charles Gounod to a French libretto by Jules Barbier and Michel Carré from Carré's play Faust et Marguerite, in turn loosely based on Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's Faust, Part 1...
and Freia in Das Rheingold
Das Rheingold
is the first of the four operas that constitute Richard Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen . It was originally written as an introduction to the tripartite Ring, but the cycle is now generally regarded as consisting of four individual operas.Das Rheingold received its premiere at the National Theatre...
while, in March 2006, she sang Fiordiligi in Così fan tutte
Così fan tutte
Così fan tutte, ossia La scuola degli amanti K. 588, is an opera buffa by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart first performed in 1790. The libretto was written by Lorenzo Da Ponte....
.
At the 2006 Mostly Mozart Festival in New York she caught the attention of Alex Ross
Alex Ross (New Yorker critic)
Alex Ross is an American music critic. He has been on the staff of The New Yorker magazine since 1996 and published a critically acclaimed book on 20th-century classical music in 2007, The Rest Is Noise: Listening to the Twentieth Century....
who noted that "Erin Wall, a young Canadian, sang "Bella mia fiamma … Resta, o cara" (Mozart) with grace and fire, showing the sort of righteous rage that would make for a great Donna Anna. I hope someone from the Met was taking notes". Internationally, she has appeared in Paris, Aix-en-Provence
Aix-en-Provence
Aix , or Aix-en-Provence to distinguish it from other cities built over hot springs, is a city-commune in southern France, some north of Marseille. It is in the region of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, in the département of Bouches-du-Rhône, of which it is a subprefecture. The population of Aix is...
and 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...
.
During the 2007 summer festival season of the Santa Fe Opera
Santa Fe Opera
The Santa Fe Opera is an American opera company, located north of Santa Fe in the U.S. state of New Mexico, headquartered on a former guest ranch of .-General history:...
she sang the role of Daphne in Richard 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...
' Daphne
Daphne (opera)
Daphne is an opera in one act by Richard Strauss, his 13th opera, subtitled "A Bucolic Tragedy in One Act". The German libretto was by Joseph Gregor. The opera is based loosely on a myth from Ovid's Metamorphoses, and also includes elements taken from The Bacchae by Euripides...
: "Erin Wall took on the leading role, a perilous undertaking for a soprano still early in her career, but she displayed an impressive command of Strauss's taxing music". This was followed by the role of Donna Anna in Don Giovanni
Don Giovanni
Don Giovanni is an opera in two acts with music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and with an Italian libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte. It was premiered by the Prague Italian opera at the Teatro di Praga on October 29, 1787...
at the Washington National Opera
Washington National Opera
The Washington National Opera is an opera company in Washington, D.C., USA. Formerly the Opera Society of Washington and the Washington Opera, the company received Congressional designation as the National Opera Company in 2000. Performances are now given in the Opera House of the John F...
in late October/November 2007: "Erin Wall was a sympathetic Donna Anna who fleshed out the character with a truly noble bearing and filled out the melodic lines with a combination of steel and sweetness. Sure coloratura and incisive phrasing (including hairpin shifts of dynamics) completed the impressive vocal package."
On April 13, 2009, Erin Wall made her debut at the Metropolitan Opera
Metropolitan Opera
The Metropolitan Opera is an opera company, located in New York City. Originally founded in 1880, the company gave its first performance on October 22, 1883. The company is operated by the non-profit Metropolitan Opera Association, with Peter Gelb as general manager...
in New York as Donna Anna in Don Giovanni
Don Giovanni
Don Giovanni is an opera in two acts with music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and with an Italian libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte. It was premiered by the Prague Italian opera at the Teatro di Praga on October 29, 1787...
to critical acclaim.
On July 24, 2011, Erin Wall sang along with legendary baritone Ruggero Raimondi at the opening of the Gran Teatro Nacional, in Lima, Peru.