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| | Friede Stephanie | | soprano |  
| Soprano Stephanie Friede, who was born in New York City, is a graduate of Juillard and the Oberlin Conservatory of Music. In 1993, she made her debut at the Vienna State Opera as Mimi in Puccinis LA BOHEME, followed by great success in the title role of MADAMA BUTTERFLY at the Berlin State Opera. Her interpretation of Marguérite in Gounod's FAUST at Paris' Opéra Bastille evoked this reaction from the Newspaper 'Le Figaro': "Stephanie Friede fills the role of Marguérite with a breathtaking emotional depth, crowned by a perfectly performed 'jewel-aria'." |
| Since 1995, Stephanie Friede has been moving more and more from the lyrical to the dramatic arena (spinto). The soprano began the 1995 season with a highly successful production of MADAMA BUTTERFLY at the newly-built opera house in Göteborg, Sweden. Appearences in the USA followed, with her first performance of TOSCA, and her first interpretation of Lisa in Tchaikovsky's PIQUE DAME. In the fall of 1995, she sang the title role in Janacek's masterpiece JENUFA, in a new production by tom Cairns at the Opera North in Leeds, England. |
| In the spring of 1996, Stephanie Friede returned to the USA for guest performances. She appeared at the Miami Opera in a new production of Verdi's UN BALLO IN MASCHERA with the tenor Vinson Cole. As part of the celebrated Puccini cycle, staged by Robert Carsen at the Flanders Opera in Antwerp, Ms. Friede's interpretation of Minnie in LA FANCIULLA DEL WEST was enthusiastically received by audiences, ending the season on a note of personal triumph for the soprano. In the summer of the same year, she had her decidedly successful debut in Japan, performing songs by Benjamin Britten in Tokyo and Osaka with the NHK Symphony Orchestra. The Tokyo concert was broadcast live to radio and television. |
| Stephanie Friede returned to Antwerp in the fall of 1996, where Robert Carsen's Puccini cycle continued with IL TRITTICO and TABARRO. Ms. Friede captivated opera audiences a new in the role of Giorgetta. In November that year, she appeared in Munich in an extremely successful Sunday concert with the Bavarian Radio Symphony, under the baton of Fabio Luisi. The programm, selections from TOSCA and MADAMA BUTTERFLY, was broadcast live over the radio. She then went on to sing MADAMA BUTTERFLY at the Deutsche Oper in Berlin. In February 1997, Stephanie Friede appeared for the first time at the rome Opera, with an extremely well-received Chrysothemis in Strauss' ELEKTRA.@ @The soprano's 1997/98 season included the roles of Elisabetta in Donizetti's MARIA STUARDA at the National Reisopera in Enschede (Netherlands), TOSCA and MADAMA BUTTERFLY in Dusseldorf and the title role in the new LA FANCIULLA DEL WEST at the Zurich Opera House. In December 1998, Ms. Friede triumphed as Elfe Minneleide in a sensational new production of Pfitzner's DIE ROSE VOM LIEBESGARTEN at the Zurich Opera House. Francisco Araiza sang by her side, under the direction of David Pountney. Music critics were unanimous in praising "the effortlessly dramatic flourish of her soprano" and the "youthful and dramatic naturalness" with which she mastered the tricky and dramatically challenging role. In the same month, the soprano sang in a live television broadcast of the Christmas concert, given by the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra in Amsterdam, in the role of Giorgetta in TABARRO, with José Cura by her side and with Riccardo Chailly conducting. |
| In February 1999, singing with Neil Shicoff, Ms. Friede reprised the role of Giorgetta in TABARRO, and sang the title heroine in SUOR ANGELICA for the first time. The occasion was a concert performance of Puccini's two one-act operas by the Bavarian Radio Symphony in Munich, with Marcello Viotti conducting. Critics praised her phrasing, the assurance of her high notes, and her expansive legato arc. They called Ms. Friede an "outstanding lyrical-dramatic soprano for Italian opera". In July 1999, Stephanie Friede was performing in the United States again, singing Marguérite in the well-received new production of Gounod's FAUST at the Cincinnati Opera. |
| Stephanie Friede, who has also been guest artist at the world's greatest opera houses, including Munich, Cologne, Paris, Barcelona, Madrid, Mexico City, Houston and the New York City Opera, began the new millenium with Mahler's Eighth Symphony under Riccardo Chailly at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam in January 2000, followed by the new production of LES CONTES D'HOFFMANN in Antwerp with the soprano singing the role of Giulietta. In June 2000 she returned to the Cincinnati Opera for the new production of SALOME followed by LA FANCIULLA DEL WEST at the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino in Florence in June/July 2000. In October 2000 she sang the title part in a most successful new production of SALOME at the Opera Zurich with Maestro Valery Gergiev conducting and there too she performed recently Sieglinde/WALKÜRE and Brünnhilde/SIEGFRIED in the Robert Wilson production. In January 2002, she sang ARLESIANA with the Munich Radio Orchestra under the baton of Marcello Viotti, followed by a new production of MANON LESCAUT in Geneva. |
| Future projects include: Revival of LA FANCIULLA DEL WEST at the Vlaamse Opera, Wagner's 'Ring' cycle at the Zürich Opera (WALKÜRE/SIEGFRIED), a new production of MADAMA BITTERFLY at the Semperoper Dresden, Wanda in SOPHIE'S CHOICE at the Royal Opera Covent Garden and Sieglinde as well as Maddalena/ANDREA CHENIER at the Deutsche Oper Berlin.@ |
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