Vivica Genaux

Recipient of the City of Halle’s 2017 Händel-Preis, mezzo-soprano Vivica Genaux hails from Fairbanks, Alaska. In the course of her two-decade career, her unforgettable voice has been heard in many of the world’s most important venues, including Beijing’s National Center for the Performing Arts, Chicago Symphony Center, London’s Barbican Centre, the Metropolitan Opera, Prague’s Rudolfinum, Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, and Wiener Staatsoper.

During 2017, Vivica achieved several milestones in her career. In addition to her rôle débuts as Lepido and Arsamene in Händel’s Lucio Cornelio Silla (Wiener Konzerthaus) and Serse (Opéra Royal de Versailles) and Eternità and Diana in Cavalli’s La Calisto (Opéra national du Rhin) and returning to the rôle of Malcolm in Rossini’s La donna del lago (Salzburger Pfingstfestspiele), Vivica founded V/vox Academy and supervised the Academy’s inaugural course.

Concert outings in 2017 took Vivica to destinations including Bucharest, Chicago, Istanbul, Vivica joined Concerto Köln for Une Voix Virtuose pour Vivaldi, featuring music by Castrucci, Galuppi, and Vivaldi, in Sisteron, France. Then, she reunited with frequent collaborators Fabio Biondi and Europa Galante for an all-Vivaldi concert at Bucharest’s George Enescu International Festival. Biondi also conducted Vivica and Sonia Prina in a performance of Vivaldi’s La Gloria e Imeneo in Paris’s Théâtre des Champs-Élysées. After her first performance of the rôle of Arsamene in Händel’s Serse at Opéra de Versailles, she and Les Musiciens du Louvre took an exciting programme of works by Händel, Hasse, and Vivaldi to Barcelona and Grenoble.

Engagements in 2018 include Deux Génies en Italie, a presentation of music by Händel and Alessandro Scarlatti, at Paris’s Salle Gaveau and additional performances of Vivica’s Pauline Viardot-themed multimedia show, Vivica & Viardot, in Spain. Additional concert dates take her throughout Europe and Asia and to the USA for performances in metro Chicago and Miami. Returning to Händel’s operas, she interprets the title rôle in Rodrigo at Beaune’s Festival International d’Opéra Baroque and Arsamene in Serse in Ljubljana, Vienna, Paris, London, Lisbon, Toulouse, and Essen. She will travel to Australia in December 2018 for her début in the rôle of Mandane in Hasse’s Artaserse and a concert with Pinchgut Opera.

In April 2019, Vivica returns to Washington, DC, for her rôle début as Emma in Rossini’s Zelmira with Washington Concert Opera.

Encompassing music from four centuries, Vivica’s operatic repertory extends to sixty-five rôles, including forty-two travesti parts. Particularly celebrated for her interpretations of Baroque and bel canto music, she has garnered praise from critics and audiences for her incredible bravura technique and the dramatic intensity of her portrayals. She has been honored with numerous awards, and her career is documented in an array of critically-acclaimed CD and DVD/Blu-ray recordings. Her advocacy of the music of Hasse has contributed indelibly to the revival of interest in this unjustly-neglected composer, and her enthusiasm for sharing her experience and expertise with young singers is manifested in masterclasses and teaching engagements throughout the world.

Updated on 24 october 2018

Cookies settings

Cookies Selection

This website uses cookies to improve your browsing experience, security, and its website performance. We may also use cookies to share information on social media and to display messages and advertisements personalised to your interests, both on our website and in others.