Tucker Award-winner Ailyn Pérez to headline at Moscow, Salzburg, Ravinia and more

Fresh from a triumphant spring crowned by her 2012 Richard Tucker Award win, Ailyn Pérez will spend her summer in the spotlight, headlining major productions with leading companies on both sides of the Atlantic. Her whirlwind tour begins in Moscow, where she sings the role of Suzel in Mascagni’s L’amico Fritz at the Moscow State Philharmonic Society (June 25). A brief stop in New York is highlighted by a special performance at the Greene Space (June 27) celebrating her Tucker Award win. From there, she heads to Ohio to sing Violetta in Verdi’s La traviata at Cincinnati Opera (July 25-29), followed by performances as Pamina in Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte with the Chicago Symphony at Ravinia (Aug 16–18). The summer comes to a peak at the Salzburg Festival (Aug 23), when the lyric soprano reprises her star turn as Mimì in Puccini’s La bohème.
 
Pérez’s co-star in both Moscow and Cincinnati will be her husband and frequent collaborator, tenor Stephen Costello. Their June 25 performance in Mascagni’s L’amico Fritz with the Moscow Philharmonic will be led by Italian conductor Antonino Fogliani. The Associated Press dubs Pérez and Costello “America’s fastest-rising husband-and-wife opera stars,” while the June edition of Vanity Fair depicts theirs as “a match made in verismo heaven.” A Tucker Award-winner himself (2009), Costello also joins Pérez in New York at the Greene Space celebration on June 27; this special event will be transmitted by live video webcast at www.wqxr.org.
 
At Ravinia, Pérez sings Pamina in Die Zauberflöte, in an all-star cast that includes the Papageno of heartthrob baritone Nathan Gunn; James Conlon will conduct the Chicago Symphony in a concert presentation of Mozart’s magnum opus, narrated by English acting legend Michael York. When the soprano sang Zerlina in Don Giovanni – another of Mozart’s great soubrette roles – for her Dallas Opera debut, the Examiner found her “sensuous and captivating” and praised “her lovely, lyrical…angelic voice.”
 
Pérez’s portrayal of Puccini’s Mimì is fast becoming one of her signature roles. Earlier this summer, at Zurich Opera, Polish tenor Rodolfo Beczala sang Rodolfo to Pérez’s Mimì, as he will again on August 23, in the Salzburg Festival’s premiere concert presentation of Puccini’s masterpiece with Daniele Gatti – Chief Conductor of the Zurich Opera – leading the Vienna Philharmonic.
 
 
Acclaim for Ailyn Pérez
 
Puccini’s La bohème (Mimì)
 
“A radiant Ailyn Pérez…displayed Mimì’s vulnerability, and the luster of her voice and depth of expression were assets from her first ‘Mi chiamano Mimi’ (They call me Mimi). In the end, her pure-toned recollection of their first meeting was heartbreaking.”     
                         – Cincinnati Enquirer
 
“A charming and poignant Mimì …(who) tore at the listeners’ heartstrings”
– Music and Vision Daily
 
“Pérez… hung on to every line to imbue the music with nuance and innate fragility”
– Variety 
Verdi’s La traviata (Violetta)
 
“An ideal Violetta … the bewitching young American soprano puts her heart into every twist of the drama, from the impetuousness of her love for Alfredo…to the febrile emergency of her death…her performance was glorious, the quiet passages magical.”                                                                                          -– The Observer (UK)
Mozart roles:
 
“Soprano Ailyn Pérez was glowing as the Countess, her ‘Dove Sono,’ sung with dignity as well as sorrow. Her voice was a golden filament that illuminated the nobility of spirit that would later lead the Countess to forgive her husband, the wayward Count.”
-– The Pioneer Press
 
“A showstopping ‘Dove sono,’ all floating pianissimos and diminuendos and delicate pathos, that roused the sold-out crowd to a long, well-deserved ovation.”
– Chicago Tribune
 
 
Ailyn Pérez: summer 2012 engagements
 
June 25
Moscow, Russia
Moscow State Philharmonic Society
Mascagni: L’amico Fritz (Suzel)
 
July 25, 27, & 29
Cincinnati, OH
Cincinnati Opera
Verdi: La traviata (Violetta)
 
August 16 & 18
Highland Park, IL
Ravinia Festival
Mozart: Die Zauberflöte (Pamina)
 
August 23
Salzburg, Austria
Salzburg Festival
Puccini: La bohème (Mimì) – concert performance
 
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