Violeta Urmana

Violeta Urmana (born 1961) is a Lithuanian opera singer who has sung leading mezzo-soprano and soprano roles in the opera houses of Europe and North America.[1]

Violeta Urmana
Born
Violeta Urmanavičiūtė

1961 (1961)
Kazlų Rūda, Lithuania
Occupationopera singer
Years active1993–present
Spouse(s)Alfredo Nigro

Life and career

Urmana was born in Kazlų Rūda, a small town in Lithuania's Marijampolė County. She studied piano and singing at the Lithuania Academy of Music and Theater in Vilnius and continued her vocal studies in Munich at Hochschule für Musik und Theater München with Josef Loibl. Between 1991 and 1993, she was a member the Bavarian State Opera's Opera Studio program for young singers where she studied under Astrid Varnay and would begin her stage career at the opera house.[1][2]

Urmana originally sang mezzo-soprano roles but from 2001 began singing dramatic soprano roles.[3] She sang Madeleine di Coigny in Andrea Chénier at the Vienna State Opera in 2003, Isolde in Tristan und Isolde in Rome in 2004 and Leonora in La forza del destino in London that same year.

She is married to the Italian opera singer, Alfredo Nigro. The couple met when she was singing the title role in Gluck's Iphigénie en Aulide at La Scala in 2002.[3]

Roles

Roles sung by Urmana in the course of her career include:[1]

Awards (selection)
  • 2001 Woman of the Year (Lithuania)
  • 2001 Female Singer of the Year (Lithuania)
  • 2001 National Prize of the Republic of Lithuania for the Arts (Lithuania)
  • 2002 Franco Abbiati Prize Premio Franco Abbiati della Critica Musicale Italiana, Italy
  • 2002 L'Opera Award Italy
  • 2002 Royal Philharmonic Society Music Award (Great Britain)
  • 2007 Honorary citizenship of Violeta Urmana's home town Marijampole (Lithuania)
  • 2007 LT-Tapatybe Award in the arts category for the reputation of Lithuania abroad (Lithuania)
  • 2007 World Intellectual Property Organization Creativity Award
  • 2009 Award of Austrian "Kämmersängerin"[4]
  • 2011 Highest Honour bestowed by the Lithuanian Cultural Ministry
  • 2011 "Shine Your Light and Hope Award" by Carson J. Spencer Foundation (Denver, USA)
  • 2012 Granting of the title of honorary doctor at the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre[5]
  • 2014 Commendatore dell'Ordine della Stella d'Italia[6]
  • 2016 Designated as a UNESCO Artist for Peace[7]

Discography (selection)

DVDs (selection)

References
  1. Kutsch, Karl-Josef and Riemens, Leo (2004). "Urmana, Violeta". Großes Sängerlexikon, Vol. 4, p. 4821. Walter de Gruyter. ISBN 359844088X (in German)
  2. Varnay, Astrid and Arthur, Donald (2000). Fifty-five Years in Five Acts: My Life in Opera, pp. 329–330. University Press of New England. ISBN 1555534554
  3. Ashley, Tim (14 February 2006). 'My voice decides what's good for me'. The Guardian. Retrieved 8 June 2018.
  4. Vorarlberger Nachrichten (16 December 2012). "Violeta Urmana zur Kammersängerin ernannt". Retrieved 8 June 2018 (in German)
  5. 15 min (15 March 2012). "Violetai Urmanai suteiktas Garbės daktaro vardas". Retrieved 8 June 2018 (in Lithuanian).
  6. Presidenza della Repubblica Italiana (20 February 2014). "Urmana Dott.ssa Violeta". Retrieved 8 June 2018 (in Italian).
  7. UNESCO September 2016 "Designation ceremony of Ms Violeta Urmana as a UNESCO Artist for Peace". Retrieved 8 June 2018.
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