Amanda Majeski Sings Strauss Heroine at Santa Fe Opera

July 24, 2016

Image via Santa Fe Opera

““Majeski sings from the heart in a role that’s a semi-composite of the composer’s great heroines, the Marschallin and Ariadne. It’s a limpid, lucid portrayal, nowhere more distinctive than in the searching final monologue, Strauss’ most enraptured.” SANTA FE REPORTER”

Soprano Amanda Majeski returns to Santa Fe Opera as the Countess in Capriccio, the opera Richard Strauss called his "conversation piece for music." She is joined by the legendary mezzo Susan Graham, as well as bass-baritone David Govertsen, tenor Ben Bliss, and baritone Joshua Hopkins.

Conducted by Leo Hussain in a new Tim Albery production, performances run July 23 through August 19, 2016. Tickets can be purchased on the Santa Fe Opera website. 
 

Read more reviews: 

“Everything revolves around the Countess. Soprano Amanda Majeski portrays her with casual charm and sincere warmth, creating a character in control of her world and secure in her situation. Politesse is so deeply imbued in her character that she carries it without the slightest self-consciousness. Majeski’s soprano is tightly focused, her intonation is spot-on and her delivery rolls forth with conversational naturalness. Her timbre is pure, sometimes approaching a “white sound” that allows prominence to head resonance. Her vocalism harks back to a kind of singing we don’t encounter much today. If you heard her pure timbre and pristine diction on a recording, you might guess it was an opera star of the 1940s or ’50s — and a fine one. Her singing has a reined-in quality that proves apt for the portrayal she has crafted. A slight quiver enters her voice now and again, adding a quality of wistfulness. It adds to the vulnerability she allows herself to display in her touching final scene, where she recognizes that her aesthetic elegance is a barrier to her own emotional fulfillment — an acknowledgment she bares to herself alone, out of view and earshot from anyone else. [Some] had trouble being heard in a couple of climactic phrases, though not Majeski, whose tone penetrated the texture without sacrificing its beauty."
Santa Fe New Mexican

"The rising soprano Amanda Majeski sings this touchstone Straussian role with gleaming, resonant tone and insightful musicianship..."
Financial Times

"Amanda Majeski seems pre-destined to play the Countess. Her cool, secure, limpid soprano is just what Strauss had in mind when he endowed the role with lovely conversational passages, airy flights above the staff, and haunting musings on the philosophies of art and music. Ms. Majeski’s pure tone and knowing, fluid delivery harkens back to great Strauss interpreters of the last century, a direct connection to a revered roster of interpreters. Her traversal of the Countess’s last great monologue was a thing of great beauty, infinite variety, and sublime vocalization. Moreover, Majeski has a regal and poised presence, her carriage leaving no doubt that she is “royalty.” Her achievement is such that she may just be unequalled in this part at the moment."
Opera Today

“In the lead role of Countess Madeleine, Illinois soprano Amanda Majeski provided the vocal power required to complement Strauss’s soaring melodies and the elegance appropriate for the gentler music of Madeleine’s introspective moment.”
Opera Warhorses

"As the Countess, Amanda Majeski sang her long phrases with free flowing tones that kept their focus as they blossomed out over the audience. A fabulous Strauss singer whose sound recalls German sopranos of the previous era such as Elizabeth Schwarzkopf and Irmgard Seefried, she she portrayed the noble lady as a refined heiress with consummate good taste."
Bachtrack

“Amanda Majeski turns in a sparkling performance as the glamorous Parisian Countess Madeleine. [The voice] has an exceptional flexibility, easily enough to traverse the many vocal hurdles of this difficult role. She gives the final scene, a last meditation on the question of words and music, a transcendent quality.”
Albuquerque Journal

"As Strauss’ multi-faceted, somewhat enigmatic Countess, Amanda Majeski provides a poised central figure. She’s played the vulnerable aristocrat in the past—Countess Almaviva in Mozart’s Figaro. Here Majeski sings from the heart in a role that’s a semi-composite of the composer’s great heroines, the Marschallin and Ariadne. It’s a limpid, lucid portrayal, nowhere more distinctive than in the searching final monologue, Strauss’ most enraptured."
Santa Fe Reporter

Amanda Majeski Returns to Glyndebourne

May 25, 2016

Photo by Tristram Kenton

““Amanda Majeski’s ravishingly sung Eva radiates disembodied beauty.” THE INDEPENDENT”

Soprano Amanda Majeski returned to the Glyndebourne Festival as Eva in Wagner's Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, opposite Gerald Finley as Hans Sachs.

The handsome David McVicar production, in which Majeski had previously starred at the Lyric Opera of Chicago, also features Michael Schade, Jochen Kupfer, Alastair Miles, David Portillo, and Hanna Hipp.

Performances run through June 27; tickets can be purchased via the Glyndebourne site.

Read reviews:

“Amanda Majeski made the best Eva I have heard in years, true of pitch and pure of tone, comfortable in all reaches of the part and emotionally persuasive from beginning (fidgeting in the church pew) to end (despair at Walther’s initial rejection of the Guild). The radiant B flat with which she crowned the quintet was perfection.”
Opera Magazine

"Amanda Majeski’s ravishingly sung Eva radiates disembodied beauty under the cobbler-poet Sachs’s benediction."
The Independent

"Amanda Majeski is a lovely, silvery-voiced Eva."
Financial Times

"Amanda Majeski (Eva) and Hanna Hipp (Magdalene) both demonstrated those qualities [passion and ardor] abundantly towards Walther and David as the respective objects of their romantic affections; indeed, vocally, they were very similar in tone and excellence."
Classical Source

"Majeski’s voice has an inhaled ease to it, blooming with no obvious strain or overwork."
The Arts Desk

"Amanda Majeski’s Eva fulfilled most of the promise which she had shown as the Countess in the 2013 Le nozze di Figaro, her touching intonation and unaffected stage presence ideal for Wagner’s ‘little Ev’chen’."
musicOMH

"The American soprano Amanda Majeski was Eva. Reminiscent of Gundula Janowitz, she launched the quintet exquisitely and looked very pretty to boot."
The Telegraph

Amanda Majeski to Debut at Washington National Opera on 2016/17 Opening Night

March 8, 2016

Amanda Majeski will make her Washington National Opera debut as the Countess in Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro on opening night of the 2016/17 season. 

The Kennedy Center production will complete a trilogy of opening night Figaro performances for Majeski, a run that began at the Metropolitan Opera in 2014 and continued at the Lyric Opera of Chicago in 2015.

Majeski will be joined by Lisette Oropesa as Susanna, Joshua Hopkins as Count Almaviva, Ryan McKinny as Figaro, and Aleksandra Romano as Cherubino, under the baton of James Gaffigan in a Peter Kazaras production.

Performances will run September 22 – October 2, 2016, with the September 24 performance simulcast to Nationals Stadium for the popular M&M’S Opera in the Outfield event.

More information >

Photo by Todd Rosenberg

Amanda Majeski Appears on WTTW's Chicago Tonight

March 2, 2016

Amanda Majeski joined Chicago Tonight for an interview and performances of Strauss and Bolcom. 

Amanda Majeski has been bringing her distinctive soprano voice to operatic roles on stages in the U.K., Spain, Germany and Switzerland. Closer to home, she's currently on stage in Der Rosenkavalier at the Lyric Opera of Chicago.

Watch the segment >

Amanda Majeski to Return to Metropolitan Opera in 2016/17

February 17, 2016

Photo by Kelly and Massa Photography

Amanda Majeski will return to the Metropolitan Opera in the 2016/17 season in her house debut as Donna Elvira in Mozart's Don Giovanni.

Majeski's Elvira has been praised for her "wonderful vocal and psychological specificity" (Philadelphia Inquirer) and deemed "a revelation. A strange figure, Donna Elvira, but made human by Majeski's devastating rendition of her plight." (Broadway World)

Fabio Luisi will conduct performances on November 1, 4, and 10, 2016, also starring Ildar Abdrazakov in the title role, Matthew Rose as Leporello, Malin Byström as Donna Anna, Ramón Vargas as Don Ottavio, Nadine Sierra as Zerlina, and Adam Plachetka as Masetto.

Amanda will also perform as part of the 50th Anniversary Gala, celebrating the Met's golden anniversary in its home in Lincoln Center. Tickets are available through the Met website.

Amanda Majeski Returns to Lyric Opera of Chicago in Der Rosenkavalier

February 9, 2016

Photo by Cory Weaver

““In the key role of the Marschallin, Lyric is blessed with the presence of soprano Amanda Majeski. Her work here is sheer perfection. She has clearly mastered the character’s many moods, from her flirtatiousness with Octavian following their liebesnacht in her bedroom at the start of the first act to her gracious philosophical resignation in the trio of the last. Majeski has a voice of both warmth and power, enabling her to make herself heard over Strauss’s large orchestra while still floating ethereally over more intimate scenes. She simply could not be better in this role.” STAGE LEFT”

Amanda Majeski has returned to her home company, the Lyric Opera of Chicago, for her first U.S. performances as the Marschallin in Der Rosenkavalier. Majeski debuted the Strauss role in Frankfurt in 2015 to rapturous reviews; now Chicago critics are praising her "seamless lyricism" (Chicago Sun-Times) and "golden sound" (Chicago Theatre Review), as well as her "creamy tone and ravishing pianissimos." (Chicago Tribune)

Der Rosenkavalier, conducted by Edward Gardner and also starring Sophie Koch, Alice Coote, and Matthew Rose, continues through March 13; tickets are available through the Lyric website.

Read reviews:

"As the Marschallin, Amanda Majeski revealed just the type of glowing soprano voice with which Strauss had a lifelong love affair; Majeski has an ample, pungent instrument with the ability to soar above the staff in long, arching lines and fine down to a thread of pianissimo with seeming effortlessness."
Opera News

"Soprano Amanda Majeski was an intriguing Marschallin, projecting gracious authority while struggling with the painful fact that her youth was forever past and gone. An Illinois native and alumna of Lyric’s Ryan Opera Center training program, she sang with a strong, bright, expressive tone. Her seamless lyricism in the opera’s introspective moments conveyed the Marschallin’s essential goodness of heart. In Act III, disgusted by the crude Baron, Majeski’s low vocal line brimmed with scorn."
Chicago Sun-Times

"The singer who would succeed at Strauss must possess the freedom of tone necessary to brave the rapidly-shifting musicality of his phrases and the buoyant athleticism of their leaps, while maintaining a narrow delineation of pitch. In the plum role of The Marschallin, Chicago-favorite Amanda Majeski makes short work of this challenge. In the Act I Monologue, “Da geht er hin,” the Illinois-born soprano threads her golden sound fearlessly, with a flawless vibrato like a flicker hovering over a carefully-controlled flame."
Chicago Theatre Review

"Majeski was exemplary, riding Strauss’s long lines with gleaming tone and confidence. She brought a dignified sadness to her long Act I soliloquy musing on her fading beauty with touching expression. The soprano was ideally poised and affecting vocally and dramatically in the final trio as she yields her young lover to a woman his own age."
Chicago Classical Review

"What redeems the production is the pathos of seeing performances fresh as dewdrops imprisoned in a dusty mausoleum. Amanda Majeski, who triumphed as the Countess Almaviva in Figaro earlier this season, sings with such tenderness as to render the German language beautiful."
Chicago Stage Standard

"Amanda Majeski regally embodies the Marschallin. Her tall, slender figure and fair skin are a natural fit for the role, but it is her exquisite tone and vocal technique that makes the performance so absolutely enchanting. When Koch and Majeski are joined onstage by Christina Landshamer’s Sophie for Der Rosenkavalier’s finale, the resulting trio is heavenly and sublime."
Stage and Cinema

"Majeski has a way of sliding languidly into notes, letting them come upon her in a way that projects immense self-assurance. Her creamy tone sits beautifully atop Edward Gardner’s direction of the orchestra."
BachTrack

"Strauss specified that his heroine, the Marschallin, be no older than 32.  Matching her real-life age to that of the character, soprano Amanda Majeski (who's 31) sang beautifully as the Marschallin, aka the Princess von Werdenberg, wife of a field marshall in Imperial Vienna. The Illinois-born Majeski carried herself with great poise and grace as she lofted creamy tone and ravishing pianissimos into the stratosphere, and she was touching in her character's rueful monologue about the passage of time. She earned herself an extended ovation Monday."
Chicago Tribune

Amanda Majeski Featured on Schmopera

February 4, 2016

Amanda Majeski is featured in a Schmopera Spotlight interview.

American lyric soprano Amanda Majeski was named "Best Breakout Star" by Chicago magazine, and she's living up to the title. Roles like Vitellia in La clemenza di Tito, Eva in Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg and Countess Madeleine in Capriccio have kept her busy in recent years; last season she sang Countess Almaviva in Le nozze di Figaro, a signature role of hers, at the Metropolitan Opera under the baton of James Levine, which was broadcast worldwide in HD.

Majeski is set to sing the Marschallin in Lyric Opera of Chicago's production of Der Rosenkavalier, opening February 8th. She managed to find some time to give Schmopera a beautiful interview about singing, the importance of being multi-lingual, and her enormous dedication to her work.

Read more >

Verismo Clients Featured in "Best of 2015" Round-Ups

December 31, 2015

Verismo clients are popping up in several "Best of 2015" Year in Review lists:

BroadwayWorld.com Best of New York Opera in 2015
Jamie Barton
"Jamie Barton in EVERYTHING and ANYTHING. I was taken with mezzo Barton's velvety, cavernous voice the first time I heard it and it has only become more appealing with every performance, particularly as Anna Bolena's rival Giovanna Seymour."

St. Louis Post-Dispatch Year in Review for Classical Music
Corinne Winters
"Canción Amorosa: Songs of Spain. Corinne Winters began her career as a Gerdine Young Artist at OTSL and has built it internationally with the company’s support. This recording is a beautiful selection of miniatures in characteristically Spanish styles."

Chicago Tribune's Best of 2015 in Chicago Classical Music
Amanda Majeski
"Crime and punishment on the operatic stage: Mieczyslaw Weinberg's powerful, Holocaust-themed "The Passenger," [starring Amanda Majeski] in its Midwest premiere at Lyric Opera." 

Amanda Majeski Stars in Season Opener at Lyric Opera of Chicago

September 26, 2015

Photo by Todd Rosenberg

““Amanda Majeski’s Countess Almaviva proved the high point of the evening. She inhabited her role in such a way that its essence was illuminated, transcending the ludicrous stage business thrust upon her. Majeski exuded a radiant humanity that strongly recalled the late Elisabeth Soederstroem – and what a Jenufa or Katya Kabanova Majeski may prove to be! Her account of the fiendishly difficult “Dove sono” was notable for poise and polish, luminously sung and launched with a grandly phrased, deeply felt recitative. In a still young career, Majeski has moved from strength to strength.” GB OPERA MAGAZINE”

Amanda Majeski returns to her home company, Lyric Opera of Chicago, as the Countess in their season-opening production of Le nozze di Figaro, a role that also served as her Met debut last season. Critics have praised her Countess as "transcendent," (Stage and Cinema) responsible for "some of the opera’s most moving moments and most exquisite singing." (Chicago Sun-Times)

The cast includes Luca Pisaroni as the Count, Adam Plachetka as Figaro, Rachel Frenkel as Cherubino, and Christiane Karg as Susanna. Conducted by Henrik Nánási, performances run through October 24, with tickets available on the Lyric's site.

Read reviews:

"Luca Pisaroni and Amanda Majeski are both fine Mozarteans... Majeski sings with her customary poise, her creamy soprano blending beautifully with that of German soprano Christiane Karg."
Chicago Tribune

"His adoring, long-suffering, elegant wife, Countess Almaviva is Illinois-born soprano Amanda Majeski. The Countess’ pain is dealt with comically early on as she gorges sweets on the gargantuan bed she once shared with her husband. But some of the opera’s most moving moments (and most exquisite singing) come when she recalls the joys of her earlier days of passion with the Count, and then, in a duet with Susanna, she dictates a love letter suggesting an assignation between Susanna and the Count."
Chicago Sun-Times

"Amanda Majeski sang “Porgi amor” with delicate but resonant pathos and fluid evenness across registers."
Chicago Classical Review

"Majeski’s soprano is both luminous and ringing, and in the heart-breaking aria “Dove sono,” she moved convincingly from aching despair to a firm resolve to recapture the Count’s affection."
Musical America

"From one of the evening’s first gestures – Amanda Majeski, stately as the Countess, pulling the curtain down instead of letting it rise – one knew that this production would play up the opera’s mischievousness no less than its spectacle. But the Versailles bordello aesthetic that runs through much of this production’s visual style didn’t come close to overshadowing the vocal talent, which is very strong. Majeski’s trilling vibrato is most distinctive..."
Bachtrack

"Pisaroni is well-matched by Amanda Majeski, whose noble heart redeems her wayward husband. Her tender and delicate singing approaches the transcendent, from the poignant solo aria “Porgi amor” to the breathtaking duet “Sull’aria” (with Christiane Karg)."
Stage and Cinema

"Amanda Majeski’s Countess Almaviva proved the high point of the evening. She inhabited her role in such a way that its essence was illuminated, transcending the ludicrous stage business thrust upon her. Majeski exuded a radiant humanity that strongly recalled the late Elisabeth Soederstroem (and what a Jenufa or Katya Kabanova Majeski may prove to be!). Her account of the fiendishly difficult “Dove sono” was notable for poise and polish, luminously sung and launched with a grandly phrased, deeply felt recitative. In a still young career, Majeski has moved from strength to strength, justifying Lyric Opera’s confidence in its former Ryan Opera Center member."
GB Opera Magazine

Amanda Majeski Featured in CS Modern Luxury Magazine

September 1, 2015

Amanda Majeski talks with CS Modern Luxury magazine about stepping up to the plate and which opera character she'd like to chat with over coffee.

It seems lyric soprano Amanda Majeski was just meant to sing Countess Almaviva in Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro. In 2010, the Gurnee native took to the Lyric Opera of Chicago stage on short notice, when bronchitis sidelined the scheduled star. And last season, she did the same at the Metropolitan Opera when the slated Russian diva dropped out of Richard Eyre's new production. But she did more than step up to the plate; she made the role her own. Although fate may have jump-started Majeski's career, pure talent propels it.

Read more >