In 2003 She Began to Perform in Her Country and Begins to Be Recognized As a Young Talent

MARIA JOSÉ SIRI

Soprano

Maria José Siri was born in Uruguay and began playing the piano at 5 years old, encouraged by a passion for the music of her father, who taught her to play and sing the Tango.

In 2003 she began to perform in her country and begins to be recognized as a young talent in international competitions such as Juventudes Musicales and Ars Lyrica of Montevideo which gives her first Award. In 2003 she was elected as Newcomer of the Year by the Association of Argentine Music Critics.

She arrived for the first time in Italy in 2004 and won first Prize at the International Competition of Accademia Musicale Umbra and of Mattia Battistini di Rieti, before getting the same first Prize at the Nuevas Voces Award at the Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires and the International Competition of Bilbao in Spain. In 2006 she also won the Music Prize of the Spanish Competition Manuel Ausensi in Barcelona and ​​the first prize of the Opera Competition and the Best Singer Award, awarded by the public at the Semperoper in Germany.

She began her international career in the most important Opera theaters in the world: in 2008 she sang Leonora in Il Trovatore at the Teatro Carlo Felice in Genoa, she made her debut as Mimi in La Bohème at the Semper Oper in Dresden, Verdi's Requiem with the Berlin Philharmonic in Berlin and La Traviata at the Festival of Sant Margarethen in Austria.

But her most important debut was at the Staatsoper Stuttgart with Aida, which became her favorite character. In December of the same year she was in fact chosen for the part of the Ethiopian slave in the production of the great Franco Zeffirelli at the Teatro Massimo in Palermo.

In 2009 she debuted with great success at the Teatro alla Scala in Milan in the title role ofAida, directed by Franco Zeffirelli and conducted by M° Daniel Barenboim, then went on tour with La Scala in Tel Aviv and Tokyo. In the same year she also sang Sifare in Mitridate re di Ponto for the Mozart Festival in La Coruña with director Graham Vick, Aida at the Soyrèes Lirique Festival in Sanxay and Stuttgart, where she also performed in Il Trovatore and as Nedda in Pagliacci at the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino in Florence directed by M° Zeffirelli.

Her recent engagements include Rachel in The Juive in St. Petersburg, Verdi's Requiem at the Mozart Festival in La Coruña under the direction of Victor Pablo Perez, Tosca at the Carlo Felice Genoa, Savonlinna, Turin, Palermo and Vienna, Lucrezia in I Due Foscari in Trieste, Nedda in Pagliacci in Montevideo, Leonora in Il Trovatore in Palermo, Bologna and Venice, Aida in Stuttgart, at the Bregenz Festival directed by Graham Vick, Hamburg and Florence at the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino directed by Ferzan Ozpetek and conducted by M° Zubin Mehta.

And also Tatyana in Eugene Onegin at the Staatsoper Unter den Linden in Berlin, Mimì in La Bohème for the Liceu in Barcelona and the San Carlo in Naples, Maddalena in Andrea Chénier at the Bregenz Festival, at Kungliga Operan Stockholm and the Teatro Regio in Turin, Leonora in La Forza del destino at Cologne, Suor Angelica in Il Trittico at the Royal Opera Copenhagen, Amelia in Simon Boccanegra and Desdemona in Otello in Turin, Tosca at the Staatsoper in Berlin and Stuttgart, Manon Lescaut in Valencia, Pagliacci in Montecarlo, Un Ballo in maschera in Bruxelles.

Among her future engagements areManon Lescaut in Sao Paulo, Aida in Valencia, Andrea Chènier in Berlin and Las Palmas, il Trittico in Rome, Don Carlos in Bilbao, Tosca in Berlin and Tokyo.

With the Fondazione Arena di Verona, in 2013 she took part in the show Verdi, nostro Shakespeare - Viaggio in musica e parole staged at the Teatro Romano in Verona and debuted at the Arena di Verona singing the title role in Aida. In 2014 she returned in the Arena for Aida by La Fura dels Baus.

In 2015 she takes part in the event The Show is about to beginwith Paolo Bonolis broadcast on Italian TV channel Canale 5; then, for the 2015 Opera Festival she sings the title role in Aida and Donna Elvira in Mozart’s Don Giovanni.

DANIELA SCHILLACI

Soprano

Daniela Schillaci obtained her degree in singing with full marks in 1998, and won the Giuseppe Di stefano Competition in Trapani as Best young singer. In the same year she made her debut in Così fan tutte (Despina) at Teatro dell’Opera Giocosa in Savona and in Spoleto in Werther (Sophie). She immediately started a brilliant career which quickly saw her making her debuts in the following roles: Oscar in Un ballo in maschera at Teatro La Fenice in Venice and at Teatro Bellini in Catania, Musetta in La Bohème (Rome Opera, Comunale in Florence, Verdi in Trieste, Dusseldorf and Essen, Vittorio Emanuele in Messina) Nannetta in Falstaff (Lisbon), Lisa in La sonnambula (Rome, Messina and Palermo), Elena in Il cappello di paglia di Firenze in Messina and at the Opéra de Lausanne), Liù in Turandot (Seoul).

At Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino she appeared in the new production of I Lombardi alla prima crociata conducted by Roberto Abbado and directed by Paul Curran, in Elektra conducted by Seiji Ozawa and directed by Robert Carsen and in Die Frau ohne schatten conducted by Zubin Mehta and directed by Yannis Kokkos.

At the Teatro Regio di Torino she sang in Dukas' Ariane et Barbe-bleu, where she also returned for the new production of Massenet's Thais conducted by Gianandrea Noseda and directed by Stefano Poda and in Peter Grimes conducted by Yutaka Sado and directed by Willy Decker.

Among the roles in her repertoire are the following: Lucy in Menotti's Il telefono in Catania, Frasquita in Carmen at the Teatro dell’Opera di Roma conducted by Alain Lombard, Serpina in La serva padrona in Florence and Rome.

After another run of acclaimed performances at the Teatro Malibran in Venice and at Teatro Piccinni in Bari as Musetta in La Bohème (conducted by Fabio Mastrangelo), she recently made her highly successful debut as Mimì. In 2009 she made her debut as Violetta in La Traviata at Teatro Vittorio Emanuele in Messina. She also sung in a Gala concert at the Mariinsky in St. Petersburg (conducted by Fabio Mastrangelo) where she exposed herself to the Russian public and critics.

She recently sang the roles of Violetta in La Traviata, Mimì in La Bohème in Catania and Aida at the State Theatre in Ekaterinburg, where she also made her debut as Donna Elvira in Mozart's Don Giovanni, Adalgisa in Norma at Teatro Bellini in Catania, La Traviata at Luglio Musicale Trapanese, Aida in Taormina, I pagliacci (Nedda) in Krasnoyarsk and Catania, Don Giovanni (Donna Elvira) at Teatro Regio, Norma in Taormina, Cagliari and Seville, Violetta and Lina in Stiffelio at Teatro Bellini in Catania, The Merry Widow in Verona, Turin, Padova, Rovigo and Bassano del Grappa.

Among her future engagements are some concerts in Shanghai.

For the Fondazione Arena she took part in the 2012 Easter Concert in the San Nicolò church.

She debuted at the Teatro Filarmonico in the role of Valencienne in the Vedova Allegra by Lehár for the 2013-2014 opera and ballet season.

At the Arena di Verona in 2004, she performed at the Gala evening La Corona di pietra alongside Plácido Domingo, whilst in 2009 she was Frasquita in Carmen by Bizet.

She returns for the 2015 Opera Festival as Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni.