| Carla Huhtanen |
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Introduction “For the role of the heroine ‘Lisetta’, Garsington has found a real star in the Canadian soprano Carla Huhtanen. Her coloratura was fluent and accurate and she sang cantilena with a pure tone. She also has a winning stage presence - a noteworthy British debut. Her duet with her lover…was one of the hits of the evening.” The Sunday Telegraph, Michael Kennedy Biography
Soprano Carla Huhtanen is in demand internationally for her soaring, translucent voice, winning stage presence, and her diverse repertoire. She debuted in the UK as Lisetta in Garsington Opera’s La Gazzetta (Rossini) and returned as Serpetta in their production of Mozart’s La Finta Giardiniera, a performance repeated at the Barbican Centres Mostly Mozart series. She debuted in Italy at Gran Teatro la Fenice in Venice as Daisy Park in Gershwin’s Lady, Be Good! and returned to La Fenice as Athenas in Cherubini’s Anacron. In France, she sang the title role of Purcell’s The Fairy Queen for Festival Mars en Baroque (Marseille, Tarascon, and Aix-en-Provence) and Angelica in Handel’s Orlando for Theatre Gyptis (Marseille), Festival Musique au Coeur (Antibes) and Festival de Chartres. A reprise performance of Lady, Be Good! took her to Lisbon’s Teatro Sao Carlos and that same year she was featured soloist in a Leonard Bernstein Tribute with the Israel Philharmonic. She has been praised for her vivid, fine-toned, accurately placed coloratura (Independent) and her clarity of tone and smoothness of line matched only by her exquisite acting (Opera Now). Other past highlights include Cunegonde in Candide with the BBC Concert Orchestra at the Royal Festival Hall in London and also in Malta for the Valletta Festival. She was soloist with the Royal Philharmonic and the Welsh National Opera Orchestra under Carl Davis for a concert tour of festivals in the UK and Germany. With Opera Atelier she sang Monteverdi’s Minerva/Amor, Drusilla/Fortuna, Mozart’s Blonde and Papagena, and a South Korean tour of Charpentier’s Acton and Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas. A leading interpreter of modern and contemporary music, Carla performs with Continuum New Music, Queen of Puddings Music Theatre, and as a Studio Ensemble member of Tapestry New Opera, where she develops and premieres many roles for their Opera To Go and Opera Briefs performances. Carla appeared in The Shadow with Tapestry, in Soundstreams Canada/CBCs performance of Brian Currents Airline Icarus, and covered Marie in Luminato’s production of Rufus Wainwright’s Prima Donna. Recent concert performances include Carmina Burana and Esa-Pekka Salonen’s Five Images after Sappho with the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony and Pulitzer Prize-winning Paul Moravecs The Blizzard Voices with Opera Omaha. Chamber music concerts featured music by Karin Rehnqvist, Phillipe Leroux, Geoffery Hannan and Giacinto Scelsi. Recording credits include Herbert’s Babes in Toyland with the London Sinfonietta for EMI, Vivaldi’s Griselda and Sacred Music Vol. 3 for Naxos Records, and the Juno winning Mozart’s Magnificent Voyage. Carla recently recorded The Music of James Rolfe on Centrediscs (released fall 2010). Carla was one of Now Magazines Top Ten Theatre Artists in 2008, and her amazing versatility and unwavering voice won her a place on Eye Weekly’s Top Ten Great Individual Achievements List of 2007. Nominated for a Dora Award for her performance as Susanna in The Marriage of Figaro with Opera Atelier in 2010, she will return in their 2011 production of Don Giovanni. She recently performed Orlando/Lunaire with Opera Erratica in Toronto (combining Handel opera and Schoenberg’s Pierrot Lunaire) and in Array New Music’s Michael J. Baker Tribute. Other projects include Saariaho’s From the Grammar of Dreams, Sokolovic’s opera Svadba with Queen of Puddings, Blonde in Entführung aus dem Serail with Edmonton Opera, Zerlina in Don Govanni and Lucinde in Armide for Opera Atelier and recitals with Off Centre Music and Alliance Française in Toronto. January 2012 For further information, please visit www.carlahuhtanen.com Full RepertoireOPERA
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Reviews"...soprano Carla Huhtanen had the dual challenge of performing some of the sweetest, and the most dramatic and diffucult notes in the repertoire. With laser-lie precision and a sweet feeling of confidence and assertiveness, Huhtanen delivered the climactic money notes with style and good expression." From NOW magazine’s list of Top 10 theatre artists in 2008 "Soprano Carla Huhtanen gave the evening's most memorable performance. She sang with a soaring, translucent soprano that produced - in its highest register - notes of glistening weightlessness." World-Herald - John Pitcher (Opera Omaha - The Blizzard Voices)“Huhtanen’s voice is quite breathtaking—the clarity of tone and smoothness of line is matched only by her exquisite acting: her Glitter and be Gay was sensational and any singer, past or present would have put their name to it with pride.” Opera News – Matthew Peacock “Garsington has found a real star in Carla Huhtanen …her colorature was fluent and accurate and she sang cantilena with a pure tone…a winning stage presence. Her duet with her lover…was one of the hits of the evening.” The Sunday Telegraph – Angela Gheorghiu “Lisetta is sung with bright agility by Carla Huhtanen.” The Times – John Allison “In Menotti’s ‘Monica’s Waltz , you have the most beautiful voice in the world – in particular, we appreciated Carla Huhtanen with her impeccable lines of singing, her ease, her grace, especially in the aforementioned waltz, with all her charming lightness.” La marseillaise – Simone Serret “….the splendidly pouty, marriageable bird (Carla Huhtanen) tinged with vivid, fine-toned, accurately-placed coloratura.” The Independent (The Monday Review) – Roderic Dunnett “Ingrams (Garsington Opera Director) found his prima donna in Canadian Carla Huhtanen, the coloratura with warblings of finely polished jewels who plays an oddball teenager.” Die Welt (Berlin) – Siegfried Helm “One must really lend an attentive ear and admire the prowess…notably to the soprano Carla Huhtanen.” La Provence – Arlane Allard |