Biographie
Regaled by the New York Times as a “powerhouse mezzo soprano” Daniela Barcellona garners constant acclaim for her “nobility of declamation, richly focused contralto sound and expressive physicality” (Opera News). She returns to the Teatro alla Scala as Didon in Les Troyens and sings Léonor in La favorite with Opéra de Monte-Carlo in the 2013-14 season. In the realm of Verdi, she sings Dame Quickly in Falstaff with Nederlandse Opera and the composer’s Requiem with Riccardo Muti conducting the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Future engagements include her much-anticipated return to the Metropolitan Opera in reprisals of her celebrated portrayal of Malcom Graeme in La donna del lago.
Last season, the sang Malcom Graeme in La donna del lago at the Royal Opera House at Covent Garden and returned to the Teatro alla Scala for Dame Quickly in Falstaff, Deutsche Oper Berlin for Didon in Les Troyens, and the Teatro regio di Torino as Eboli in Don Carlo. She also sang Amneris in Aida and Verdi’s Requiem at the Arena di Verona. She returned to the United States for Isabella in L’italiana in Algeri with Houston Grand Opera and Rossini’s Stabat Mater at the Mostly Mozart Festival. She sang Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 at the Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino and further performances of Verdi’s Requiem at the Verbier Festival. She recently triumphed in her first performances as Didon in Les Troyens at the Palau de les Arts Reina Sofia with Valery Gergiev conducting, where she recently returned as Amneris in Aida. She sang Federica in Luisa Miller at Teatro alla Scala, Eboli in Don Carlo in Lima, and Baba the Turk in The Rake’s Progress with Christopher Hogwood with the Teatro Real.
One of the foremost contemporary interpreters of the bel canto literature, Ms. Barcellona’s performances in this repertoire are celebrated in her native Italy. She has sung Maffio Orsini in Lucrezia Borgia, Marquise Melibea in Il viaggio a Reims at Teatro alla Scala; the titles role of Adelaide di Borgogna, Sigismondo, and Tancredi, Malcolm Graeme in La donna del lago, Arsace in Semiramide, Calbo in Maometto II, Falliero in Bianca e Falliero, Ottone in Adelaide di Borgogna, and concerts of bel canto literature at the Rossini Opera Festival in Pesaro with Alberto Zedda conducting many peformances; Isabella in L’italiana in Algeri, Rosina in Il barbiere di Siviglia, Angelina in La cenerentola, Tancredi, and Arsace in Semiramide with Teatro dell’Opera di Roma; Adalgisa in Norma at the Teatro Regio di Parma; Giovanna Seymour in Anna Bolena at Teatro San Carlo di Napoli and Teatro Regio de Torino; Tancredi and Rosina in Il barbiere di Siviglia at the Teatro de Maggio Musicale Fiorentino; and Leonora in La favorite and Angelina in La cenerentola with Teatro Carlo Felice. Equally successful outside of Italy, she has sung Adalgisa in Norma at the Metropolitan Opera and New Israeli Opera; Romeo in I Capuleti e i Montecchi at Opéra national de Paris; Isabella in L’italiana in Algeri with the Bayerische Staatsoper and Semperoper Dresden; Rosina in Il barbiere di Siviglia at the Wiener Staatsoper; Arsace in Semiramide with Teatro Real and Grand Théâtre de Genève; Romeo in I Capuleti e I Montecchi and Malcolm Graeme in La donna del lago at the Salzburger Festpiele; Isabella in L’italiana in Algeri and Tancredi with Opera de Oviedo; Léonor in La favorite, Romeo in I Capuleti e i Montecchi and Rosina in Il barbiere di Sivilia at the Festival de Ópera de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria; Tancredi with Teatro de la Maestranza; Isaeblla in L’italiana in Algeri with ABAO Bilbao; and further performances of Malcolm Graeme in La donna del lago at the Teatro alla Scala, Opéra national de Paris, Opéra Royal de Wallonie, Quincena Musical de San Sebastián, and Festival Radio France Montpellier.
In other repertoire, her performances include Orfeo in Orfeo ed Euridice with the Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino and Bayerische Rundfunk, Orchester, Teatro Pergolesi di Jesi; the title role in Giulio Cesare at the Teatro Communale di Bologna; Tamerlano in Vivaldi’s Bajazet at Teatro Malibra di Venezia; the title role in Rinaldo with Teatro alla Scala; Zita in Gianni Schicchi and Badessa in Suor Angelica at Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw; Ariodante in Mayr’s Ginevra di Scozia at Teatro Verdi di Trieste; and Charlotte in Werther at the Wexford Festival.
Ms. Barcellona's concert performances include Berlioz’s Roméo et Juliette with the London Symphony Orchestra; Verdi’s Requiem with the Danish National Symphony Orchestra, Teatro regio di Torino, Teatro Carlo Felice, Sydney Opera House, London’s Royal Albert Hall, Toronto’s Roy Thompson Hall, and on tour throughout Italy with Riccardo Chailly conducting; and Beethoven’s Missa solemnis at the Sydney Opera House and Basilica di Santa Maria Sopra Minerva. She has sung numerous previous performances of Rossini’s orchestral works including the Stabat Mater at the Rossini Opera Festival in Pesaro as well as in Sydney, La Coruña, and Valencia, and Giovanni d’Arco and the Petite messe solennelle in Pesaro.
Her musical endeavors include collaborations with other such celebrated conductors as Riccardo Muti, Roberto Abbado, Claudio Abbado, Wolfgang Sawallisch, Dan Ettinger, Fabio Biondi, Gianandrea Noseda, Kent Nagano, Riccardo Frizza, Keri-Lynn Wilson, George Prêtre, Jesus Lopez Cobos, Sir Colin Davis, Evelino Pidò, Bruno Campanella, Paolo Olmi, and Myung-Whun Chung. Ms. Barcellona discography comprises over twenty recordings to her credit that includes Verdi’s Requiem with Claudio Abbado conducting on EMI Classics. Her recent performances of Les Troyens with Valery Gergiev conducting have been released on the Metis label.