Soloists
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Elizabeth Futral |
Soprano Elizabeth Futral embraces a diverse repertoire that includes works by Vivaldi, Handel, Mozart, Bellini, Donizetti, Rossini, Verdi, Glass, and Previn. During the 2009–10 season, Ms. Futral celebrates the art of the recital with a solo appearance at North Central College and with baritone Nathan Gunn at Dominican University. She returns to Lyric Opera of Chicago as Hanna Glawari in The Merry Widow, and appears with Kentucky Opera and San Diego Opera as Violetta in La Traviata. On the concert stage, Ms. Futral performs one of her favorite works, Strauss’ Four Last Songs, with the Tucson Symphony in a program that also features the world premiere of Stephen Paulus’ Three Poems of Dylan Thomas. She will also be heard in Ricky Ian Gordon’s The Grapes of Wrath with the Collegiate Chorale at Carnegie Hall.
Elizabeth Futral has appeared at major opera houses including the Metropolitan Opera (title role in Lucia di Lammermoor, Princess Eudoxie in La Juive, Elvira in I Puritani, and most recently, Princess Yueyang in the world premiere of The First Emperor); Royal Opera House Covent Garden (Musetta in La Bohéme); San Francisco Opera (Stella in the world premiere of A Streetcar Named Desire, Violetta in La Traviata); Bayerische Staatsoper (Nannetta in Falstaff); Gran Teatre del Liceu (Gilda in Rigoletto); and Berlin State Opera (Violetta in La Traviata). Ms. Futral enjoys particularly close relationships with Lyric Opera of Chicago, where recent projects have included Violetta and the title role in Partenope, and with Washington National Opera, where she has performed as Adina in L’Elisir d’amore, Violetta, and Lucia.
Elizabeth Futral made her New York Philharmonic début in Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 under the direction of Zubin Mehta, and performed in a concert version of Berlioz’s Benvenuto Cellini with the London Symphony conducted by Sir Colin Davis. She was a guest artist on the 2000 New Year’s Eve Gala Concert with the Berlin Philharmonic under the direction of Claudio Abbado, released on DVD by Euroarts Music International, and has performed the Brahms Requiem and Krenek’s Die Nachtigall with the San Francisco Symphony under the direction of Michael Tilson Thomas.
Ms. Futral’s extensive discography includes Meyerbeer’s L’Etoile du nord for Marco Polo, Previn’s A Streetcar Named Desire, and Ravel’s L’Enfant et les sortileges for Deutsche Grammophon, Philip Glass’s Hydrogen Jukebox for Euphorbia Records, a recording of Bach solo cantatas with J. Reilly Lewis and the Washington Bach Consort, and Ricky Ian Gordon’s Orpheus and Euridice for Sh-K-Boom Records. She has recorded Rossini’s Otello and Zelmira, Pacini’s Carlo di Borgogna, and The Supreme Decorator for Opera Rara, and Lucia di Lammermoor and a solo aria recital for Chandos as part of the “Opera in English” series. She also appears on Sweethearts, a collection of operetta favorites on Newport Classics. Elizabeth Futral can be seen as Stella in the video of A Streetcar Named Desire on the Kultur label, and has been featured on “Live from Lincoln Center” and A&E’s “Breakfast with the Arts.”