Ana Maria Martinez BiographyAna Maria Martinez, sopranoAna MarÃa MartÃnez' dramatic range distinguishes her as one of today's most sophisticated lyric sopranos. Her career spans the world's opera houses, concert halls, and recording studios, and she continues to engage her audiences both with her signature roles and with new and exciting debuts.
The 2005-2006 season will find Ms. Martinez returning to Covent Garden as Violetta in
La Traviata and to Houston Grand Opera as la Contessa in
The Marriage of Figaro, and to San Francisco Opera as Micaela in
Carmen.
Ana Maria looks forward to making her Metropolitan Opera debut as Micaela in Carmen as well as her debut at Paris Opera, Bastille as Amelia in a new production of Simon Boccanegra. Ana Maria will sing the role of Nedda with the Netherlands Opera and will also make her debut at the Salzburg Festival as Fiordiligi in Così fan Tutte.
Last season Ms. Martinez created the role of Lucero in the world premiere of Daniel Catán's Salsipuedes with the Houston Grand Opera, and performed with her native Puerto Rico Symphony Orchestra at the Kennedy Center. Other highlights of the season included performances of Mimì in La Boheme with the Los Angeles Opera and a return to Houston for a revival production of Romeo and Juliet. The summer festival season found Ms. Martinez at the Santa Fe Opera in another role debut, singing Rosina in a new production of Rossini's Il Barbiere di Siviglia.
Ms. Martinez' 2003-2004 season included several critically acclaimed debuts: at the Santa Fe Opera as Fiordiligi in Così fan Tutte, at the Dresden Semper Opera as Mimì in La Bohème and at the San Francisco Opera as Pamina in the Magic Flute, a role she has sung with the Vienna, Seattle, Bonn and Stuttgart operas. She returned to the Deutsche Oper Berlin to perform Mimì in La Bohème as well as Violetta in their season's production of La Traviata. Ms. Martinez also returned to Houston as Liù in Turandot and in the same role at the Casals Festival in Puerto Rico. The festival season found Ms. Martinez returning to Santa Fe Opera as Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni.
Other highlights were her Hamburg Opera debut as Blanche in Poulenc's Dialogues of the Carmelites; her Violetta conducted by Plácido Domingo at the Los Angeles Opera; her Deutsche Oper Berlin debut in Götz Friedrich's production of Luisa Miller; her debut at the Vienna Staatsoper as Adina in L'elisir d'amore, and her acclaimed performance of Mélisande in a Dieter Dorn production at the Florence Maggio Musicale Festival under Giuseppe Sinopoli. MartÃnez also performed with the Boston Symphony conducted by Bernard Haitink and toured the world with Plácido Domingo. Other past engagements included performances at Bonn, Montpellier, Stuttgart, Vienna, Los Angeles, New York City Opera, Minnesota, Seattle, and Washington Opera.
Her discography includes her 2005 solo CD on the Naxos label, titled Ana Maria Martinez: Soprano Songs and Arias recorded with the Prague Philharmonia with Steven Mercurio conducting. Other works include the Latin Grammy award-winning recording of Albeniz's Merlin with Plácido Domingo (Decca), a recording of Bacalov's Misa Tango with Plácido Domingo (Deutsche Grammophon), and her recordings of Glass' La Belle et la Bête and Symphony No. 5 (Nonesuch). She has also recorded I Pagliacci with Andrea Bocelli (Decca), Albeniz's Henry Clifford (Decca), Joaquin Rodrigo’s: Obra Vocal I, II, IV & V (EMI), and Daniel Catán's Florencia en el Amazonas (Albany). Recorded on Naxos for the Milken Archives and with the Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields, she can be heard on Caltelnuovo-Tedesco’s Naomi & Ruth Opus 27 (Naxos) as well as Yizkor's Requiem (Naxos) and with the Barcelona Symphony, Marvin Levy’s Song of the Crypto Jews (Naxos) and Julius Chajes’ Old Jerusalem (Naxos).
Her rendition of Ave Maria is heard on the Denzel Washington film “John Q” and she has been featured on the PBS TV special and DVD American Dream: Andrea Bocelli’s Statue of Liberty Concert with the New Jersey Symphony.
A graduate of the Juilliard School with Bachelor and Master of Music degrees, Martinez won the Pepita Embil Award at the 1995 Operalia II, first prize in the 1994 Eleanor McCollum Auditions, and was a national finalist in the 1993 Metropolitan Opera National Guild Council Auditions.
www.anamariamartinez.info