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Biography
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Serena
Benedetti “possesses
a gorgeous, creamy voice that begs to be heard…” Awarded a Marian
Anderson Career Grant early in her career, she is in demand throughout
the U.S. and Europe, performing in operas, recitals, and concerts.
She has been heralded as “a pure-toned soprano that soared radiantly
in the high climaxes,” and was recently praised in the New York
Times as a soprano who “sang beautifully;” the New York Sun
declared her “A Rare Bird”.
Debuts
for the 2011 season include arias of Mozart with the Fondazione Orchestra
Sinfonica Siciliana in Palermo (Boguslaw Dawidow, Conductor), the Ludwig
van Beethoven Festival in Warsaw, Poland, where Benedetti presented recitals
of Richard Strauss lieder, as well as Mahler
Symphony No. 4 and Barber Knoxville: Sumer
of 1915 with the Opole Symphony (Yaniv Segal, Conductor,)
the role of Frantik in The New York Philharmonic’s production of Janacek’s The
Cunning Little Vixen (Alan Gilbert, Conductor,) and Sifare
in Mozart’s Mitridate, Re di Ponto, with
Little Opera Theater of New York. She made a return appearance with
the Eroica Ensemble (see below,) to perform Tatiana’s Letter
Scene from Eugene Onegin, and concert arias of Mozart.
Other recent New York appearances have included recitals at Weill Hall
at Carnegie Hall and Merkin Concert Hall, in repertoire ranging from
Mozart and Debussy to Schönberg. |
The
2010 season featured the Knoxville and Mahler 4 program with New York’s
Chelsea Symphony at Bargemusic, for which the New
York Times praised her, “warmly lyrical performance… a lissome,
sweetly sung account.” Other performances included Brahms’ Ein Deutsches
Requeim with the Southwest Florida Symphony, Orff’s Carmina
Burana with the Sarasota Symphony, and Dvorak’s Stabat
Mater with the Montgomery County Chorus and Philadelphia
Youth Orchestra, Handel’s Messiah with the
Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra (Kirk Trevor,) and Barber’s Knoxville:
Summer of 1915 and Mahler Symphony No.4 with
Eroica Ensemble, Memphis, Tennessee (Michael Gilbert.)
Other highlights of her operatic appearances have included Susanna in Mozart’s Le
Nozze di Figaro with the Sarasota Opera, Musetta in La
Bohème with
the Palm Beach Opera, Fiordiligi in Cosi fan Tutte with
the Utah Symphony and
Opera, Violetta in La Traviata with the Lake Placid
Sinfonietta, Marzelline in Fidelio with Virginia Opera,
and others. At Lyric Opera Cleveland, her Adina
in L’Elisir d’Amore was pronounced by Opera
News, “the evening’s highlight, fulfilling the letter and the spirit
of bel canto.” She joined the roster of the New York City Opera for the 2006
season, covering the role of Fiordiligi.
Concert highlights
have included her debut at Carnegie Hall in Handel’s Messiah under
the baton of John Rutter. Other Carnegie Hall performances include
those with the New York Oratorio Society and MidAmerica Productions,
in repertoire ranging from Vivaldi to Mendelssohn. She has been a repeat
favorite of the Sacred Music in a Sacred Space Series at St. Ignatius
Loyola in New York with Kent Tritle. She has performed there the CPE
Bach Magnificat, St. John Passion of J.S.
Bach, Massenet’s La Terre Promise and Gounod’s Tobie,
including other works. She has also appeared with the National Symphony,
Danish Radio Symphony, Atlanta Symphony, Eugene Symphony, the National
Cathedral Choir, Greater Palm Beach Symphony Society, Lancaster Symphony,
Garden State Symphony, the Princeton Symphony, and others. She has
collaborated with legendary artist Dave Brubeck in his oratorio, La Fiesta
de la Posada. Other oratorios in her performance repertoire include
Bach Magnificat and Mass in b-Minor,
Handel Israel in Egypt, Beethoven Symphony
No. 9, Beethoven Mass in C-Major,
Mozart Mass in c-Minor, Solemn
Vespers, and Requeim, Charpentier Te
Deum, Mendelssohn Psalm 42 (As
the Hart Pants, Op. 42,) Haydn Creation,
Poulenc Gloria, and Fauré Requiem.
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Recital/chamber
work has included the Lyric Chamber Music Festival at the Guggenheim
Museum in New York, Maverick Music Festival, the Songfest Series (Princeton,
NJ), in venues including The National Cathedral in Washington, DC,
Alice Tully Hall, Merkin Concert Hall, the Kosciuszko Foundation in
New York, and Detroit Symphony Hall. She has collaborated with members
of the New York Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, and the New Jersey
Symphony, and with pianists JJ Penna and Brian Zeger. Recital/chamber
works have included Villa-Lobos’ Bachianas Brasileiras No.
5, the Simple Songs of Aaron Jay Kernis,
the Brentano Lieder (Op. 68) of Richard Strauss,
Schubert’s Shepherd on the Rock, and works
by 20th Century composers, including David Del Tredici, William Bolcom,
Ricky Ian Gordon, Lee Hoiby and Stephen Sondheim.
Serena started
singing when she joined the Metropolitan Opera Children’s Chorus, where
she appeared in Hansel and Gretel, La Bohème, Macbeth,
Le Rossignol and Werther. |
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