“It’s not often that an opera-goer is fortunate enough to witness the birth of a star!”
San Francisco review of Danielle Talamantes' debut as Violetta in "La traviata"
“It’s not often that a fortunate operagoer witnesses the birth of a star!,” critics hailed for Danielle Talamantes’ recent role début as Violetta in La traviata. This season, Talamantes sings Mimì in La bohéme with Fairfax Symphony and returns to The Metropolitan Opera to sing Frasquita for their productions of Carmen. In addition, she will appear as a soloist in multiple classical masterworks including Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 at Carnegie Hall with DCINY and the US Naval Academy, Verdi’s Requiem with Fairfax Symphony and the National Philharmonic, Fauré’s Requiem and Vaughan Williams’ Serenade to Music with Eugene Concert Choir, Händel’s Messiah with La Jolla Symphony, and in the National Philharmonic’s Bernstein Choral Celebration concert.
In recent seasons, Talamantes performed the role of Marzelline in Fidelio with the Princeton Festival; Mimì in La boheme with the St Petersburg (FL) Opera, Symphony of Northwest Arkansas; the title role of Susannah with Opera Roanoke; Anna in Nabucco and Frasquita in Carmen with The Metropolitan Opera; Violetta in La traviata with Finger Lakes Opera and Cedar Rapids Opera Theatre; Donna Anna in Don Giovanni at Cedar Rapids Opera Theater; a début at Spoleto Festival USA as Sergente in Veremonda. Additional concert works include “Fanfare for the Uncommon Woman!” with Close Encounters with Music at the Manchester Music Festival and Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts; Mozart’s Requiem with Phoenix Symphony Orchestra, Cathedral Choral Society, and Fairfax Symphony; Brahms’ Requiem with National Philharmonic, Choralis and St. Mary’s College; Villa-Lobos’s Bachianas brasileiras No. 5, Bach’s Magnificat, and Fiordiligi in Così fan tutte with the National Philharmonic; Mozart’s Mass in C minor, Handel’s Laudate pueri dominum, and Charpentier’s Te Deum with The City Choir of Washington; Händel’s Messiah with Phoenix Symphony Orchestra, United States Naval Academy, National Philharmonic, The New Choral Society, and Austin Symphony & Chorus Austin; Poulenc’s Gloria with Arizona State University’s Symphony Orchestra; Verdi’s Requiem with Gloria Musicae and the Oratorio Society of VA; soprano soloist in Bob Chilcott’s Requiem at Alice Tulley Hall; Dvořák’s Stabat Mater at North Carolina Master Chorale; Barber’s Knoxville: Summer of 1915 with Manchester Symphony Orchestra; and recitals and masterclasses with El Paso Pro-Muisca, Washington & Lee University, James Madison University, Point Loma University, and Catawba College.
Ms. Talamantes and Henry Dehlinger perform Heaven and Earth: A Duke Ellington Songbook, a luscious collection of brand-new arrangements of Duke Ellington standards and irreplaceable gems of the American Songbook – written especially for Ms. Talamantes, in recital at multiple venues across the country. She and pianist Henry Dehlinger also perform, in recital, a concert of gorgeous Spanish songs featured in their critically-acclaimed MSR Classics album: Canciones españolas. Talamantes and Dehlinger captivate audiences with tales of amorous longing, joy and despair as they bring the lush music and poetry of Spain to life. More information on both of these concerts is available at UIAPresents’ website.
Danielle first earned a spot on the Metropolitan Opera roster in the spring of 2011, covering the role of Najade in Ariadne auf Naxos, and was subsequently reengaged to cover the role of the Flower Maiden in Wagner’s Parsifal, the soprano in the quartet of lovers in the Baroque pastiche The Enchanted Island, as Flower Maiden in Strauss’ Die Frau ohne Schatten, and the new Adès opera, The Exterminating Angel.
Ms. Talamantes was awarded first-prize in several prestigious opera competitions, including: the Irene Dalis Opera San Jose Competition; Irma M. Cooper Opera Columbus Competition; XII Concurso de Trujillo; International Lotte Lehman Cybersing Competition; NATS Artist Award; and the Vocal Arts Society Discovery Series competition. In addition, she garnered honors and awards in vocal competitions with the National Opera Association, Liederkranz Foundation, Seoul International Music Competition, Licia Albanese-Puccini Foundation, Giulio Gari Foundation, Gerda Lissner Foundation, Plácido Domingo’s Operalia, and Thomas Quasthoff’s Das Lied.
She is married to bass-baritone Kerry Wilkerson.
El Paso Choral Society presents Verdi's Requiem
Abraham Chavez Theater, El Paso, TX
Often described as "an Opera Disguised as a Masterpiece for Choir and Orchestra," The Messa da Requiem is a musical setting of the Catholic funeral mass (Requiem) for four soloists, double choir and orchestra by Giuseppe Verdi. It was composed in memory of Alessandro Manzoni, an Italian poet and novelist whom Verdi admired.
Riverside Choral Society presents Brahms' Ein Deutsches Requiem
Alice Tully Hall, New York City
Written in the emotional turmoil following the death of his mother and his friend Robert Schumann, the Requiem is a gloriously passionate work considered by many to be Brahms' crowning achievement. In it, he struggles with the fleeting fragility of life, the redemptive power of faith, and the ultimate triumph of the human soul over death itself.
US Naval Academy Beethoven Symphony No. 9
Alumni Hall, Annapolis, MD
Symphony No. 9 - Recognized as one of the most celebrated and profound works in western music, and considered by many to be the greatest piece of music ever written - Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 is beloved throughout the world. The Ninth Symphony extols not just joy, but the capacity for joy - as well Beethoven might, since exercising that capacity through music is how he survived his own trying circumstances. The universally known text touches on his preoccupation with domestic happiness and on man’s endless quest to find his own place in the universe and a relationship with the Creator.
National Philharmonic presents Verdi's Requiem
The Music Center at Strathmore, Bethesda, MD
Danielle Talamantes, soprano Margaret Lattimore, mezzo-soprano Zach Borichevsky, tenor Kevin Deas, bass National Philharmonic Chorale Piotr Gajewski, conductor
Verdi Messa da Requiem
Verdi's La Traviata (Violetta)
Hawaii Opera Theatre-Blaisdell Concert Hall, Honolulu
HOT’s season, ends where it began, with Verdi’s tragic masterpiece of a love that was ill-fated from the start.
The courtesan Violetta is the life of the party, even as tuberculosis, slowly takes her life away. Having long loved her, Alfredo declares his affection as Violetta falls ill. Violetta decides to see if this kind-hearted young man is the real deal. Trading in the life that she knew, Violetta and Alfredo move away, with Violetta secretly selling everything she owns to maintain this new life of love. But their romantic fantasy is doomed to failure.
Hawaii’s own baritone Quinn Kelsey and New Zealand’s Pene Pati from SOL3 MIO also star in HOT’s season finale.