Wallis Giunta

Wallis Giunta

Wallis Giunta candid portrait
Born Kaitlyn Wallis Giunta
(1985-12-29) 29 December 1985
Ottawa, Canada
Occupation Opera Singer (mezzo), Actress
Years active 2008–present
Website wallisgiunta.com

Wallis Giunta (born 1985) is a Canadian opera singer and actress performing at leading theatres and opera companies around the world. She is a lyric mezzo-soprano, of Scottish, Italian and Irish descent.

Early Life & Education

Giunta was born in Ottawa, Ontario to parents Colleen Wrighte and Michael Giunta. She has a brother, Macallan, and a sister, Marley - both also musical.[1] Wallis sang in the Ottawa Central Children's Choir from age 9 to 15,[2] and began her voice training with Charlotte Stewart in Ottawa at age 13. She graduated high school from Glebe Collegiate Institute. At age 17, she began her post-secondary studies in voice at The University of Ottawa, and there completed her freshman and sophomore years. She then transferred to The Glenn Gould School of The Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto in her junior year, receiving her Performance Diploma (Voice) at age 21 and her Artist Diploma (Voice) at age 23.[3] While a student, she also won First Place in the Royal Conservatory Orchestra Concerto Competition.[4] She attended training programs at the Aspen Music Festival and School, the Ravinia Festival, the Internationale Meistersinger Akademie,[5] the Georg Solti Accademia and the Banff Centre. Wallis graduated from the prestigious Canadian Opera Company Ensemble Studio in 2011,[6] and both the Metropolitan Opera Lindemann Young Artist Development Program and The Juilliard School Artist Diploma in Opera Studies in 2013.[7][8] She has studied extensively with both Jean MacPhail in Toronto, and Edith Wiens in New York.

Career

In the spring of 2010, while still completing her studies, Giunta made her professional stage debut in the role of Cherubino in a new production of Le Nozze di Figaro with Opera Atelier and the Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra in Toronto. She spent the summer of 2010 at the Ravinia Festival in Chicago, where she was invited to audition for the Metropolitan Opera Lindemann Young Artist Development Program. She was selected by James Levine to join the program starting in the fall of 2011. Earlier in 2011, she made her American operatic debut as Pribaoutki in the acclaimed Robert Lepage production of Stravinsky's The Nightingale & Other Short Fables, on tour with the Canadian Opera Company. That season, she also performed Zweite Dame in the Canadian Opera Company main stage production of Mozart's Die Zauberflöte, directed by Diane Paulus, and made her debut at Opera Lyra Ottawa as Lola in Cavalleria Rusticana (Mascagni). [9] In 2012, she performed in two Metropolitan Opera Young Artist productions in New York, as Phénice in Gluck's Armide, and as Dorabella in Stephen Wadsworth's staging of Così Fan Tutte (Mozart), to great critical acclaim. She also debuted at the Fort Worth Opera, reprising the role of Cherubino.[9]

2013 saw her return to the Canadian Opera Company as Annio in La Clemenza di Tito (Mozart), directed by Christopher Alden. For the second performance in this production run, she replaced an ailing colleague in the lead role of Sesto, and had a breakthrough triumph. This was followed by her Metropolitan Opera main stage debut as Contessa Ceprano in Rigoletto (Verdi), and her debut at the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris, singing the role of Tiffany in the politically-charged opera, I Was Looking at the Ceiling and Then I Saw the Sky, by John Adams. She also made her Asian debut later that year, with the Taipei Symphony Orchestra, reprising the role of Annio. [9]


In 2014, she made a triumphant return to the Canadian Opera Company, reprising the role of Dorabella, in a new production by Oscar-winning director Atom Egoyan. She also created the Canadian premiere of Louis Andriessen's one-woman opera, Anaïs Nin, for the 21C Festival in Toronto, and returned to Opera Atelier as Bradamante in Alcina (Handel). In early 2015, she returned to the Metropolitan Opera as Olga in a new production of The Merry Widow (Lehár), broadcast worldwide for their Live in HD series. That was followed by a return to Opera Lyra Ottawa as Cherubino, and a debut at Teatro dell'Opera di Roma, reprising her role in I Was Looking at the Ceiling and Then I Saw the Sky. In the fall of 2015, she became a member of the ensemble at Oper Leipzig in Germany. In November 2015, she made her German operatic debut at Oper Leipzig in the role of Cherubino, in a new production of Le Nozze di Figaro . That was followed at Oper Leipzig by her role debut as Siébel in Gounod's Faust, and her first Wagner role as Rossweise in Die Walküre. In March 2016 she made another role debut at Oper Leipzig as Angelina in La Cenerentola, to great critical acclaim. She debuted in April 2016 at the Deutsche Oper am Rhein, followed by a debut with the Hamburger Symphoniker in May 2016, and her role debut as Mercédès in Carmen for Oper Frankfurt's new Barry Kosky staging in July, 2016. [9]

Operatic Repertoire

Giunta's repertoire includes: [10]

Recognition & Awards

Recordings

Her recordings include:

References

  1. ↑ Hill, Valerie (9 December 2011). "Mezzo Soprano sure to dazzle at Saturday's Messiah performance". Waterloo Region Record. Retrieved 9 October 2015.
  2. ↑ Eades, Erica (12 February 2013). "STAR POWER: A Q&A with Mezzo Soprano Wallis Giunta". Ottawa Magazine. Retrieved 9 October 2015.
  3. ↑ "Glenn Gould School Alumni". The Royal Conservatory.
  4. ↑ "All Participants". Neue Stimmen. 2009. Retrieved 9 October 2015.
  5. ↑ "Alumni: 2012". Internationale Meistersinger Akademie. 2012. Retrieved 9 October 2015.
  6. ↑ MacMillan, Rick (2011). "Wallis Giunta". Opera Canada. Vol 52 (1): 10. Retrieved 9 October 2015.
  7. ↑ "Alumni News". The Juilliard School. Retrieved 9 October 2015.
  8. ↑ Mazzaro, Maria (September 2015). "Sound Bites: Wallis Giunta". Opera News. 80 (3): 14–15. Retrieved 9 October 2015.
  9. 1 2 3 4 5 "Biography". Wallis Giunta Official Site. Retrieved 9 October 2015.
  10. ↑ Giunta, Wallis. "Repertoire". Wallis Giunta Official Website. Retrieved 9 October 2015.
  11. ↑ Rowat, Robert. "30 Hot Canadian Classical Musicians Under 30 2015". CBC Music. Retrieved 10 October 2015.
  12. ↑ Tenenhouse, Kate. "Top 25 People in the Capiltal 2015". Ottawa Life Magazine. Retrieved 10 October 2015.
  13. ↑ "Gala Program" (PDF). GGPAA. Retrieved 10 October 2015.
  14. ↑ Rowat, Robert. "30 Hot Canadian Classical Musicians Under 30 2014". CBC Music. Retrieved 10 October 2015.
  15. ↑ Rowat, Robert. "30 Hot Canadian Classical Musicians Under 30 2013". CBC Music. Retrieved 10 October 2015.
  16. ↑ "Award Recipients". Sylva Gelber Music Foundation. Retrieved 9 October 2015.
  17. ↑ "New Discoveries Competition". Ottawa Choral Society. Retrieved 9 October 2015.
  18. ↑ Perry, William. "Music for Great Films of the Silent Era". Naxos. Retrieved 9 October 2015.
  19. ↑ Becke, Carson. "CDs". Carson Becke, Pianist. Retrieved 9 October 2015.
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