Author: user

Born in Paris, Norah Amsellem is the winner of several international competitions and a participant in the Metropolitan Opera of New York's "Young Artist Development Program". In 1997, she made her debut at the Opéra de Paris Bastille as Micaëla in Carmen, before singing the role at the Metropolitan Opera for the opening of the 1997-98 season, alongside Placido Domingo, conducted by James Levine, and in Japan in June 2000. She was soon invited by other leading opera houses such as the San Francisco Opera and the Mai Musical Florentine (Liù, Turandot), the Glyndebourne Festival (La Comtesse, Le Nozze di Figaro), Milan's La Scala for her debut with Riccardo Muti in Armide, and received rave reviews from the international press. Norah Amsellem also made high-profile debuts in Don Pasquale (Norina) and Roméo et Juliette (Juliette) at Opéra de Bordeaux, in Rigoletto (Gilda) at Opéra d'Avignon and in the title role of Manon at Opéra de Liège. She has appeared in Carmen at the Metropolitan Opera and in Rigoletto at the Capitole de Toulouse. Norah Amsellem performed the role of Liù in Turandot on tour in Japan under Zubin Mehta, and at La Scala in Milan under Giuseppe Sinopoli. She was a great success in Rigoletto at the Chorégies d'Orange, and last season sang her first Adina in Elisir d'Amore at the Amsterdam Opera alongside Bryn Terfel, as well as Turandot and Manon at the Teatro San Carlo in Naples. During the 2002-2003 season, she appeared in Roméo et Juliette at the Opéra de Nice and the Vienna Staatsoper, Turandot at the San Francisco Opera and the Metropolitan Opera in New York, and La Bohème at the Opéra de Lausanne. She has just successfully sung Traviata at Madrid's Teatro Real. Upcoming engagements include Traviata at Berlin's Deutsche Oper, San Francisco Opera and Vienna Staatsoper, Turandot in Genoa and Covent Garden, Manon in Las Palmas, La Bohème at Saito Kinen under Seiji Ozawa and in Naples, Carmen at the Chorégies d'Orange, directed by Jérôme Savary, which will be repeated on tour with the Radio France Philharmonic Orchestra in Tokyo, Rigoletto in Seattle, Carmen at the Santa Cecilia, I Pagliaci in Amsterdam, Faust at the Grand Théâtre de Bordeaux. Norah Amsellem has also appeared in numerous recitals and concerts in New York (first recital at Alice Tully Hall in 1995, then at Carnegie Hall in January 2000), San Francisco, Paris (Théâtre du Châtelet, Théâtre des Champs Elysées with the Orchestre National de France in Debussy's L'Enfant prodigue, Salle Gaveau and at the Champs de Mars with Seiji Ozawa in Beethoven's 9th Symphony), Aix-en-Provence, Bordeaux, Lyon (Mahler's 4th Symphony), Montpellier (Britten's Illuminations with the Philharmonic Orchestra), Auvers-sur-Oise (Mozart's Requiem), Genoa (Poulenc's Gloria), Florence (Fauré's Requiem) under the direction of Georges Prêtre (project repeated in October 2000 at Vienna's Musikverein), Cleveland, Washington. Highlights of the 2002-2003 season include Mahler's 4th with the Orchestre national d'Ile de France at the Théâtre Mogador in Paris, concerts with the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande in Geneva under Pinchas Steinberg, and with the Orchestre philharmonique de Nice under Marco Guidarini. She performed Alfred Bruneau's Le Rêve with the Orchestre national de France. She has also appeared in recital at the Opéra National du Rhin. Concert projects include Poulenc's Gloria with the Santa Cecilia Orchestra, Rossini's Stabat Mater with the Orchestre philharmonique de Strasbourg, and Franck Martin's Golgotha with the Vienna Musikverein. Norah Amsellem took part in the EMI recording of the Cantates de Rome Prix de l'Académie Charles Cros, earning her praise from the music press Opéra International, December 2000: "Norah Amsellem, for her part, dominates the very demanding score of Myrrha with sovereign ease and ideal musical sense". Diapason, November 2000: "Norah Amsellem, perfect in tone and musicality".