Anna Shafajinskaia

Anna Shafajinskaia, soprano

Anna Shafajinskaia is one of the world’s foremost dramatic sopranos. Recent highlights include her Seattle Opera debut as Odabella ATTILA; Morgana THE LOVE OF THREE ORANGES for De Nederlandse Opera; her role debut as Santuzza CAVALLERIA RUSTICANA for New Zealand Opera; her role debut in the title role LADY MACBETH OF MTSENSK in her Israeli Opera debut and a return to Welsh National Opera in the title role TURANDOT. In addition to these she has also performed the title role IOLANTA for the Louisville Orchestra and Kentucky Opera conducted by Jorge Mester; Britten WAR REQUIEM in Porto; Maddalena de Coigny ANDREA CHENIER at Teatro Real in Madrid and the title role TURANDOT for Theater Bremen, the National Centre for the Performing Arts in China and at the opening of the Guangzho Opera House in China with Lorin Maazel.  In 2014 Shafajinskaia sang Fata Morgana L’AMOUR DES TROIS ORANGES at the Teatro del Maggio Musicale Firenze.

Other triumphs have included the title role LA GIOCONDA for the Deutsche Oper Berlin, in Liège and Nice; Lisa PIQUE DAME for Finnish National Opera; the title role TOSCA for Den Norske Opera.  She also made her role debut as Fata Morgana L’AMOUR DES TROIS ORANGES for the Nederlandse Opera and her Spanish debut as TURANDOT for the Gran Teatre del Liceu, Barcelona. She made her role debut as Leonora LA FORZA DEL DESTINO at the Deutsche Oper Berlin (a role she subsequently sang at the National Theatre in Tokyo) and sang further performances of TURANDOT for the Puccini Festival in Torre del Lago.

She made her role debut as Abigaille NABUCCO for Dallas Opera and sung Maddalena ANDREA CHENIER in Barcelona, as well as include TURANDOT in Adelaide, South Australia and the title role TOSCA for New York City Opera.

Born in the Ukraine, she later moved to Canada taking Canadian nationality. After winning the Luciano Pavarotti International Competition, she came to the attention of an international public and was invited to sing the title role TOSCA opposite Luciano Pavarotti (conducted by Marco Armiliato). She sang this role in theatres throughout the world, including the Bastille in Paris (conducted by Marcello Viotti), New York City Opera (where she was awarded the Richard Gold Debut Award for her interpretations of both TOSCA and TURANDOT), the Finnish National Opera and Den Norske Oper.

Her debut as AIDA for Opera Ontario, conducted by Daniel Lipton, was followed by her debut as Madeleine de Coigny ANDREA CHENIER for Den Norske Opera. Her subsequent debut as TURANDOT for Welsh National Opera secured her reputation as one of the foremost exponents of this role, with subsequent appearances including Covent Garden (conducted by Marco Armiliato), Liège for Opéra Wallonie, Dallas, The Bolshoi in Moscow, St Petersburg in the Francesco Zambello production (conducted by Alexander Vedernikov), San Diego, Florida and The Netherlands Opera with the new Act III ending by Luciano Berio, conducted by Riccardo Chailly. Her appearances in Italy have included the Teatro Comunale di Firenze as Lady Macbeth MACBETH, conducted by Julia Jones, and Palermo conducted by Gabriele Ferro. Other international highlights have included her debut in the role of Lisa PIQUE DAME in Dallas.  Her concert highlights include Britten WAR REQUIEM for the Porto 2001 Festival and Gala concerts with the Odense Symphony Orchestra in South Africa and at Opéra de Montréal. She also appeared in Verdi Messa da Requiem in Italy, and she sang the role of Fiora L’AMORE DEI TRE RE at the Concertgebouw, Amsterdam.