Michelle Bradley Returns To San Diego Opera To Sing Title Role Of Puccini's TOSCA March 2023

San Diego Opera's 2022-2023 Season continues with Puccini's Tosca on Saturday, March 25, 2023 at the San Diego Civic Theatre for four performances. Additional performances are March 28, 31, and April 2 (matinee), 2023. All evening performances take place at 7:30 PM, matinees at 2 PM.

These performances of Tosca feature the return of soprano Michelle Bradley in the title role of the opera singer Floria Tosca. Bradley made her Company debut in the title role of Aida in 2019 and returned for sold-out concerts in 2022. She recently sang Tosca at the Lyric Opera of Chicago where the Chicago Sun Times said "Bradley in her Lyric debut... [hit] every high note and compellingly conveying Tosca's tragic poignancy and unflinching mettle." Joining her is San Diego Opera favorite, the bass-baritone Greer Grimsley returning the reprise his signature role of Scarpia. Grimsley was last heard as The Pirate King in 2018's The Pirates of Penzance, and sang Scarpia for the Company last time Tosca was performed in 2016. Making an exciting Company debut as Cavaradossi is tenor Marcelo Puente, who has made notable debuts at Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Opéra national de Paris, Deutsche Oper Berlin, and Teatro alla Scala in recent seasons. Rounding out the cast is baritone Michael Sokol as the Sacristan, tenor Joel Sorensen as Spoletta, and soprano Abigail Allwein as the Shepherd Boy. Conductor Valerio Galli, who made his Company debut in 2018's Turandot returns to lead the San Diego Symphony for these performances. San Diego Opera's Resident Director, Alan E. Hicks, who last directed 2019's Aida and served and Song and Visual Coordinator for 2021's One Amazing Night: When I See Your Face Again, returns to stage the action.

Performed in Italian with English translations above the stage, Tosca is Giacomo Puccini's gripping drama filed with torture, treachery, lust, execution and suicide. Scarpia, the chief of police, wants only two things: to recapture the escaped prisoner Angelotti and to seduce Tosca, an opera singer of incredible voice and beauty. Tosca is in love with Cavaradossi, an artist and sympathizer of Angelotti. After arresting Cavardossi for harboring Angelotti, Scarpia plays with Tosca's emotions, promising to free Cavaradossi if Tosca will succumb to him. But Tosca has a plan of her own and Scarpia a secret order, all of which unfolds with tragic consequences from which no one can escape. Soaring and sensuous, filled with such beautiful arias as Tosca's "Vissi d'arte", Cavaradossi's "Recondita armonia" and the beautiful choral piece "Te Deum", Tosca has some of Opera's most beloved music, and one of Opera's most gripping plots.

This production is owned by San Diego Opera and was last seen in 2016. It was originally designed by Ft. Worth Opera. The set designer is Andrew Horn. The costumes were originally created for New York City Opera and refurbished by the Seattle Opera Costume Shop. The original costume designer is Andrew Marley with additional designs by Heidi Zamora. The lighting designer is Gary Marder. These performances will be the ninth time Tosca has been performed by San Diego Opera with performances happening in 2016, 2009, 2002, 1996, 1986, 1981, 1974, and 1967. These performances are made possible by lead production sponsor, Darlene Marcos Shiley.

Soprano Michelle Bradley made her Company debut in the title role of Aida in 2019 and was recently heard in recital as part of the 2021 season. She is a 2018 graduate of the Lindemann Young Artist Development Program. She made recent appearances with the Vienna State Opera as Leonora in Il Trovatore (a role debut), the San Francisco Opera's virtual performance of Ernani as Elvira (another role debut), and Liù in Turandot at the Metropolitan Opera. She also appeared in solo recital at the Kennedy Center and performed Samuel Barber's Knoxville, Summer of 1915 with the New World Symphony. Future projects include, debuts with the Lyric Opera of Chicago, the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden and returns to the Metropolitan Opera, all in leading roles. In the 2018-2019 season, the soprano made a string of notable debuts with Oper Frankfurt for Leonora in a new production of La Forza del Destino, with Opéra national de Lorraine and Theater Erfurt for the title role in Aida, and at Deutsche Oper Berlin for the soprano solo in staged performances of the Verdi Requiem. She recently made her Lyric Opera of Chicago debut as Tosca. In concert, she debuted in Paris as the soprano solo in Sir Michael Tippett's A Child of Our Time with the Orchestre de Paris under Thomas Adès, sang the soprano solo in Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 with the Philadelphia Orchestra and Yannick Nézet-Séguin and sang in recital under the auspices of the George London Foundation in Miami and New York City. Prior to that, Ms. Bradley returned to the Metropolitan Opera as Clotilde in the new David McVicar production of Norma. She also appeared in Santiago de Chile as Donna Anna in Don Giovanni. On the concert stage the soprano made her debut at the May Festival in the Verdi Requiem, sang the Vier letzte Lieder by Richard Strauss with the Santa Cruz Symphony, performed a program of Chausson and Caplet chamber works with the New World Symphony and gave solo recitals in Palm Beach and Santiago de Chile. In the Metropolitan Opera's 2016-2017 season, the soprano made debuts in Mozart's Idomeneo and as the High Priestess in Verdi's Aida. Other engagements included recitals at the Théâtre du Châtelet, New York's Park Avenue Armory and a return to Santa Cruz for Verdi's Messa da Requiem. In January 2016, Ms. Bradley performed in Carnegie Hall's Neighborhood Recital Series in honor of Marilyn Horne, and in the following May, she made her debut singing Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 with the Santa Cruz Symphony Orchestra. Michelle Bradley is a winner of the 2018 Lincoln Center Emerging Artist Award, the 2017 recipient of the Leonie Rysanek Award from the George London Foundation, the 2017 Lissner Charitable Fund Award from Opera Index, a 2017 Sullivan Foundation Award winner, the 2016 recipient of the Hildegard Behrens Foundation Award, and a first-place winner in the Gerda Lissner and the Serge and Olga Koussevitzky vocal competitions. She is the 2014 grand prize winner of The Music Academy of the West's Marilyn Horne Song Competition and in May 2015, was presented in a nationwide recital tour as part of her prize. She received her Masters of Music in Vocal Performance from Bowling Green State University. She has studied under Andrew W. Smith, Wilhelmenia Fernandez, Myra Merrit, Lois Alba, and Diana Soviero. She has also participated in master classes with Stephanie Blythe, Anne Sofie Von Otter, Marilyn Horne, Deborah Voigt, James Morris, and Renata Scotto.

These 30-minute informative lectures for the main stage operas take place in the Civic Theatre one hour prior to every performance and offer wonderful insights into the production audience members are about to see. These lectures are free to all ticket holders.

Join the cast, crew, musicians and artists right after the performance of the main stage operas for an engaging, entertaining and informative Q&A session moderated by a San Diego Opera staff member. These lectures are held in the Civic Theatre and are free to all ticket holders.

These insights into the singers and productions can be enjoyed by opera fans as well as those who are new to the art form. Casual and fun, this is a great way to learn about our artists and the operas they star in. Watch online at http://www.sdopera.org/Company/Education/Podcasts. These videos are also available on our YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/SanDiegoOpera

For our most current information about tickets please visit www.sdopera.org or call 619.533.7000

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