 |
Marita Napier has established
herself internationally as an
exponent of the music of Wagner
and Richard Strauss, having sung
numerous works by these composers
throughout the world. Born in
Johannesburg she is one of three
South African born opera singers
who have achieved opera's Grand
Slam, having sung lead roles at
the Metropolitan Opera in New
York, the Vienna State Opera,
La Scala in Milan and Covent Garden
in London.
Ms Napier has performed 19 productions
of Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelugen
at Covent Garden, La Scala, the
Metropolitan and in San Francisco,
Bayreuth, Vienna and all major
opera houses in Europe. She also
received the Grammy Award for
the Metropolitan recording of
Die Walküre.
For
CAPAB Opera she sang Leonore
in Fidelio and Santa
in Der fliegende Holländer.
At the Pretoria State Theatre
she sang Electra in ldomeneo
and Santuzza in Cavalleria
Rusticana, and at Roodepoort
Puccini's heroine Tosca
and Leonore in Fidelio.
She was also the soloist in Roodepoort
in the South African premiere
of Gorecki's Third Symphony. |
| Ms
Napier is a world-renowned interpreter
of Chrysothemis in Strauss'
Elektra (on occasion
opposite Birgit Nilsson in the
title role) in San Francisco,
Belgrade, Basle and Stuttgart.
One of her greatest achievements
was performing at the Bayreuth
Festival, whilst she was voted
'Voice of America' for her Senta
in Der fliegende Holländer
in San Francisco in the late
Seventies. She holds the distinction
of singing for one of the biggest
television audiences in the
world ever when she gave a concert
in Beijing on the Met tour to
China. She has sung under conductors
such as Levine, Mehta, Sawallisch,
Colin Davis and Boulez, among
others.
She
started her association with
CAPAB Opera in 1976 when she
returned for the first time
to South Africa to sing Senta
in Der fliegende Holländer,
after which she sang Leonore
in Fidelio, Leonora
in La Forza Del Destino,
Brunnhilde in Die
Walküre, Santuzza
in Cavalleria Rusticana,
Abigaille in Nabucco,
Lady Macbeth in Verdi's
Macbeth, Princess Turandot
in Turandot and Bessie
Lutter in Roelof Temmingh's
Sacred Bones at the NICO.
She
recorded the Mother in Humperdinck's
Hänsel and Gretel with
the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra
under Horst Stein. She has many
recordings to her credit, among
others Beethoven's Choral
Symphony under Seiji Ozawa
and Schönberg's Gurrelieder
under Pierre Boulez as well
as Kurt Weill's opera Der
Zar Lasst sich Photographieren.
Ms
Napier has also recorded Das
Rheingold and Die Walküre.
|
