Catherine Malfitano

Strasbourg, Opéra national du Rhin, Catherine Malfitano as Violetta. Director Jean-Pierre Ponnelle, 1980. Catherine Malfitano (born April 18, 1948) is an American operatic soprano and opera director. Malfitano was born in New York City, the daughter of a ballet dancer mother, Maria Maslova, and a violinist father, Joseph Malfitano. She attended the High School of Music and Art and studied at the Frank Corsaro Studio and Manhattan School of Music, graduating in 1971. She often mentions that she was rejected from The Juilliard School.

Operatic career Malfitano made her professional singing debut in 1972 at the Central City Opera in the role of Nannetta in Verdi's Falstaff. She soon appeared with Minnesota Opera, where she sang in the world premiere of Conrad Susa's Transformations and, in 1974 at the New York City Opera, in Puccini's La bohème, as Mimi. She then appeared with the Lyric Opera of Chicago (1975) and at the Royal Opera House (1976) and in other major European opera houses. She performed in 1974 as Susanna in a new production of Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro at the Holland Festival, and in 1976 as Servilia in a new production of Mozart's La Clemenza di Tito at the Salzburg Festival. In 1978, Malfitano achieved wider recognition in a telecast of Menotti's The Saint of Bleecker Street from NYCO, playing Annina., as well as Rose in Kurt Weill's Street Scene on Live from Lincoln Center in 1979.

Since then, Malfitano has sung at the major opera houses throughout the world, including the Metropolitan Opera in New York City, Teatro alla Scala in Milan, Royal Opera House in London, Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris, La Monnaie in Brussels, Grand Théâtre de Genève, Teatro Comunale Florence, Liceu in Barcelona, Berlin State Opera, Wiener Staatsoper, Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich, Paris Opéra, Hamburgische Staatsoper, De Nederlandse Opera in Amsterdam as well as the Lyric Opera of Chicago, the San Francisco Opera, the Los Angeles Opera, and the Houston Grand Opera.

One of Malfitano's best-known roles is the title role of Puccini's Tosca, for which she won an Emmy Award in 1992, performing alongside Plácido Domingo and Ruggero Raimondi. The opera was broadcast live from the actual Roman settings and viewed worldwide. She is also associated with the title role in Strauss's Salome, notably for performing the "Dance of the Seven Veils" ending the dance completely nude, a rarity in opera. She was also Jenny in Kurt Weill's Aufstieg und Fall der Stadt Mahagonny (Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny).

Throughout her career, Malfitano has championed the music of American composers, including Carlisle Floyd, William Bolcom, Conrad Susa and Thomas Pasatieri.

She is a member of the voice faculty at Manhattan School of Music.

Repertory She has sung over 70 roles throughout her career and continues to add more in her repertoire. Her repertory includes: ComposerOperaRole(s)Richard StraussSalomeSalomeClaudio MonteverdiL'incoronazione di PoppeaPoppeaFrancesco CavalliL'OrmindoErisbeGian Carlo MenottiThe Saint of Bleecker StreetAnninaChristoph Willibald GluckOrfeo ed EuridiceEuridiceKurt WeillDie DreigroschenoperPolly PeachumStreet SceneAnna Maurrant and RoseAufstieg und Fall der Stadt MahagonnyJenny SmithGaetano DonizettiLucia di LammermoorLuciaEngelbert HumperdinckHänsel und GretelGretelLudwig van BeethovenFidelioMarzelline and Leonore Francis PoulencLes Mamelles de TirésiasThérèseWolfgang Amadeus MozartDie Entführung aus dem SerailKonstanze La clemenza di TitoServilliaLe nozze di FigaroSusanna Don GiovanniZerlina and Donna Elvira Samuel BarberAntony and CleopatraCleopatraDmitri ShostakovichLady Macbeth of the Mtsensk DistrictKaterina Lvovna IzmailovaGioachino RossiniIl Turco in ItaliaFiorillaLeoš JanáčekThe Makropulos AffairEmilia Marty JenůfaKostelnička Buryjovka Jacques OffenbachLes Contes d'HoffmannThe three leading female roles (Olympia, Antonia, Giuletta)Giacomo PucciniIl tabarroGiorgettaSuor AngelicaSister AngelicaGianni SchicchiLaurettaToscaFloria ToscaLa bohèmeMimiMadama ButterflyCio-Cio-San Jules MassenetManonManon Giuseppe VerdiMacbethLady MacbethLa traviataVioletta ValeryStiffelioLinaWilliam BolcomA View from the BridgeBeatriceAlban BergLuluLuluWozzeckMarieCharles GounodRomeo et JulietteJuliette

Selected discography

Record

Catherine Malfitano, Joseph Malfitano. Music For Voice and Violin, MHS/Musical Heritage Society Inc., 1974. Gounod Roméo et Juliette, EMI, 1983 Monteverdi L'incoronazione di Poppea, Poppea, CBS, 1985 Richard Strauss Salome, Polygram, 1995. Puccini Tosca, Teldec, 1996. Rossini Stabat Mater, EMI/Angel/Virgin, 1996. Christoph Willibald Gluck Orfeo ed Euridice, Gala, 2000. William Bolcom A View from the Bridge, New World, 2001.

Video Blue Moon Cat: Catherine Malfitano Live at Joe's Pub, Video Arts International, 2001 Songs My Father Taught Me, Video Arts International, 2002 The Metropolitan Opera Centennial Gala (1983), Deutsche Grammophon, 00440-073-4538, 2009 James Levine's 25th Anniversary Metropolitan Opera Gala (1996), Deutsche Grammophon DVD, B0004602-09, 2005 Verdi Stiffelio (1993), Opus Arte DVD, OA R3103 D, 2008 Puccini Tosca (1992), Teldec Warner Classics DVD/BR, 2564-64529-2