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Sharla Nafziger, soprano...

b i o g r a p h y...........back to roster....up June 2012 When critics describe Sharla Nafziger’s voice as "radiant and clear" (Edmonton Journal), "seraphic" (Calgary Herald), "sparkling and vivid" (Boston Herald), and "delightful" (Gramophone), it is no wonder that this Canadian soprano has established herself as a premier singer with impressive engagements to her credit, among them her debut at Tanglewood as Nanetta in Falstaff under Seiji Ozawa, later broadcast on NPR. During 2011/12 she sang Carmina Burana with the Huntsville Symphony and Mahler’s Symphony No. 8 with the Canterbury Choral Society at Carnegie Hall, among other engagements. The prior season saw Nafziger return to the Winter Park Festival with Bach’s St. John Passion and take part in Mahler’s Second Symphony at the Eastern Connecticut Symphony. She also performed Schoenberg’s Pierrot Lunaire (book 1) and Beat Furrer’s Invocation IV with the Argento Ensemble in New York. Mozart’s Mass in C at the Shenandoah Valley Bach Festival concluded the season. In the 2009/10 season she sang Fauré’s Requiem with Voices of Ascension, Beat Furrer’s Aria with the Argento Ensemble and a recital presented by the Moravian Music Foundation, coupled with a recording titled “Loveliest Immanuel.” 2008/09 brought her to the Houston Symphony twice - in Messiah and Bach’s Magnificat respectively, while the New Jersey Symphony invited her for an evening of arias. She also took part in Haydn’s Lord Nelson Mass with the Huntsville Symphony, Nielsen’s Hymnus Amoris at Winter Park Bach Festival, Messiah with Peniel Concert Choir at Avery Fisher Hall and Handel’s Esther with the Amor Artis orchestra. During the 2007/08 season, Nafziger sang Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony with the Vancouver Symphony, appeared with the Winnipeg Symphony in Vaughan Williams’ A Sea Symphony, portrayed Sophie in Der Rosenkavalier with the Huntsville Symphony, showcased Vivaldi’s Gloria with the Colorado Symphony, and performed Messiah with the Monterey Symphony under Christoph Campestrini. Her Kennedy Center debut later in the season with John Adam’s El Niño and the Choral Arts Society of Washington showcased her strong affinity for contemporary music as did the North American premiere of Beat Furrer’s Invocation #6 with the Argento Ensemble at the Austrian Cultural Forum in New York. A regular guest of the Bach Festival Society of Winter Park, FL, she returned to sing Haydn’s Creation and Bach’s St. Matthew Passion and returned to Carnegie Hall to sing John Rutter’s Requiem. The 2006/07 season brought a return to the New York City Opera as Frasquita and Juliete in Die tote Stadt. She was also heard in Messiah with both the National Philharmonic Orchestra (MD) and the Pensacola Symphony, Bach’s St. John Passion with Winter Park Bach Festival, Brahms’ Ein Deutsches Requiem at the Shenadoah Valley Bach Festival, and returned to Carnegie Hall to sing Fauré’s Requiem and Schubert’s Mass in G. She took part in the orchestral premiere of Larry Nelson’s Seven Clay Songs with Orchestra 2001 in Philadelphia, the song version of which she had recorded on Albany Records and premiered in 2004. She also recorded Scott Wheeler’s opera The Contruction of Boston in a live performance with the Boston Cecilia for the Naxos label. In 2005, Nafziger joined the roster of New York City Opera in the role of Corinna (cover, Il Viaggio a Reims), and sang the title role in Pasatieri’s opera La Divina with Opera Company of Brooklyn. Other engagements included Messiah and Mozart’s Great Mass in C Minor at Carnegie Hall with the Oratorio Society of New York, Faure’s Requiem with Voices of Ascension (NYC), Elijah with the Winter Park Bach Festival (FL), Les Noces at Trinity Church Wall Street (NYC) and Carmina Burana with the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir. Her summer engagements for 2006 included the premiere of Kieren MacMillan’s Drunken Moon, and Schoenberg’s Pierrot Lunaire with the Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble, and Bach’s Christmas Oratorio and B Minor Mass with the Shenandoah Valley Bach Festival (VA). Among other highlights figure performances with the Buffalo Philharmonic, National Chorale at Avery Fisher Hall, Mormon Tabernacle Choir, El Paso Opera, and the symphonies of Winnipeg, Calgary, Edmonton, Nova Scotia, Kitchener-Waterloo, Windsor, and the Tafelmusik Chamber Orchestra, among others. In addition to the above mentioned recordings, Nafziger can be heard on the Naxos label in Lully’s Ballet Music for the Sun King with the Aradia Ensemble, the Telarc label as Die Erste Elfe in Strauss’ Die Agyptische Helena with the American Symphony Orchestra. Later this year a new release on the ERM Media label will feature her in the premiere of Boaz Tarsi’s Concerto for Soprano and Orchestra, with the Kiev Philharmonic Orchestra. click here to read Sharla Nafziger's resume (MS Word) b i o......r e s u m e......r e p e r t o i r e......r e v i e w s back to roster...up . . . .

r e p e r t o i r e...........back to roster....up Concert BACH — Mass in B minor BACH — Weihnachtsoratorium BACH — Magnificat BACH — St. John Passion BACH — St. Matthew Passion BARBER — Knoxville: Summer of 1915 BEETHOVEN — Symphony #9 BRAHMS — Ein Deutsches Requiem BOULEZ — Improvisations sur BOULEZ — Mallarmé I & II CARISSIMI — Jephte: Filia CRUMB — Apparition (portions) CRUMB — Madrigals Book II DANIELPOUR — Sonnets to Orpheus DEBUSSY — La Damoiselle Élue DVORAK — Te Deum FAURÉ — Requiem HANDEL — Dixit Dominus HANDEL — Solomon (Queen Act I, First Woman) HANDEL — Israel in Egypt HANDEL — Messiah HAYDN — Theresienmesse HAYDN — The Creation HAYDN — Lord Nelson Mass HENZE — Being Beauteous HOLMAN — Requiem MAHLER — Symphony No. 4 MOZART — Coronation Mass MOZART — Requiem MOZART — Great Mass in C Minor MOZART — Solemn Vespers MOZART — Exultate Jubilate MENDELSSOHN — Elijah ORFF — Carmina Burana POULENC — Stabat Mater POULENC — Gloria PURCELL — The Fairy Queen VAUGHAN WILLIAMS — Dona Nobis Pacem RESPIGHI — Lauda per la Nativita del Signore SCHOENBERG — Pierrot Lunaire STRAVINSKY — Les Noces VARÈSE — Offrandes VIVALDI — Gloria VIVALDI — Magnificat Opera BEETHOVEN — Fidelio — Marzelline BIZET — Carmen — Frasquita* BRITTEN — A Midsummer Night’s Dream — Tytania BRITTEN — The Rape of Lucretia — Lucia * DONIZETTI — Don Pasquale — Norina * DONIZETTI — L’Elisir d’Amore — Adina DONIZETTI — Lucia di Lamermoor — Lucia** Korngold — Die Tote Stadt — Juliette* Mozart — Cosi fan Tutte — Despina* (cover) MOZART — La Clemenza di Tito — Servilia MOZART — Don Giovanni — Zerlina * MOZART — Die Entführung aus dem Serail — Blöndchen, Konstanze* MOZART — Idomeneo — Ilia * MOZART — Der Schauspieldirektor — Mlle. Silberklang * MOZART — Die Zauberflöte — Pamina MOZART — L’Oca del Cairo — Celidora * PURCELL — Dido and Aeneas — Belinda * RAVEL — L’Enfant et les Sortilèges — Le Feu Rossini — Il Viaggio a Reims — Corinna* (cover) STRAUSS, R. — Der Rosenkavalier — Sophie VERDI — Falstaff — Nannetta * VERDI — Rigoletto — Gilda*, Contessa Ceprano, Giovanna *, Paggio* VERDI — Un Ballo in Maschera — Oscar     * role performed **in progress b i o......r e s u m e......r e p e r t o i r e......r e v i e w s back to roster...up . . . .

r e v i e w s...........back to roster....up “Sharla Nafziger sang the soprano arias. Her aria following the scene of Christ's trial before Pontius Pilate was particularly notable for its sensitivity.” St. Matthew Passion: Orlando Sentinel “And de Saint-Phalle, shooting culture and beauty from a magic pistol -- the artist herself created works by firing at plaster-embedded containers of paint -- was sung by soprano Sharla Nafziger with the confident serenity of a purposeful angel, saving the city from the boys' domineering practicality. Nafziger ably negotiated the dense French of the "Oraison Funebre," a 17th-century lament for the widow of England's beheaded Charles I.” The Construction of Boston: Boston Globe “Nafziger, so lovely as Niki de St. Phalle... “ The Construction of Boston: The Phoenix “Who else but Edison would envision the sonorous possibilities, and engage guest soprano soloist Sharla Nafziger to perform Francis Poulenc’s exquisite 1959 Gloria? Young Nafziger is a never-ending mystery of vocal miracles. How does she take an angular line, like that of the Agnus Dei (Lamb of God) segment, and make it shimmer through the hues of her crystalline voice? Nafziger has it all: a superb natural voice, excellent training, profound sensitivity and intelligence.” Poulenc – Gloria: Kitchener-Waterloo Record “Her tones are radiant and clear, and her voice floats nicely. Her contribution to ‘He shall feed his flock’ was touching.” Messiah: Edmonton Journal “Sharla Nafziger contributed to the overall effect of the performance, her voice seraphic and nicely floated.” Carmina Burana: Calgary Herald “The vocal airs are delightful. The two sopranos (Haines and Nafziger) are very good indeed.” Ballet Music for the Sun King: Gramphone “Blessed with a naturally beautiful voice...a real talent to follow.” Messiah: Kitchener-Waterloo Record “The surprise was soprano Sharla Nafziger as Norina, whose strong coloratura and charming acting speak of tremendous talent.” Don Pasquale: Opera Canada “But the female star was unmistakably Sharla Nafziger’s Nannetta. A sparkling clear and vivid soprano, with a graceful tone and easy upfront voice, Nafziger brought life and energy to the role of the lovelorn servant. Falstaff: Boston Herald “Sharla Nafziger sang Nannetta with a silvery shimmer.” Falstaff: Boston Globe “Sharla Nafziger...shone as Nannetta, especially in high, moon-struck stretches.” Falstaff: Opera News “...A constant delight. Her voice is clean and sure. Exquisite emotional expressions…” Merkin Hall Recital Debut: New York Concert Review b i o......r e s u m e......r e p e r t o i r e......r e v i e w s back to roster...up . . . .