Photo by Arielle Doneson
Our 1998 winner is soprano Anya Matanovic. Praised for the "thrilling vocal color" and "sweetly winning" presence, American soprano Anya Matanovic (ma ta' no vich) made her international opera debut as Musetta in Franco Zeffirelli's captivating production of Puccini's La boheme during the New Israeli Opera's 2008-2009 season.
In the 2010-2011 season, Anya Matanovic sings her first Susanna in Le nozze di Figaro with Madison Opera, returns to Seattle Opera for Erste Dame in Die Zauberflote, reprises the role of Gretel in Hansel und Gretel with Utah Opera, and makes her role and company debut with Glimmerglass Opera as Micaela in Carmen, conducted by Music Director David Angus. Future seasons will include returns to Seattle Opera and Kentucky Opera.
The 2009 - 2010 season saw Ms. Matanovic`s company debut as Gretel in Hansel und Gretel with Kentucky Opera, her main stage debut with Seattle Opera, as Nannetta in Falstaff, and her debut with the Richmond Symphony as the soprano soloist in Orff's Carmina Burana. She also appeared in Madison Opera's Opera in the Park concert.
In the fall of 2008, Ms. Matanovic made her Opera Cleveland debut as Gretel in Humperdinck's Hansel und Gretel, conducted by Artistic Director Dean Williamson, and returned for their spring production of Verdi's Falstaff as Nannetta. In summer of 2009, she joined the Seattle Opera artist roster for their internationally revered production of Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen, directed by Stephen Wadsworth.
Ms. Matanovic is a graduate of the Santa Fe Opera Apprentice Program and the Seattle Opera Young Artist Program, where she appeared in their productions of Britten's The Turn of the Screw, as Flora, Mozart's La Serva Padrona, as Serpina, and Falstaff, as Nannetta.
Anya Matanovic made her professional opera debut, directly from her undergraduate studies, as Mimi in the Los Angeles commercial engagement of Baz Luhrmann's Tony Award-winning production of La boheme. She appeared in University of Southern California's Thornton School of Music productions of The Crucible, Gianni Schicchi, and Hansel und Gretel.
Ms. Matanovic is equally comfortable on the concert stage, having appeared with the Portland (OR) Chamber Orchestra, Hoku Concert Series in Hawaii, the Palm Springs Orchestra and the Music of Remembrance Concert Series in Seattle. Ms. Matanovic was also a Regional Finalist in the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions and has been a prizewinner in competitions sponsored by such institutions as the Gerda Lissner Foundation, Opera Buffs, Leni Fe Bland, and the Sun Valley Opera. She is a co-founder of NachtMusik, an operatic outreach group dedicated to bringing opera to the many different communities of Los Angeles.
Born in Madison, Wisconsin and raised in Issaquah, Washington to a Slovenian father and American mother, the soprano now calls New York City her home, where she lives with filmmaker John Roche and their cat, Grippus.
Ms. Matanovic has a personal web page here: www.AnyaMatanovic.com.
