Strauss and Wagner. In recent seasons, she has sung Brünnhilde, Elektra, Senta, the Kaiserin, Isolde, Marie in Wozzeck and Helmwige in such reknowned venues as the Vienna State Opera, Vienna Volksoper, Trieste Opera, Bologna Opera, the State Operas of Basel, Stuttgart, Mannheim and Hannover, Munich and Hamburg State Opera and Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires.




Verisimo. Maria Russo is a sought-after interpreter of the verismo roles Turandot, Maddalena and La Gioconda. Recently returned from her engagement at the Teatro Municipal in São Paulo (June 2006) as Maddalena in "Andrea Chenier", the American soprano Maria Russo will appear in the soon-to-be-released film "Immortally Yours," singing the aria Suicidio from "La Gioconda".

Ms. Russo appeared as Giorgetta ("Il Tabarro") at the Zurich Opera with Marcello Viotti conducting, and the Volksoper under the baton of John Neshling. At the Lübeck Musik und Konzerthalle she sang the roles of La Gioconda, Turandot, Isolde, and Abigaille in concert. She repeated her Gioconda in concert at the Hannover State Opera and her Abigaille was heard over seven seasons on the stage of Vienna's Volksoper under the batons of many notable conductors, including Simone Young. Of these performances, Orpheus magazine wrote, "Maria Russo dominated the scene in the murderously difficult soprano role of Abigaille, with her dramatic yet luminous voice."

Maria Russo has sung with many of the world's leading orchestras with international conductors such as Daniel Barenboim, Donald Runnicles, Peter Schneider, Christoph von Dohnányi, Danielle Gatti, Wolfgang Sawallisch, Michael Gielen, Charles DuToit, and Gerd Albrecht.

Repertoire

The American soprano studied at Northwestern University and at the Academy of Vocal Arts in Philadelphia. Her important teachers were Elizabeth Fischer, Nancy Williams and Eva Illes.