Erin Wall

Vocalists — Soprano

Manager: Michael Benchetrit
Management Territory: Worldwide

Revivals [of "Thaïs"] are rare, largely because of the immense difficulties, vocal and dramatic, of the title role. They were more than met, however, in this concert performance by Canadian soprano Erin Wall. Her glamour is magnetic: you understand why, at the start, men are prepared to bankrupt themselves for Thaïs. More important, however, is the extraordinary ease and sumptuousness of her tone, and a hovering, ecstatic quality in her singing that makes her so convincing as both sexual icon and saint. —Tim Ashley, The Guardian, August 19, 2011

"In Erin Wall, SFO gave us a Daphne to admire, applaud and remember. She poured her golden soprano into the part with an open heart and throat, commanding every dynamic level from a delicate thread of a piano to a full-throttled high C. She started off in solid voice, got even better as the opera progressed, and her soft high singing in the final transformation scene was the aural promise of earth's continuing bounty. She aptly conveyed a young girl's wish to remain a spiritual sapling, rather than move on to maturity and marriage." —Craig Smith, The New Mexican, July 15, 2007

I'm trying really hard here not to exaggerate. Still, for many of us in attendance at the Santa Fe Opera's new production of 'Daphne' last Saturday, it was a little like being Halley when that comet swam into view. Or Keats' historically incorrect Cortez at his first glimpse of the Pacific. But this time it was hearing Erin Wall sing the title role of Richard Strauss' late, nearly great 'bucolic tragedy' with power, feeling and conviction in one of those you-had-to-be-there SFO debuts that happen with any regularity. Remember Mariusz Kwiecien in '04 and Anthony Dean Griffey in '05? Well, you'll not soon forget Wall's Daphne. It's an unforgiving role, much of it lying in a treacherous register too high for comfort for most sopranos. Not here. The fearless, sweet and lovely Wall makes it sound easy, pouring out generous, burnished warmth, moving gracefully about the stage, creating a character for whom mortality is not enough and divinity too little." —John Stege, SF Reporter, July 18-24, 2007

About

Soprano Erin Wall is one of today’s most in-demand sopranos with an extensive opera and concert repertoire that spans three centuries from Mozart and Beethoven to Britten and Strauss.

Ms. Wall’s current season displays her artistic versatility, from Mahler’s Symphony no. 8 with the Nashville Symphony and the Hessische Rundfunk (the latter to be preserved on a commercial DVD) to Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis with the Chicago Symphony and Bernard Haitink. Further concert appearances will include returns to the San Francisco Symphony in Poulenc’s Stabat Mater, to the Toronto Symphony for Beethoven’s . . . Symphony No. 9 and finally to the Proms in London and to the Edinburgh Festival. Miss Wall’s opera season will include Mozart’s Donna Anna in Don Giovanni with the Bayerische Staatsoper and the Countess in Le Nozze di Figaro with the Arizona Opera. She will also be heard in recital in Toronto. Future projects include returns to the Metropolitan Opera, the Bayerische Staatsoper and the Vancouver Opera, all in leading roles.

Last season, Erin Wall made a spectacular debut with the Canadian Opera Company as Clémence in L’Amour de Loin and also sang Antonia in Les Contes d’Hoffmann, first with Lyric Opera of Chicago and later with the Canadian Opera Company. In the summer she had an enormous personal success in her first Arabella with the Santa Fe Opera. Concert appearances included Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony (both with commercial recordings) and Kansas City Symphony, the 50th anniversary performance of Britten’s War Requiem at the site of its premiere, the Coventry Cathedral (a performance to be released on DVD), Strauss’ Four Last Songs in Brazil, the Netherlands, and Canada, followed by Mahler’s Symphony No. 8 with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra and in Tokyo, Japan at NHK Hall. Additional concert appearances included Vaughan Williams A Sea Symphony with the Colorado Symphony Orchestra and performances of Bramwell Tovey’s The Inventor with the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra (with a commercial recording scheduled).

Prior to that Ms. Wall appeared as the Countess in Nozze di Figaro and Donna Anna in Don Giovanni with the Bavarian State Opera, Helena in A Midsummer Night’s Dream with the Lyric Opera of Chicago, and the title-role in La Traviata with the Vancouver Opera. She created the role of Cecilia in Bramwell Tovey’s new opera, The Inventor with the Calgary Opera and made her role debut as Thaïs with the Edinburgh Festival and Sir Andrew Davis. In concert, Erin Wall performed Mahler’s Symphony No. 8 with the Edinburgh Festival and Donald Runnicles, as well as with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and Andris Nelsons, the Orchestre National de France and Daniele Gatti and on tour with the NDR Symphony Orchestra in Prague, Hamburg and Hannover with Christoph Eschenbach. Further concerts include the title-role in Thaïs at the Edinburgh Festival, Strauss’ Four Last Songs with the Houston Symphony, Mahler’s Symphony no. 4 and Schubert’s Shepherd on the Rock with the National Arts Centre Orchestra, Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with the Nashville Symphony, a recital with the Aldeburgh Connection in Toronto, and an opera gala in Lima, Peru.

Erin Wall’s previous seasons saw her make a series of debuts with the Metropolitan Opera, the Vienna State Opera and the Bavarian State Opera in her signature role of Donna Anna in Mozart’s Don Giovanni, as well as at La Scala as Helena in Britten’s Midsummer Night’s Dream, and with the Los Angeles Opera as Pamina in Die Zauberflöte. She returned to her home company, the Lyric Opera of Chicago, in a new role, Konstanze, in a new production of Mozart’s Entführung aus dem Serail and added to her repertoire the four heroines in Offenbach’s Les Contes d’Hoffmann at the Santa Fe Opera, along with the role of the Countess in Strauss’ Capriccio with Pacific Opera Victoria In concert, Erin Wall appeared in a number of programs with the San Francisco Symphony; as the soprano solo in Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 (one of the concerts taking place at Carnegie Hall), in Barber’s Knoxville, Summer of 1915, as the Soprano I in Mahler’s Symphony No. 8 in performances that have since been commercial released and won two Grammys and more recently as the soloist in Berg’s Lulu Suite, in Holloway’s Clarissa Sequence and in Mozart’s concert aria Bella mia fiamma. Other concert engagements included concerts of Mahler’s Symphony No. 8 with the National Arts Centre Orchestra, the opening of Toronto’s Koerner Hall in Beethoven’s Choral Fantasy, a program of Fauré and Strauss with the Calgary Philharmonic and Musetta in concert performances of La Bohème with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra.

Erin Wall’s 2007-2008 opera season started with Donna Anna in Don Giovanni, at the Washington Opera, followed by two new roles: Love Simpson in Carlisle Floyd’s Cold Sassy Tree with the Atlanta Opera and Violetta in La Traviata with the Arizona Opera and Michigan Opera Theatre. In concert, Ms. Wall appeared in an Operatic Gala with Ben Heppner at the National Arts Centre in Ottawa, then as Soprano II in Mahler’s Symphony No. 8 with Christoph Eschenbach and the Orchestre de Paris. Erin Wall’s recording of this piece with Pierre Boulez and the Staatskapelle Berlin was also released by Deutsche Grammophon. Finally, Ms. Wall made her Houston Symphony debut as the Soprano Solo in Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 with Hans Graf conducting.

Ms.Wall’s 2006-2007 season opened with the Soprano I in Mahler’s 8th Symphony on a European tour with the San Francisco Symphony and Michael Tilson Thomas. The soprano then went to Paris and Vienna for Così Fan Tutte in the Patrice Chéreau production, which is now available commercially on a Virgin DVD. After a holiday concert in Ottawa and Messiah in Edmonton, Canada, Erin Wall returned to the Lyric Opera of Chicago for a new production of Così Fan Tutte. Her next Mozart role was the Countess in Nozze di Figaro with the Minnesota Opera. Miss Wall ended her opera season with a triumphal debut as the title-role in Strauss’ Daphne at the Santa Fe Opera. Further concert dates included the Toronto Symphony in Mahler’s 2nd Symphony with Sir Andrew Davis, who also led her performances of Così Fan Tutte in Chicago, the Vancouver Symphony for Strauss’ Four Last Songs and Beethoven’s 9th Symphony, a piece she also sang with Maestro Davis and the Pittsburgh Symphony.

Erin Wall’s operatic engagements in 2005-2006 included Pamina in Die Zauberflöte with the Lyric Opera of Chicago, Marguerite in Faust with the Vancouver Opera, Donna Anna in Don Giovanni with Minnesota Opera, and Belinda in concerts of Dido and Aeneas at the Théâtre du Châtelet. Recital appearances included Chicago, Tokyo and Utica. During the summer, Ms.Wall sang concerts in Campos do Jordão and Rio de Janeiro as well as at the Bellingham Festival.

Ms. Wall's 2004-2005 Season began with an outstanding personal success as Donna Anna in Don Giovanni on opening night of the Lyric Opera of Chicago’s 50th Anniversary Season. She also sang Freia in Das Rheingold and Gerhilde in Die Walküre for Lyric Opera last season. She made her South American debut in July, as Marguerite in Faust for the Teatro Municipal in Santiago, Chile. Concert appearances included the Toronto, Calgary, Oregon, Chicago, and San Francisco Symphonies, and a live concert of Massenet opera excerpts with the Canadian Opera Company Orchestra which was recorded for CBC Radio and Television, and which was seen as part of the 2005-2006 “Opening Night” series on CBC Television. Ms. Wall also appeared in Carnegie’s Zankel Hall as part of the Marilyn Horne Foundation’s “The Song Continues” series, and made her New York City solo recital debut on the Foundation’s “On Wings of Song” series. She appeared in solo recitals in Chicago and Bellingham, Washington. Over the summer, Erin Wall appeared with Bryn Terfel and Andrea Bocelli in a televised concert of Opera arias and duets at Mr. Terfel’s Faenol Festival as well as at the Ravinia Festival as the Soprano soloist in Beethoven’s 9th Symphony with Christoph Eschenbach.

Past seasons included a three-season engagement as a member of the Lyric Opera of Chicago’s Center for American Artists. At Lyric Opera, Ms. Wall has sung Marguerite in Faust and First Lady in Die Zauberflöte, among other roles. Ms. Wall made her European concert debut in Britten’s War Requiem with the London Symphony Orchestra, and has also appeared in concert with the Vancouver Symphony, Chicago Symphony, and the Grant Park and Ravinia Festivals.

Among the awards and career grants that Ms. Wall has received are the 2004 ARIA Award from the Aria Foundation, a Richard Tucker Award (2004) and a Sara Tucker Study Grant (2002) from the Richard Tucker Foundation. She represented Canada in the finals of the 2003 BBC Singer of the World in Cardiff competition to critical acclaim, and has also received awards from the Dallas Opera Career Grant Competition, the George London Foundation, the MacAllister Awards, the Metropolitan Opera National Council auditions, and the Florida Grand Opera’s Young Artists’ Competition.

Born to American parents in Calgary, Alberta, Ms. Wall studied piano at the Vancouver Academy of Music throughout her childhood. She holds music degrees from Western Washington University and Rice University. She also attended the Aspen Music Festival and the Music Academy of the West.

Website: www.erinwall.com