Erin Wall

Vocalists — Soprano

Manager: Andrea Anson
Additional Management: Michael Benchetrit
Management Territory: Worldwide

Every time Wall, in the lead role of the beautiful courtesan Violetta, sang, the audience applauded. A few even shouted, “Bravo!” There was an electric excitement about the night, as if we were witnessing the birth of the next Renée Fleming or Anna Netrebko. The 32-year-old Calgary-born singer hit impossibly high notes with clarity, then brought her vocal range down to earth with a luxurious tone tinted by exciting coloratura accents. The role of Violetta challenges sopranos to reach the highest rung of their range, which many cannot fully approach. Wall scaled those heights with little evidence of strain. Her every note left us giddy with goosebumps. Her acting chops were just as exquisite. She was convincing in the role as a beautiful party girl looking for love only to find betrayal and redemption too late to matter. In the Act III dying scene, she looked like death warmed over — pale in tone, her hair unkempt and bent over coughing. We easily bought into the idea that she was wracked by consumption — modern-day tuberculosis. Her coughs sounded real, and prompted many in the audience to hack along — although it wasn’t clear if they were coughing out of sympathy or simply found her cough an excuse to release their own. There was a collective gasp in Saturday’s audience as Wall’s Violetta fell into the arms of her only true love, Alfredo, and died. In three hours, we had connected with Wall on levels that go beyond merely absorbing her as a character. We absorbed her as a presence. —Cathalena E. Burch, Arizona Daily Star, April 27, 2008

"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 fast establishing herself as one of today’s most sought-after Mozart and Strauss sopranos and her 2009-2010 season displays her versatility in concert and opera repertoire.

Erin Wall’s 2009/2010 season sees her debut with two major European companies, the Bavarian State Opera and the Vienna State Opera, in what has steadily become her signature-role: Donna Anna in Don Giovanni. Ms. Wall makes two important role debuts this season, first as the Countess in Strauss’ Capriccio with Pacific Opera Victoria and then as the four heroines . . . in Offenbach’s Tales of Hoffmann with the Santa Fe Opera. In concert, she returns to the San Francisco Symphony in concerts of Holloway’s Clarissa Sequence and Mozart’s Bella mia fiamma as well as in Berg’s Lulu Suite, followed by the Soprano II solos in Mahler’s Symphony No. 8 with the National Arts Centre Orchestra, both in Ottawa and in Montreal. Ms. Wall also takes part in the festivities opening the new Koerner Hall at Toronto’s Royal Conservatory of Music by singing Beethoven’s Choral Fantasy. Future engagements include returns to the Lyric Opera of Chicago, the Vancouver Opera and as well as a debut with the Canadian Opera Company, all in leading roles.

Ms. Wall’s past season included her debuts with the Metropolitan Opera as Donna Anna in Mozart’s Don Giovanni, La Scala as Helena in Britten’s Midsummer Night’s Dream, and Los Angeles Opera as Pamina in Die Zauberflöte, along with a return 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. In concert, Erin Wall appeared on three different programs with the San Francisco Symphony; first as the soprano solo in Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 (one of the concerts taking place at Carnegie Hall), then in Barber’s Knoxville, Summer of 1915 and finally as the Soprano I in Mahler’s Symphony No. 8 in performances that have since been commercial released. Other concert engagements included 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.