SOPRANO

My Credo as a singer:
Singing is an expression of the soul

As an artist I understand my work as an equal combination of singing and acting. I’m convinced that only serious collaboration between artistic director, set designer, costume designer, conductor and singer makes it possible to create art on stage. It is thrilling to confront the visions of a team and find together the possibility to make them real.

Operas

After graduating from Eckerd College in St. Petersburg, Florida, I returned to Italy and began studying voice at the Florence Music Conservatory.
My operatic debut came in 1986, at the Spoleto Festival U.S.A. and the Festival dei Due Mondi, where I performed the role of Carmela in Menotti’s «The Saint of Bleecker Street». From 1987 I participated in Claudio Desderi’s «Progetto Mozart-Da Ponte» and with this group performed «Cosi‘ fan Tutte», «Le Nozze di Figaro», and «Don Giovanni» throughout Italy, in France, and in England.
Gradually I widened my repertoire, performing in «Traviata» (Violetta), «The Tales of Hoffmann» (Antonia, Olympia, Giulietta), «A Streetcar Named Desire» (Blanche), «The Rake’s Progress» (Anne), «La Boheme» (Mimi‘), «Turandot» (Liu‘), «La Clemenza di Tito» (Vitellia), «Die Entführung aus dem Serail» (Konstanze), «Il Turco in Italia» (Fiorilla), «Romeo et Juliette» (Juliette), «Falstaff» (Alice), «Rusalka» (Rusalka), «Peter Grimes» (Ellen), «Der Zwerg» (Infantin), «Die Fledermaus» (Rosalinde), «Der Zigeunerbaron» (Saffi), and «Die lustige Witwe» (Hanna).
I have received high accolades for both my singing and acting. I have performed in theaters all over Italy, including La Scala in Milan and the Teatro Massimo in Palermo, sung regularly in St.Gallen, Switzerland, and have performed four operas at the Volksoper in Vienna.

Reviews

Die stumme Serenade (Theater St. Gallen) Das Opernglas April 2009
– Antonia Brown verfügte über Ausstrahlung, stimmliche Flexibilität, den satten Ton und die Höhensicherheit einer hervorragenden Operettendiva.

Destino Tango (Theater St. Gallen) St.Galler Tagblatt 03.03.2008
– Natürlich strickt eine Frau mit an Bardels Schicksal: Elvira (Antonia Brown) setzt ihm noch einmal den Floh der Oper ins Ohr, umgarnt ihn mit sanften Legatobanden und lässt ihn dann launisch fallen…

Der Zwerg (Theater St.Gallen) St.Galler Tagblatt, 09.02.04, St.Galler Nachrichten, 12. Februar 2004
– den zwei Protagonisten zu verdanken, die schauspielerisch gross auftrumpften. Mit Verve und erotischer Ausstrahlung brachte Antonia Brown die Unmenschlichkeit von Donna Clara, die sich um jeden Preis amüsieren will, zum Ausdruck.
– die stets ihr ganzes Temperament und sängerisches Volumen einbringende Antonia Brown, zeichnete die Prinzessin, die mit Liebe nur spielen will, und dabei den echt liebenden Partner zerstört, mit grosser Leidenschaft…

A Streetcar named Desire (Theater St.Gallen) NZZ 29.04.02, NZZ Ticket1802A Streetcar named Desire ( Theater St. Gallen) NZZ 29.04.02, NZZ Ticket1802
– Lindy Humes gradlinige Inszenierung gibt der Hauptfigur viel Raum, den Antonia Brown sowohl stimmlich wie darstellerisch zu füllen weiss…..In bester Operntradition ist die schönste Nummer jedoch der in die Geisteskrankheit abtauchenden Frau übertragen. Wie Antonia Brown mit schief zugeknöpfter Jacke und geröteten Wangen in ihrer großartig gestalteten Schlussarie von der Sehnsucht nach dem Meer singt, das den blauen Augen ihres ersten Geliebten gleicht und die ihr feindlichen «elysischen Gefilde» mit einer Traumwelt vertauscht, rührt wohl noch das verstockteste Herz…
– Mit Antonia Brown steht in St.Gallen eine Primadonna assoluta auf der Bühne. die durch stimmliche und darstellerische Präsenz das Publikum begeistert…

Rusalka (Theater St.Gallen) Der Bund 19.04.99, NZZ 19.04.99
– Antonia Brown aber ist als Rusalka mit ihrer intensiven darstellerischen Ausstrahlung und ihrem warmen, ausdrucksvollen Sopran das natürliche Zentrum dieser Neuinszenierung…
– Sehnsucht und Verletzlichkeit der Rusalka liegen in Antonia Browns schön timbrierter, dynamisch überlegener Stimme ganz nahe beieinander und führen- zusammen mit der Darstellungsleistung – zu einer Präsenz, die unter die Haut geht…

I Racconti di Hoffman (Citta’ Lirica-Livorno) Trenta Giorni Livorno Gennaio 2001
– Ottima la prova di Antonia Brown, chiamata ad interpretare le quattro parti da protagonista, e che ha unito alle ottime doti vocali una straordinaria capacita’ nel caratterizzare i diversi personaggi.

La Boheme (Teatro del Giglio, Lucca) Il Tirreno 11.10.1998
– La Mimi’ di Antonia Brown e’ grande per intensità e ricchezza di sfumature; non c’e’ nota, parola, emozione del personaggio che la Brown non affronti con cura e adesione.

Lo Zingarobarone (Teatro Verdi di Trieste) Il Piccolo 29.07.1999
– e la bella Saffi (molto brava, oltre che bella, la statunitense Antonia Brown, soprano)….e per la rivelazione della serata: Antonia Brown.

My Repertoire

Adina
Pisa, Mantova, San Gimignano

Alice
Reggio Emilia, Modena, Pittsburgh

Antonia
Catania, St. Gallen

Antonia/Giulietta
Treviso

Antonia/Giulietta/Olympia
Pisa, Livorno, Ferrara, Lucca, Modena

Blanche DuBois
St. Gallen

Donna Elvira
Pisa, Massa, San Gimignano, Fiesole, Mantova

Ellen (Peter Grimes)
Trieste

Elvira (Destino Tango)
St. Gallen

Euridice (Gluck)
Pisa, Mantova, Ravenna

Fiodiligi
Pisa, Lucca, Vicenza, Piacenza, Firenze, Ravenna

Fiorilla (ll Turco in Italia)
Milano (La Scala), Cremona

Hanna Glavari
Trieste

Infantin
St. Gallen

Juliette
Palermo, Pittsburgh

Konstanze
St. Gallen, Wien (Volksoper)

Liu‘
Puccini Festival, Torre del Lago

Marguerite (Jeanne d’Arc)
Palermo

Micaela
Trapani

Rosalinde
Trieste, St. Gallen, Wien (Volksoper)

Rusalka
St. Gallen

Concerts

While I was still studying voice at the Florence Music Conservatory I became a member of „I Solisti del Madrigale Italiano“, with whom I performed throughout Italy, performing works primarily by Monteverdi, Gesualdo, and Marenzio. I also began regularly performing oratorio and art song. During this period I recorded two CDs with Adriano Sebastiani on guitar, dedicated to the works of Mauro Giuliani and Ferdinando Carulli.
In 1989 I was awarded first prize at the Valentino Bucchi Competition for Twentieth Century Music. This prize gave me great satisfaction, and I developed a great love for this kind of music. From the beginning I was fascinated by the musicality and the poetry of art songs and the possibility they gave me of a very intimate communication with the audience. For me there is no difference between doing an opera and singing a concert. The communication between the audience and the artist calls not only for vocal quality. The combination of vocal quality, emotion and technique creates a unique moment, both in opera and in concert.

Chambermusic – a selection of the most important concerts

2005
Serenaden Konzert, St.Gallen
Songs by Giuliani, Rossini, Garcia Lorca, Villa Lobos
with Adriano Sebastiani, guitar

2004
Accademia Cristofori, Firenze
Songs by Aaron Copland, Bacon, Hoiby, Smit, und Laitman
with Gregorio Nardi, piano

2003
Teatro della Pergola, Firenze
Songs by Charles Ives
with Gregorio Nardi, piano

1997
Pisa per Arnold Schönberg
Songs by Schönberg, Wagner, Strauss, Berg
with Vincenzo Maxia, piano

1997
Academie De France a Rome
Songs by Donizetti, Bellini, Garcia Lorca, Obradors, und Granados
with Daniela Costa, piano

1992
Musicastello, Schloss Prösels
Kantatas by Telemann und Händel
with the chamber orchestra «Florilegium»

1991
Accademia Musicale Chigiana, Siena
D’Altro Canto“ by Nicola Bernardini
dir. Luciano Berio

1990
Festspiele Wiltz, Luxembourg
Songs by Schubert, Brahms, Strauss, Debussy, Barber
with Hendrik Hofmeyr, piano

1989
Musica e Poesia a San Maurizio, Milano
Madrigals by Monteverdi
with «I Solisti del Madrigale»
dir. Giovanni Acciai

1989
Mattinate Musicali, Lucca
Songs by Giuliani, Schubert, Villa Lobos
with Adriano Sebastiani, guitar

1984
Ceresio Estate, Melide
Madrigals by Monteverdi, Gesualdo, Marenzio, Palestrina
with «I Solisti del Madrigale»
Dir. Fosco Corti

Symphonic Works & Oratorio

Händel
Messiah, various Cantatas

Barber
Knoxville, Summer of 1915

Beethoven
Ah Perfido!, Ninth Symphony

Vivaldi
Gloria

Bach, Telemann
Various Cantatas

Stravinsky
Les Noces

Mendelssohn
A Midsummer Night’s Dream

Mozart
Requiem

Grieg
Peer Gynt Suite

Orff
Catulli Carmina

Dallapiccola
Concerto per la Notte di Natale dell’anno 1956

Carissimi
Jephte

Haydn, Mozart, Schubert
Various Masses

Teaching

My philosophy

Because singing is an expression of our souls, singing often needs courage. It also needs a certain body awareness, in order to contemporaneously control various mental and physical activities.
As an athlete does, a singer must learn a correct balance between muscular activity and relaxation, in order to produce a beautiful and easy sounding timbre.
My lessons concentrate on breathing, creating a correct concept of vowel and timbre and tension control, and diction. Because every student has different instincts, it is a priority for me to be flexible enough to find solutions that work for each individual.