About this Artist
Born in Kavala, Greece, ALEXIA VOULGARIDOU (Micaëla) came to international attention as Mimi in the Bregenz Opera Festival’s production of La bohème opposite the Rodolfo of Rolando Villazon. She has since been heard in major theaters throughout Europe including the Teatro alla Scala in Milan; Royal Opera, Covent Garden; the Bavarian State Opera in Munich; the Hamburg State Opera; the Deutsche Oper Berlin; and the Staatsoper Berlin as well as in Valencia, Seville, Bordeaux, Geneva, and Sydney.
Voulgaridou began the 2009/10 season as Amelia in Simone Boccanegra at the Grand Theatre du Capitole in Toulouse. She was heard in the title role of Verdi’s Luisa Miller at the Teatro Regio in Turin, at the Teatro Massimo Bellini in Catania as Marguerite in Faust, and as Mimi at the Teatro Massimo in Palermo. Voulgaridou also returned to the Hamburg State Opera as Nedda in I Pagliacci. Tonight, she makes her Hollywood Bowl debut. Voulgaridou will return to the Teatro alla Scala in Milan in the same role in the fall of 2010. She will also star in Hamburg’s new production of Faust and makes her debut in Santiago, Chile in Simone Boccanegra. Future projects also include her first performances of the title role in Madama Butterfly and of Lucrezia in I Due Foscari in Hamburg, and her debut in Stuttgart as Luisa Miller.
Voulgaridou began her musical studies in Athens and continued them at conservatory in Munich under the tutelage of Daphne Evangelatos, where she also participated in master classes with Astrid Varnay. She made her professional debut at the Prinzregententheater in Munich as Susanna in Le nozze di Figaro under the baton of Sir Colin Davis. Soon afterwards, she sang Sophie in a new August Everding production of Der Rosenkavalier at the Bavarian State Opera. Other roles followed, include Violetta in La traviata, the three heroines in Les contes d’Hoffmann, Marzelline in Fidelio, and Pamina in Die Zauberflöte, in Hannover, Munich, Darmstadt, and Cologne. Soon after her great success at the Bregenz Festival as Mimi in La bohème, she debuted in Geneva as Mimi and also sang the role in Munich. In Italy she won extraordinary critical and popular acclaim for her Marguerite in Faust in Rome and for her first Anna Bolena at the Teatro Regio in Turin. She was invited to the Ravenna Festival for Faust and for concert performances of Mefistofele under the baton of Riccardo Muti, with whom she has also performed the Verdi Requiem. Voulgaridou also performed Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis in Zurich under the baton of Franz Welser-Möst.
In the 2007/08 season Voulgaridou made her debut at the Berlin State Opera as Mimi in La bohème opposite Jonas Kaufmann and conducted by Gustavo Dudamel. She returned to the Hamburg State Opera for her first Blanche de la Force in Poulenc’s Dialogues des Carmelites; the production, conducted by Simone Young and directed by Nikolaus Lenhoff, was telecast throughout Europe. Voulgaridou also appeared in the title role of Anna Bolena at the Teatro Massimo in Palermo. She appeared in two roles in Valencia: as Liu in Turandot under Zubin Mehta and as Micaëla in a new production of Carmen conducted by Lorin Maazel. In June of 2008 she sang Mimi at the Teatro alla Scala under Gustavo Dudamel, and in the fall of 2008 she made her debut with the Royal Opera, Covent Garden in the same role. She subsequently added the title role in Verdi’s Luisa Miller to her repertoire in Valencia opposite Marcelo Alvarez and conducted by Lorin Maazel. She was also heard in Valencia as Marguerite in Faust and as Liu in Turandot.
Other notable engagements have included her debut as Desdemona in Otello in Hamburg, her debut at the Teatro alla Scala in the title role of Massenet’s Manon. She made her Australian debut in Sydney with her first Magda in Puccini’s La rondine under Gianluigi Gelmetti and added Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni to her repertoire in Bordeaux. She also starred in the Hamburg State Opera’s new production of La bohème.
Voulgaridou’s recording of arias with Bavarian Radio and Nicola Luisotti was recently released. Other roles in her developing repertoire include the title role in Thaïs, Juliette in Romeo et Juliette, and the title role in Suor Angelica.