Tamara Wilson

2016 Richard Tucker Award Recipient

— Soprano

“A miracle did occur however and, this time, it came from the singers. The performance boasted a fine team of eight Valkyries with powerful and nicely contrasted voices, but ultimately it was the three principals who lifted the whole evening to the Valhalla of music. Sieglinde only gets a few minutes to sing in Act III, but Tamara Wilson, a luxurious casting choice for such a short part, certainly made a lasting impression. Her cry “O hehrstes Wunder” (Oh sublime wonder), as Sieglinde receives Siegmund’s sword from Brünnhilde before fleeing to shelter, sung with beautiful tone, raised the roof of the hall. The latest recipient of the Richard Tucker Prize, Ms Wilson is building a reputation mainly based on Verdian repertoire and this was, I believe, her first incursion into the role of Sieglinde. She proved she is not going to let herself be pigeon-holed and this short performance really made one long for more.”
—Nicolas Nguyen, BachTrack, December 11, 2016 - Act 3 of 'Die Walküre' with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra and Valery Gergiev

“It's not often you think you detect a future Brünnhilde in a soprano performing a great Verdi role, but that was the case when American Tamara Wilson made her UK debut last autumn as a stunning Leonora in the ENO production of Verdi's The Force of Destiny. So would she sing the Ring? Not for 10 years at least, she said. But then Mark Wigglesworth, a conductor she knew she could trust as partner, proposed the final scene of Die Walküre at the Proms, and the rest should go down in history… You couldn’t fault her in verbal intelligence, subtlety and every readable reaction in that beautiful face when she wasn’t singing; but above all it’s the placement of the extraordinary instrument, never too low that it makes any singing in the higher register effortful, which should see her through to a sustained career in the big Wagner roles (though there’s no reason why she shouldn’t keep on singing Mozart and bel canto too).”
—David Nice, The Arts Desk, July 24, 2016 - Act 3 of 'Die Walküre' at the BBC Proms

“And in the American soprano Tamara Wilson as Leonora, ENO have struck gold: I can’t remember when this auditorium last resounded to a major Verdi role sung with such majestic beauty. Wilson has the power to ride effortlessly over the chorus singing fortissimo, and the artistry to create sublime magic with her harp-accompanied closing aria.”
—Michael Church, The Independent, November 10, 2015 - Leonora in 'La forza del destino' at the English National Opera

“There was also a great rapport among the equally spectacular - and very young - alternative cast led by another American, the soprano Tamara Wilson (winner of the 2011 Viñas award), who debuted in the difficult role of Norma and had a triumphant run thanks to her enormous and intact talent, fearless attitude, theatrical phrasing and confident acting; to finish this successfully from the challenge is not possible in the hands of many, but the soprano from Houston achieved it with honors.”
—Pablo Melendez Haddad, ABC, February 10, 2015 - Title role in 'Norma' at Gran Teatre del Liceu

“Ms. Wilson’s voice is most arresting in the laserlike authority of her high notes, but she softens the steel for sensitive moments, as when she dreams of escape with Radames in the third act. Her voice blooms with her palpable involvement in her own story: Her singing is urgent, her physical performance restrained yet powerful…[T]he Met has unveiled a young American who sings Verdi with a passion that surpasses stereotype.”
—Zachary Woolfe, New York Times, December 30, 2014 - Metropolitan Opera debut as Aida

About

With a voice that is a “veritable force of nature” (Chicago Tribune), American soprano Tamara Wilson is quickly gaining international recognition for her interpretations of Verdi, Mozart, Strauss and Wagner. She is the 2016 recipient of the prestigious Richard Tucker Award from the Richard Tucker Music Foundation.

Tamara Wilson begins the 2017-2018 season as the title role in Aida to open the season at the Washington National Opera in a production by Francesca Zambello. She returns to her home company of Houston Grand Opera for her role debut as Chrysothemis in . . . Elektra and will make her Paris debut as Sieglinde in Die Walküre with the Mariinsky Orchestra conducted by Valery Gergiev at the Philharmonie de Paris. She makes her New York Philharmonic debut in Bernstein’s Kaddish Symphony (Symphony No. 3) with Leonard Slatkin to celebrate Bernstein's Philharmonic: A Centennial Festival and will also debut with the Boston Symphony in the same piece under Giancarlo Guerrero. At the BBC Proms, she will return for Mahler’s Symphony No. 8 with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales. She makes her Italian debut with Riccardo Chailly and Teatro alla Scala Orchestra in Verdi’s Messa da requiem with performances in Pavia, Paris, and Hamburg.

Ms. Wilson made her acclaimed Metropolitan Opera debut in Aida and London debut in Calixto Bieto’s new production of La forza del destino at the English National Opera, for which she received an Olivier Award nomination. She also inaugurated the new opera house in Kyoto, Japan with Seiji Ozawa as Rosalinde in Die Fledermaus. She was heard at Oper Frankfurt for her first performances as the Empress in Die Frau ohne Schatten conducted by Sebastian Weigle which was just released by Oehms Classics. She recently debuted at the Bayerische Staatsoper and Opernhaus Zürich conducted by Fabio Luisi, both as Elisabetta di Valois in Don Carlo. She debuted at the Deutsche Oper Berlin as Amelia in Un ballo in maschera, triumphed in Act 3 of Die Walküre as Brünnhilde with Mark Wiggleworth and the BBC National Orchestra of Wales at Royal Albert Hall, and debuted with the Concertgebouw Orchestra conducted by Valery Gergiev in Act 3 of Die Walküre as Sieglinde.

A noted interpreter of Verdi roles, she has been seen as Elisabeth de Valois in the five-act French Don Carlos (Houston Grand Opera); Amelia in Un ballo in maschera (Washington National Opera, Houston Grand Opera, Florida Grand Opera, and Teatre Principal de Maó in Menorca); Elvira in Ernani (Théâtre du Capitole in Toulouse); Elisabetta in Don Carlo (Bayerische Staatsoper, Zurich Oper, and Oper Frankfurt); Lucrezia Contarini in I due Foscari (Théâtre du Capitole, Teatro Municipal de Santiago and Netherlands Radio Orchestra); Leonora in Il trovatore (Gran Teatre del Liceu, Houston Grand Opera, Théâtre du Capitole under Daniel Oren and Palma de Mallorca); Desdemona in Otello (Cincinnati Symphony and James Conlon); Alice Ford in Falstaff (Washington National Opera debut); Amelia Grimaldi in Simon Boccanegra (Canadian Opera Company); the title role in Aida (Opera Australia, Teatro de la Maestranza, and Teatro Municipal de Santiago); Marchesa del Poggio in Un giorno di regno (Wolf Trap Opera); and Gulnara in Il corsaro (Washington Concert Opera). Other notable performances include her debut in Norma at Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona; Rosalinde in Die Fledermaus at the Canadian Opera Company; her German debut at Oper Frankfurt in concert performances of Wagner’s early opera Die Feen as Ada under Sebastian Weigle; Elettra in Idomeneo under Harry Bicket at the Canadian Opera Company and under James Conlon at the Ravinia Festival; Donna Anna in Don Giovanni under James Conlon and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, as well as with Edo de Waart and the Milwaukee Symphony.

On the concert stage, Ms. Wilson debuted with the Cleveland Orchestra in Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 under Franz Welser-Möst, the National Symphony in Mendelssohn’s Symphony No. 2 (“Lobgesang”) with Matthew Halls and with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment in Verdi’s Messa da Requiem conducted by Marin Alsop at the BBC Proms, which was recorded for commercial release. She has been heard in the Verdi Requiem with the Orchestra de Lyon under Leonard Slatkin, her Atlanta Symphony debut in Ralph Vaughan Williams’ Sea Symphony conducted by Robert Spano, Malaysian Philharmonic debut conducted by Mark Wigglesworth in Verdi and Wagner, and as soprano soloist for performances of Missa solemnis with John Nelson and the Chamber Orchestra of Europe (available on DVD). She made her Carnegie Hall debut with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra under Marin Alsop in Honegger’s Jeanne d’Arc au bûcher, as well as in Baltimore for Mahler’s Symphony No 4, Verdi’s Requiem and Britten’s War Requiem. Ms. Wilson performed Mahler’s Symphony No. 4 with Marin Alsop and Orquestra Sinfônica do Estado de São Paulo, Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with Osmo Vänskä and the Minnesota Orchestra, Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with Donald Runnicles at the Grand Teton Music Festival, Mozart’s Requiem with Edo de Waart and the Milwaukee Symphony and Mendelssohn’s Symphony No. 2 (“Lobgesang”) with the Grant Park Symphony Orchestra. A favorite of the Oregon Bach Festival, she debuted in Verdi’s Messa da requiem under Helmuth Rilling for the opening of their 40th Anniversary season, subsequently returning for the same piece in Mo. Rilling’s final season as music director. She has returned to sing Brahms's Ein deutsches Requiem, Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 under Rilling, Marguerite in Jeanne d'Arc au bûcher under Marin Alsop, Tippett’s A Child of Our Time, a concert of Verdi, Britten, and Wagner with Matthew Halls, and Beethoven’s Ah, perfido. She added to her concert repertoire when she performed Wagner’s Wesendonck-Lieder with the Milwaukee Symphony conducted by Asher Fish.

An alumna of the Houston Grand Opera Studio, Ms. Wilson’s awards include the George London Award from the George London Foundation, as well as both a career grant in 2011 and study grant in 2008 from the Richard Tucker Music Foundation. Other notable awards include first place in the 2005 Eleanor McCollum Competition for Young Singers in Houston and finalist in the 2004 Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, among others. She was a featured soloist at the 2010 NEA Opera Honors in which she sang “Ernani, involami” from Verdi’s Ernani to honor recipient Martina Arroyo. In addition to her operatic and orchestral performances, Ms. Wilson is an avid lecturer of vocal technique. She has been a Guest Master Class Lecturer for the National Pastoral Musicians in the Chicago area. Ms. Wilson received her degree at the University of Cincinnati-College Conservatory of Music.

(Updated August 2017)

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