Leontina Vaduva

Leontina Vaduva studied at the Conservatory of her native Bucharest and has acquired an international renown as one of the leading interpreters of the Italian and French repertoires in only a few years. After winning several awards at competitions such as the Francisco Vinas in Barcelona and the S'Hertogenbosch Competition in the Netherlands, she made her debut in the title role of Massenet's "Manon" at the Théâtre du Capitole in Toulouse. Her triumphant success spread her fame throughout the world. Soon she was making debuts in quick succession at the Paris Opera, the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, La Scala, the Vienna State Opera, the Metropolitan Opera as well as in Munich, Hamburg, Florence, Barcelona, Madrid, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Tokyo and other major musical centers. Among the conductors she regularly works with are James Conlon, Sir Colin Davis, Alain Lombard, Sir Charles Mackerras, Zubin Mehta, Riccardo Muti, Kent Nagano, Antonio Pappano, Michel Plasson und Carlo Rizzi. Vaduva has recently expanded her repertoire with selected spinto roles such as Butterfly, Manon Lescaut and Elisabetta in "Don Carlo." She has already recorded a number of these parts on CD. Among the honors bestowed upon her are the Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres, the Sir Laurence Olivier Award, the Royal Philharmonic Award and the Romanian State Prize for Music and Culture.