About
Italian soprano Maria Agresta made her Royal Opera debut in 2014 as Lucrezia Contarini (I due Foscari) and has since returned to sing Violetta (La traviata), Leonora (Il trovatore) and Desdemona (Otello). In the 2017/18 Season she sings Mimì (La bohème).
Agresta began her vocal studies at the Salerno Conservatory as a mezzo-soprano, later switching to soprano and studying with Raina Kabaivanska. After winning several international competitions she made her professional operatic debut in 2007. Engagements include Mimì and Micaëla (Carmen) for the Metropolitan Opera, New York, Suor Angelica for Liceu, Barcelona, Marguerite (Faust) for Salzburg Festival, Leonora (Il trovatore), Liù (Turandot), Donna Elvira (Don Giovanni) and Leonora (Oberto) for La Scala, Milan, Norma for Théâtre des Champs-Élysées and in Madrid, Turin and Tel Aviv, Mimì for Arena di Verona, Paris Opéra, Bavarian State Opera, Teatro Regio, Teatro di San Carlo, Naples, and Torre del Lago Festival, Elvira (I puritani) for Paris Opéra, Violetta (La traviata) for Berlin State Opera and Bavarian State Opera, Elena (I vespri siciliani) in Turin, Leonora (Il trovatore) for Palau de les Arts Reina Sofía, Valencia, Amelia (Simon Boccanegra) for Rome Opera, La Fenice, Venice, Dresden Semperoper and Berlin State Opera with Daniel Barenboim, Amalia (I masnadieri) for La Fenice and Julia (La Vestale) for Dresden Semperoper.
Agresta performs widely in concert with such conductors as Barenboim, Nicola Luisotti, Michele Mariotti, Zubin Mehta, Carlo Montanaro, Riccardo Muti, Noseda and Christian Thielemann.