BIOGRAPHY

Latvian soprano Margarita Vilsone's guest appearances include opera houses and concert halls throughout Europe. Critics and audiences are bowled over by her expressive interpretation and the rich, warm timbre of her voice.

In addition to concerts and recitals, in the 2023/24 season Margarita Vilsone will perform at the Mainfranken Theater Würzburg as Chrysothemis in R. Strauss' Elektra. She also has three role debuts in her calendar. She will make her debut at the Staatstheater Mainz with the role of Martha in Mieczysław Weinberg's opera The Passenger and at the Teatro Verdi in Trieste with the title role in Richard Strauss' Ariadne auf Naxos. In June 2024, Margarita Vilsone will sing the role of Aunt Lydia in the German premiere of Poul Ruders' The Handmaid's Tale at the Freiburg Theatre.

Highly acclaimed role debuts in the 2022/23 season were Chrysothemis (R. Strauss, Elektra) and Elektra (Krenek, Life of Orest) at Theater Münster as well as Tosca in Puccini's opera of the same name at Stadttheater Gießen. Margarita Vilsone also gave her celebrated debut with the Tonhalle-Orchester in 2023 at the Tonhalle Zurich with Giuseppe Verdi's Messa da Requiem.
Further important role debuts in the past seasons included Amalia in Verdi's I Masnadieri at the Volksoper Wien (conducted by Alfred Eschwé) and at the Latvijas Nacionālā Opera in Riga

"... a youthful and expressive soprano with a beautiful and radiant stage presence." Bayerische Staatszeitung

Marguerite in Charles Gounod's Faust, Anna in Giacomo Puccini's Le Villi, Clara in Gershwin's Porgy and Bess (Cesis Mākslas Festivāls) and Rosalinde in J. Strauß' Fledermaus. She sang the role of Rosalinde also at the Schlossoper Haldenstein, as well as at the Staatstheater Nürnberg where she also made her debuts in the roles of Micaëla (Carmen), Mimi (La Bohème) and Donna Anna (Don Giovanni). Other Mozart roles include Donna Elvira (Don Giovanni, Junge Oper Schloss Weikersheim) and 1. Dame in Die Zauberflöte.
At the Staatstheater Nürnberg, Margarita Vilsone also appeared for the first time in Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen: In Walküre, she performed Ortlinde and in Götterdämmerung Dritte Norn and Woglinde. At the Stadttheater Klagenfurt, she sang Lisa in Lehár's Das Land des Lächelns. At the Volkstheater Rostock, Margarita Vilsone had guest appearances in the new production of Janáček's The Cunning Little Vixen, directed by Vera Nemirova.

Concerts have taken Margarita Vilsone to Great Britain, the Czech Republic, Latvia, Estonia, Switzerland, Austria and Germany.

"... the unearthly beautiful soprano passages by Margarita Vilsone ..." Verdi, Missa da Requiem, Münstersche Zeitung

In 2014, the Symphony No. 4 by Gustav Mahler marked the beginning of her ongoing collaboration with the Liepāja Symphony Orchestra.
Other concert performances included appearances with the Deutsche Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland-Pfalz, Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich, Latvian National Symphony Orchestra, the Staatsphilharmonie Nürnberg, Norddeutsche Philharmonie, Jena Philharmonie, Philharmonisches Orchester Cottbus, Kärntner Sinfonieorchester and the Westböhmisches Sinfonieorchester under the baton of such conductors as Marcus Bosch, Nicholas Carter, Michael Francis, Gábor Káli, Atvars Lakstīgala, Alexander Merzyn, Andris Poga, Gintaras Rinkevičius, David Roblou, Guido Johannes Rumstadt, Giedrė Šlekytė, Sebastian Tewinkel and Bruno Weil.

Margarita Vilsone's concert repertoire includes Symphony No. 9 by Ludwig van Beethoven, Messa da Requiem by Giuseppe Verdi, Mahler's Symphony No. 2 & No. 4, J. S. Bach's Weihnachtsoratorium, Antonín Dvořák's Stabat mater, Mozart's Requiem, Honegger's König David,Kristaps Cukur's To be my own silence (world premiere) and Richard Strauss' Vier letzte Lieder.

Margarita Vilsone's large Lied repertoire ranges from Romantic to contemporary music. Among others, she gave recitals at the Festival Liepāja Summer, at the Voices festival and also in the context of the exhibition Hitler.Macht.Oper at the Dokumentationszentrum Nürnberg with Lieder by banned composers.

From 2015 – 2017, Margarita Vilsone was member of the International Opera Studio of the Staatstheater Nürnberg.

"Standing ovations, well deserved." Der Opernfreund

The soprano received the DAAD Prize, is winner of the international singing contest Accademia Belcanto and finalist of the international singing contest Riccardo Zandonai.
She is a scholarship holder of both the Richard Wagner Society and the Oscar and Vera Ritter Foundation, and was awarded the Deutschlandstipendium.

Margarita Vilsone began her vocal studies at the Hochschule für Künste Bremen and graduated from the Hochschule für Musik Nürnberg with Prof Jan Hammar. She attended master classes with Helmut Deutsch, Robert Holl, Christa Ludwig, Angelika Kirchschlager, Hedwig Fassbender, Krisztina Laki, Maris Skuja and Mya Besselink and is continuing her studies with Dale Fundling.


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