About the Artists
French-Italian tenor Roberto Alagna has been an audience favorite at the Metropolitan Opera for nearly 25 years. He made his debut with the company in 1996 as Rodolfo in La Bohème and has since given more than 150 performance of 17 roles—including in six new- production premieres. Most recently, he has appeared as Don José in Carmen, Samson in Samson et Dalila to open the 2018–19 season, Turiddu and Canio in the double bill of Cavalleria Rusticana and Pagliacci, the title role of Cyrano de Bergerac, Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly, des Grieux in Manon Lescaut, and Cavaradossi in Tosca. In addition to returning to the Met as Rodolfo, during the 2019–20 season, he also sang Turiddu and Canio at Deutsche Oper Berlin and in Barcelona, the title role of Don Carlo at the Paris Opera, and Calàf in Turandot at the Vienna State Opera. Other recent performances include the title role of Andrea Chénier at Covent Garden; Don José, Otello, Alfredo in La Traviata, and Manrico in Il Trovatore at the Paris Opera; Rodolfo in Luisa Miller in concert and Maurizio in Adriana Lecouvreur in Monte Carlo; Samson at the Vienna State Opera and in concert in Paris; Otello at the Vienna State Opera; and the Condemned Man in David Alagna’s Le Dernier Jour d’un Condamné in Marseille.
Originally from Brzeg Dolny, Poland, soprano Aleksandra Kurzak made her professional debut at the age of 21 at the Wroclaw State Opera as Susanna in Le Nozze di Figaro. Between 2001 and 2007, she was a member of the ensemble at the Hamburg State Opera, where her roles included the Queen of the Night in Die Zauberflöte, Blondchen in Die Entführung aus dem Serail, Susanna, Servilia in La Clemenza di Tito, Marzelline in Fidelio, Nannetta in Falstaff, Gilda in Rigoletto, Gretel in Hänsel und Gretel, Musetta in La Bohème, Cleopatra in Giulio Cesare, Fiorilla in Il Turco in Italia, and Marie in La Fille du Régiment, among others. She made her Met debut in 2004 as Olympia in Les Contes d’Hoffmann and has returned in productions of La Traviata, Carmen, Pagliacci, L’Elisir d’Amore, Hansel and Gretel, Rigoletto, and Die Entführung aus dem Serail. In recent seasons, she has also performed at Covent Garden, Deutsche Oper Berlin, the Paris Opera, the Vienna State Opera, Staatsoper Berlin, the Bavarian State Opera, and in Barcelona, Hannover, Verona, Naples, Monte Carlo, and Hamburg.
The Vienna Morphing Quintet is part of the larger Morphing Chamber Orchestra (MCO), which was founded in 2006 by its artistic director, Tomasz Wabnic. MCO’s philosophy is based on constant evolution—metamorphoses and modifications that lead to the search for new musical interpretations and the pursuit of performance perfection. The ensemble challenges itself with diverse projects and a wide range of repertoire, from classical music to film music, jazz, and contemporary music. The ensemble engages and collaborates with such artists as Roberto Alagna, Aleksandra Kurzak, Bobby McFerrin, Andreas Scholl, Joseph Tawadros, Valeriy Sokolov, and Frederic Chaslin, and composers like Arvo Pärt and Krzysztof Penderecki. During the 2020–21 season, members of the ensemble will perform in more than 100 concerts in some of the world’s most prestigious venues, including Vienna’s Musikverein and Carnegie Hall.