Kos, Lana - Soprano

Biography

Lana Kos, born in 1984 in Varazdin, Croatia, acquired her musical skills at the Music Academy of Zagreb. At the age of only seventeen, she made her debut role of the Queen of the Night in Mozart`s Zauberflöte. Mstislav Rostropovich, soon after gave her the lead role of Natasha Rostova in newly produced Sergei Prokofiev`s War and Peace at the Moscow Bolshoi Theatre.

Recent engagements include Violetta and Desdemona at Bucharest Opera, Liù at Savonlinna Festival, Liù and Musetta at Torre del Lago, Marguerite at Vilnius City Opera, Verdi Requiem in Zagreb, Violetta at Teatro Petruzzelli, and Mimì at Teatro di San Carlo.

Among her future engagements are debut at Teater Erfurt, Michaëla at Arena di Verona, debut as Cio Cio San in Madama Butterfly and Norma in Bern and Violetta at Teatro Real de Madrid.

The 2015-17 season was marked by Ms. Kos’ debut as Liù in Puccini’s Turandot at Macao International Music Festival in China. She also had her debut as Leonora in Verdi’s at the Seoul Arts Center, at Oper Graz and at Konzert Theater Bern singing more than 20 performances of the opera. She sang Elvira in Verdi’s at the National Theatre in Split. At the Teatro Real de Madrid, with and Maestro James Conlon, she portrayed the role of , sang Mimì at the Teatro Lirico in Trieste. and Violetta in Verdi’s La traviata at Teatro Lirico di Cagliari.

During her earlier seasons Ms. Kos has been singing Desdemona in São Paulo, Violetta at the Royal Opera Stockholm, Rosina in Il barbiere di Sivigla at The Avenches Opera Festival, Musetta and Desdemona ) at Teatro Massimo di Palermo and at Opera Naples in Florida as Mimì, Donna Anna in Beijing and her Amelia debut in Simone Boccanegra in the Toscana circuit (Pisa, Lucca, Livorno), Michaela (Carmen) in San Paolo, Brazil, Giulietta (Roméo et Juliette) at Arena di Verona and she made a jump in at Opéra de Lausanne as Luisa Miller learning the whole role in only 10 days.

Her 2011/12 season included Desdemona () performed at the NCPA Beijing Opera; Tel Aviv appearing as Violetta, directed by Andrei Zagars and conducted by David Stern; Arena di Verona with her favourite role of Violetta conducted by Andrea Battistoni; Guangzhou, China again as Violetta conducted by maestro in the production of the Royal Opera House - Covent Garden.

Her international career really took off in 2011 at the Verona Festival singing Violetta conducted by Carlo Rizzi and directed by the renowned Hugo de Ana, and after at the Teatro Massimo in Palermo, conducted by Bruno Bartoletti and directed by Henning Brockhaus. She had another role debut as Michaëla (Carmen) at Israeli Opera festival in directed by Giancarlo del Monaco and conducted by Daniel Oren. This was followed by her first (Manon Lescaut) at the Greece State Opera in Athens, directed by Giancarlo del Monaco.

In 2009 and 10 she premiered Violetta (Traviata) at the National Theatre in Maribor/Slovenia. She also appeared as Mimì (Bohème) followed by Juliette (Romeo and Juliette). She was awarded a prize by the Croatian National Theatre for the interpretation of Lucia (). Repertoire

Opera

Bellini, V. Norma Norma Bizet, G. Carmen Micaëla Donizetti, G. Anna Bolena Anna Bolena* Le fille du regiment Marie* Lucia di Lammermoor Lucia Maria Stuarda Maria Stuarda* Robert Devereux Elisabetta* Gounod, C. Faust Marguerite Romeo et Juliette Juliette Janacek, L. The Cunning Little Vixen The Cunning Little Vixen Leoncavallo, R. Nedda* Massenet, J. Manon Manon* Mozart, W.A. Don Giovanni Donna Anna Zauberflöte Queen of the Night Prokofiev, S. War and Peace Natasha Rostova Puccini, G. La bohème Mimì, Musetta Madama Butterflay Cio Cio San Manon Lescaut Manon Lescaut Turandot Liù Rossini, G. Il barbiere di Siviglia Rosina Madame Cortese Tchaikovsky, P. I. Eugene Onegin Tatjana* Verdi, G. Aida Aida Ernani Elvira Luisa Miller Luisa Otello Desdemona Amelia La traviata Violetta Reviews

There are sopranos who take on their characters with a burning a confident spirit, others, on the other hand, who build them softly up. The excellent Violetta played by the Croatian Lana Kos founds itself in a middle course: how much beauty and technique there was in her singing celebrating the trill of Act one (with the sovracute E- flat not present in the work of Verdi) and her softly and delicate way in playing the second and third, avoiding to force the verses with her ductile and nuanced phrasing, which Rodolfo Celletti has wished for the Traviata. – Operaclick http://www.operaclick.com/recensioni/teatrale/bari-teatro-petruzzelli-la-traviata

Lana Kos, the lead of the play, goes on stage very confidently, proving excellent agility and powerful messe di voce (placing of voice). Her harmonic sounds are particularly highlighted in the registro acuto (high register), but the soprano is capable of putting her attention to detail on the performance with soothing half-voices. Her best performance is in the III Act, when Kos performs a bleached and on purpose atonic voice in simulating the “menacing peace” noted by the father and prepares for a suicide project. Thanks to the composure of the singer it seems like she all of a sudden turned into Lucia, Elvira or in any other character estranged Italian opera of the early 19th century (going in this way beyond the social limits imposed by the libretto – “She, who was born in a village…” – and turning into a single female model for the opera). – GB Opera http://www.gbopera.it/2016/04/madrid-teatro-real-luisa-miller/

The lead, the Croatian Lana Kos, has performed her role with great technical and vocal means: full and deep acutes, an elegantly natural phrasing resulting into the representation of the psychological path run by the character starting from the initial purity to the fatal final sacrifice. – El Pais https://elpais.com/cultura/2016/04/24/actualidad/1461502670_639046.html

Lana Kos, the lead of the play, has been another driving force. Her Luisa has been a sweet one. She is a lyric soprano with an attractive tone and a remarkable sound range. Adaptable and smart she uses her tool very easily, turning in a very natural way from the shades of the beginning of the play to the dramatic final. She reminded me of the soprano Gilda Cruz-Romo, one of the most outstanding players for this character during the sixties of the last century (the live record with , Matteo Manuguerra and the direction of Peter Maag is a reference for it). Kos starts to turn up into the international scene and moves smartly forward in the chosen repertoire, I have no doubt she will become a famous singer in the next future. – Opera World https://www.operaworld.es/exitosa-luisa-miller-teatro-real/

On this occasion we’ve had an outstanding lead, the Croatian Lana Kos, who’s been able to completely fulfil the requirements of a part which wasn’t easy at all. It comprehends passage of a real light-lyric (lirica leggera) in the first stages and of a strong lyric in the following ones, which still have graduations in the high part and difficult trimmings. Kos, still if not relevant, has got a wide sparkling metallic lyric, with a narrow vibrato and homogenous and well-adjusted colour. She sings with passion and she’s solved her first stages with decision, still if limited in the flutters she heartily came out in “la tomba è un letto e Ah! L’ultima preghiera. Soprano sfogato (vented soprano) with a wide breath. Good actress. She has been the inner of the night. – Arturo Reverter http://lanakos.eu/2016/10/scherzo-soprano-habemus/