Orsolya Sáfár Born in Zalaegerszeg the Hungarian soprano graduated with an excellent master degree in singing and teaching from the Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music in Budapest in 2004. She developed her skills also at master classes held by Ralf Döring, Axelle Gall, Katalin Halmai, Júlia Hamari, Veriano Luchetti, Éva Marton, Yevgeny Nesterenko, Mietta Sighele and Bernd Weikl. Her current voice master is Bernadett Wiedemann, Liszt Prize winning mezzo-soprano. Right before her admission to the Academy of Music she won the 1 st prize at the Jen ő Ádám III rd National and International Singing Competition in Hungary. Since then she has received numerous professional recognitions in her country and abroad as well. In 2001 she won the 3 rd prize at the Competition of the Prague-Vienna-Budapest International Summer Academy in Austria. In 2009 she was among the finalists of the 7 th Hilde Zadek International Voice Competition in Vienna. She was awarded the prize of the Artisjus Foundation for her outstanding activities in performing and promoting Hungarian contemporary music in 2003. In 2004, she received a scholarship to the Bayreuther Festspielen from the Richard Wagner Foundation of Budapest and later in 2005 she won the Annie Fischer Music Performer Scholarship . She also has been awarded the “Starting out on a career” Artistic Scholarship 2013/2014 from District XI of Budapest. After graduating from the Music Academy, she became the member of the Opera Studio of the Hungarian State Opera House . Her debut role in 2005 at the Erkel Theatre was Oscar (Verdi: Un ballo in maschera). In 2006 she stood on the stage of the Hungarian State Opera House as Zerlina (Mozart: Don Giovanni). In her graduation performance of the Opera Studio she sang the role of Despina (Mozart: Così fan tutte). Other memorable performances at the Hungarian State Opera House include Mme Herz (Mozart: Der Schauspieldirektor - TeARTrum Festival) and Musetta (Puccini: La Bohème) in 2012. As a guest artist she performed since 2005 at almost all of the major theatres staging operas of Hungary. Her roles were: Ilia (Mozart: Idomeneo), Ismene (Mozart: Mitridate), Serafina (Donizetti: Il campanello), Mimì (Puccini: La Bohème), Micaëla (Bizet: Carmen), Nannetta (Verdi: Falstaff) and Rosina (Rossini: Il barbiere di Siviglia). She is a regular performer at recognized festivals of classical music, such as the Budapest Spring Festival , the Veszprém Summer Festival or the Estonian Kuressare Opera Days . At the Bartók+ International Opera Festival of Miskolc - under the direction of conductors Zoltán Kocsis, Joseph Rescigno and Marco Balderi and as a partner of singers such as Renato Bruson, Giuseppe Giacomini, Reinhard Hagen, Éva Marton and José Sempere - she had the opportunity to perform the roles of opera rarities in concert form: Gemmy (Rossini: Guglielmo Tell), Olga ( Giordano: Fedora), Yniold (Debussy: Pelléas et Mélisande) and Ein Mädchen (Schönberg: Moses und Aron). She appeared at the prestigious Wiener Festwochen in the spring of 2011 as the Page in Rigoletto conducted by Omer Meir Wellber at the Theater an der Wien . This year, she has performed the role of Sandrina in Haydn’s L’infedelta delusa at the Esterházi Festivities in Fert őd. She is not only invited to sing roles of operas but also solos of oratorios. Her repertoire as a concert-singer includes also a variety of songs and song-cycles spanning from baroque to contemporary music. Her voice has been captured on a number of recordings by the Hungarian Television (Monteverdi: L’incoronazione di Poppea - Damigella), the Duna Television (Donizetti: Il campanello - Serafina; the Bartók Radio (various concerts from the Radio’s Marble Hall and a studio recording of Ilona Meskó’s song- cycle entitled ‘Paysage intimes’), as well as Naxos Records (Mozart: Le nozze di Figaro - Barbarina). This year in the season-opening outdoor performance of the Hungarian State Opera House she sings Lucy (Menotti: The telephone). During the 2013/2014 season she plays the following roles from Mozart at the Erkel Theatre of the Hungarian State Opera : Blonde (Die Entführung aus dem Serail), Pamina (Die Zauberflöte) and Mme Herz (Mozart: Der Schauspieldirektor). In addition, she plays Sofia in Rossini’s one- act comedy opera, ‘Il signor Bruschino’ in Veszprém and in Sopron. As Mme Herz she also introduces herself to the audience of the recently renovated Liszt Academy Concert Centre in Budapest. For further information, please visit www.safarorsolya.com . .