PRESS RELEASE (5 February 2010)

In search of the young Verdi

After Amelia in Un ballo in maschera, Leonora in La forza del destino and Aida, Violeta Urmana has taken Odabella in Attila as her next Verdi role, advancing into the wide-ranging and in part culpably neglected territory of the composer's early work. "Odabella may not be the longest part in this opera, but its coloraturas, changes of register and runs right up and down the scale make it a tremendous challenge," says Urmana.
The Amazonesque warrior princess, who eventually triumphs over Attila, King of the Huns, is certainly one of Verdi's most martial heroines, and her combative nature is evident at once in her powerful opening aria. In the course of the opera, Odabella's lust for revenge is expressed in passionate outbursts, furious coloraturas and compelling ensemble scenes.Violeta Urmana thus takes possession not only of one of Verdi's musically most demanding roles, but of one of those strong, uncompromising female figures extending a line from Lady Macbeth through Bellini's Norma and Ponchielli's Gioconda — roles that she has embodied with great success in the last few years. The Spanish specialist music magazine Ritmo wrote of her Gioconda at Madrid's Teatro Real: "Her portrayal of this figure is highly personal; she stresses the tragic heroism and suffering of the heroine instead of presenting her as a raging Fury. Yet Urmana can lend expression to this side of Gioconda too, only she does it with finesse, never laying it on with a trowel in the way we are used to with this figure."It is this sort of refinement in her portrayal that we can expect from Violeta Urmana in her portrait of Odabella: "I should like to turn this perhaps somewhat stereotyped figure into an absolutely believable character."
The splendid setting to this eagerly awaited debut is furnished by a new production at the New York MET under the musical direction of Riccardo Muti with stage direction by Pierre Audi. Urmana's partners are Ildar Abdrazakov, Carlos Alvarez and Ramón Vargas.

Spectacular impact can be expected too from the Swiss architectural team Jacques Herzog and Pierre de Meuron, designers of such landmarks as the Olympic Stadium in Beijing, the CaixaForum in Madrid and Hamburg's Elbphilharmonie, and from the costumes of the Italian designer and fashion icon Miuccia Prada."Day by day I feel Odabella growing in my head and in my heart, becoming a part of me, and I am beginning to love her."
After her stage debut as Isolde in Vienna in December 2009, Violeta Urmana is returning to the second love of her operatic life, Giuseppe Verdi, leaving the beaten track of the established repertoire, and breaking new ground once again with his forgotten masterpiece Attila.

Metropolitan Opera of New York
Verdi: ATTILA/ Violeta Urmana (Odabella)Ildar Abdrazakov (Attila), Carlos Alvarez (Ezio) und Ramón Vargas (Foresto), Riccardo Muti (conductor)

Performances: February 23, 27 and March 3, 6, 9, 12, 15, 19, 22, 27