Praised for her “powerful, gleaming tone, effortless precision and expressive immediacy” Romanian-American soprano Esther Tonea is a recent San Francisco Opera Adler Fellow, National Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition Grand Finals Winner, International Elizabeth Connell Prize for Dramatic Sopranos Finalist, International Tenor Viñas Competition Semi-Finalist, and Richard F. Gold Career Grant recipient.
Her repertoire includes Leonora in Verdi’s Il trovatore, Donna Anna in Mozart’s Don Giovanni, Countess Almaviva in Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro, Blanche de la Force in Poulenc’s Dialogues des Carmélites, Tatyana in Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin, and Fiordiligi in Mozart’s Così fan tutte. Because of her passion for increasing accessibility to classical music and opera, Tonea appears as guest artist in elementary school outreach programs across the United States. She also has performed Roots of Peace, an organization that replaces land mines with vineyards in war-torn countries such as Ukraine and Croatia.
A frequent collaborator with Jake Heggie and Gene Scheer, Esther premiered Diana in If I Were You with Merola Opera Program, workshopped Callie van Lew in Intelligence with Houston Grand Opera, and performed Krystyna Zywulska in Another Sunrise with Atlanta Opera. She performed as soprano soloist in Orff’s Carmina Burana with Richmond Ballet, Haydn’s The Creation with City Choir of Washington and Washington National Opera Orchestra, and Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 and the world premiere of Jonathan Leshnoff’s Warum hast du gelitten? with Santa Rosa Symphony. Esther will also sing title roles in Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette Tchaikovsky’s Iolanta this season in Washington, D.C.