DMA Lecture-Recital: Non-Traditional Verdi

Valdis Jansons, baritone
Mi-Young Kim, piano

Music by Giuseppe Verdi from: Ernani, Rigoletto, Otello, Falstaff

Latvian baritone Valdis Jansons started his musical studies as a violinist. After graduating from Riga Music College, he continued his studies at Conservatorio Arrigo Boito di Parma, Italy, obtaining bachelor’s and master’s degrees. Mr. Jansons made his opera debut in 2004 under the direction of Antonello Allemandi. He has won many international competitions, including Giuseppe Di Stefano (Trapani, Italy, 2006) and the As.Li.Co (Como, Italy, 2009), Riccardo Zandonai (Riva del Garda, Italy, 2013), Maurizio Quintieri (Cosenza, Italy, 2014). Mr. Jansons has sung 65 roles in more than 70 theaters worldwide, including the Teatro Alla Scala in Berg’s Lulu, directed by Peter Stein and conducted by Daniele Gatti in 2011, Teatro Carlo Felice di Genova as Capulet in Romeo et Juliette, directed by Jean Louis Grinda and conducted by Fabio Luisi in 2012, Teatro Filarmonico di Verona, Teatro Regio di Parma, São Carlos Theater of Lisbon, Moscow’s Bolshoi Theater, Theater an der Wien, Teatro San Carlo di Napoli, Lincoln Center, NCPA in Beijing. Over the years, Mr. Jansons showed the ability to span from 18th-century music to contemporary operas, with a particular focus on bel canto and Italian repertoire. He was praised for his phrasing, long breaths, brilliant top register, approach to the text, and stage presence. In the last years, he appeared in the title role of Verdi’s Nabucco at the Latvian National Opera (2019), Ramiro in Ravel’s L’Heure Espagnole in theaters of Brescia, Pavia, Como and Brescia in Italy (2019-2020), made his debut as Tonio in Leoncavallo’s Pagliacci at the Slovenian National Opera (2020), Zurga in Bizet’s The Pearl Fishers at Teatro Campoamor de Oviedo, Spain (2021). In 2022 he performed the soloist part in Orff’s Carmina Burana at Opéra de Saint-Etienne, France, and at Granada Theatre in Santa Barbara, CA, USA; he appeared as Anckaström (Renato) in Verdi’s Un Ballo in Maschera at Opera på Skäret. In 2023 Mr. Jansons took part in the concerts “Echoes of Ancient Tang Poems” with the Philadelphia Orchestra at the Verizon Hall at the Kimmel Center in Philadelphia and the Alice Tully Hall at the Lincoln Center in New York. In June, he returns to Opéra de SaintEtienne, France, to interpret the title role in Verdi’s Macbeth. As a concert singer, he performed Mahler’s Lieder eines Fahrenden Gesellen, Brahms’s Vier ernste Gesänge, Mussorgsky’s Songs and Dances of Death, and an extensive series of Neapolitan songs, which play a particular role in his artistic expression.