Andrea Rost

Andrea Rost is a Hungarian lyric soprano known for her passionate and precise singing and dramatic stage presence. Her diverse discography includes several operas, Hungarian songs, and audio books. Rost was born into a non-musical family in Budapest in 1962 and enjoyed singing from a young age. She sang in the school choir and was introduced to opera when she was 16 years old at a performance of Donizetti's Don Pasquale at the Budapest Opera House. She was entranced by the dramatic blend of music, story, and scenery and told herself "Oh my God, I have to do this." This inspiration led her to enroll at the Liszt Academy of Music, where she studied voice with Zsolt Bende. Through his instruction, Rost developed a strong bel canto technique, and he continues to be a trusted friend and advisor. Then she received a scholarship from the Budapest Opera to study at the Budapest Academy. In 1987, during her final year at the Academy, she had her opera debut as Juliette in Gounod's Roméo et Juliette with the Budapest Opera. Two years later, she won first place in the prestigious Mirjam Helin International Singing Competition. From 1991 to 1996, Rost was a soloist with the Vienna State Opera, and in 1994 her career exploded when she was invited by Riccardo Muti to sing the role of Gilda in Verdi's Rigoletto at the Teatro alla Scala. This successful performance was also recorded on the Sony Classical label, which led to a multi-year contract for solo recordings. Following her time with the Vienna State Opera, in 1996 she made her debut in New York with the Metropolitan Opera in Donizetti's L'elisir d'amore. The next year, Rost released her first album with Sony, Le Delizie Dell'amor, which was a collection of opera arias. She also participated in a historically informed performance of Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor, conducted by Sir Charles Mackerras. In the 2000s, Rost performed with many of the major opera companies in the U.S. including the Chicago Lyric Opera, the Washington National Opera, the Metropolitan Opera, and the Los Angeles Opera. She also performed in Madrid, Budapest, and Tokyo, and released the album Hungarian Songs in 2008. From 2013 to 2014, she recorded the audio books Tales of the Opera and Andersen's The Little Mermaid. Also in 2013, she performed in São Paulo for the first time in a production of Mozart's Don Giovanni. Rost continues to be in high demand as one of the top lyric sopranos of her generation.
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