DANIELA MACK, mezzo soprano
KEUN-A LEE, pianist
JP JOFRE, bandoneon
THURSDAY, APRIL 18, 2024
7:30 p.m. at the Kennedy Center Terrace Theater
DANIELA MACK, mezzo soprano
KEUN-A LEE, pianist
JP JOFRE, bandoneon
THURSDAY, APRIL 18, 2024
7:30 p.m. at the Kennedy Center Terrace Theater
Born in Buenos Aires and trained at San Francisco Opera Center, mezzo Daniela Mack lavishes the same effortless charisma and sable-colored instrument on music from Handel to contemporary. Her current season opened with a rare mounting of Rossini’s Otello, co-starring as Desdemona with tenor Lawrence Brownlee at Opera Philadelphia, and concludes as Frida Kahlo in the premiere at San Francisco Opera of Gabriela Lena Frank’s El Último sueño di Frida y Diego. She returns to the Met next season for the company premiere of John Adams’ El Niño led by Marin Alsop.
The program paired songs from Daniela’s childhood home, Argentina, with a world premiere by Rene Orth entitled At First, Now, Always. This nine-piece song cycle explored the personal experience of motherhood with pieces such as “Before You Arrived” and “The Middle of the Night.” Other works on the program included pieces by Rossini, Jofre, Lorca, and Chapí. Download the program.
Artist Bios
Mezzo-soprano DANIELA MACK leads the vanguard of a new generation of opera singers, infusing her artistry with a mix of intensity, adventurousness, and effortless charisma.
In the 2022/2023 season, Ms. Mack returns to Opera Philadelphia as Desdemona in Rossini’s Otello, the San Francisco Opera as Frida Kahlo in El Último Sueño de Frida y Diego, Detroit Opera in Osvaldo Golijov’s Ainadamar, and the Los Angeles Philharmonic in performances of John Adams Girls of the Golden West.
In recent seasons, Ms. Mack has made several important debuts including the Metropolitan Opera as the Kitchen Boy in Rusalka, Royal Opera House-Covent Garden as Rosina in Il barbiere di Siviglia, Teatro Real as Rosmira in Partenope, Teatro de la Maestranza in her role debut as Romeo in Bellini’s I Capuleti e i Montecchi, and with the BBC Philharmonic as Béatrice in Béatrice et Bénédict. She also made her Carnegie Hall debut in a performance of Serse with The English Concert.
An alumna of the famed Adler Fellowship Program at San Francisco Opera, Ms. Mack has appeared as Rosina in Il barbiere di Siviglia, Idamante in Idomeneo, Siebel in Faust, and Lucienne in Die tote Stadt for her house debut. She also performed the title role of La Cenerentola as a member of the company’s Merola Opera Program. Other recent opera engagements have included appearances with the Lyric Opera of Chicago, Santa Fe Opera, Washington National Opera, Seattle Opera, Minnesota Opera, Boston Lyric Opera, Lyric Opera of Kansas City, English National Opera, Théâtre du Capitole in Toulouse, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Ópera de Oviedo, Opéra National de Bordeaux, and the Verbier Festival. Her many roles include the title role in Carmen, Charlotte in Werther, Beatrice in Béatrice et Bénédict, Romeo in I Capuletti et I Montecchi, Rosina in Il barbiere di Siviglia, Isabella in L’italiana in Algeri, Angelina in Cenerentola, Bradamante in Alcina, Juno in Semele, Dardano in Amadigi di Gaula,, Rosmira in Partenope, Sesto in Giulio Cesare, Idamante in Idomeneo, and Dorabella in Cosi fan tutte, She also created roles in the world premieres of Kevin Puts and Mark Campbell’s Elizabeth Cree (title role) at Opera Philadelphia, and in David T. Little and Royce Vavrek’s JFK (Jacqueline Kennedy) at Fort Worth Opera with subsequent performances at Opéra de Montréal. danielamack.com
Korean Pianist, KEUN-A LEE, has been on the music staffs of Lyric Opera of Chicago, Opera Colorado, Opera Memphis, North Carolina Opera, New York City Opera, Santa Fe Opera, the Spoleto Music Festival USA, The Gotham Chamber Opera, The Juilliard School of Music and Manhattan School of Music.
Following her 1998 debut at the Sejong Center for the Performing Arts in Korea, Ms Lee has focused on piano collaboration. She has performed in such halls as Carnegie Hall’s Zankel Hall, Weill Recital Hall, Alice Tully Hall, Kennedy Center in Washington, DC, Chicago’s Preston Bradley Hall, Toronto’s Centre for the Arts in Canada, and the Sejong Cultural Center and Seoul Arts Center, in Korea. She has been invited in Internationale Meistersinger Akademie in Germany, Ravinia Festival‘s Steans Music Institute, Merola Opera Program at the San Francisco Opera, Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara where she received a vocal piano prize, Cape Cod Chamber Music Festival as the Samuel Sander Scholarship Awardee and Rockport Chamber Music Festival.
As an orchestral keyboard player, she has worked at the Metropolitan opera, New York Philharmonic Orchestra, Detroit Symphony Orchestra, and The Juilliard School of Music.
Recent engagements as an active chamber musician include Concert Tour with “Musicians” from New York Philharmonic in Korea, New York Philharmonic Chamber music series in Merkin hall, the season opening concert at Lyric Chamber Music Society of New York, recitals by Marilyn Horne Foundation at the Music Academy of the West and at Santa Monica City College, recitals with the winners of Young Concert Artists and Concert Artist Guild.
Born in San Juan, Argentina, Juan Pablo Jofre Romarion, aka JP JOFRE, is a Grammy and Latin Grammy-nominated composer and bandoneon player. Having written several concertos with chamber and symphony orchestras, and chamber music works, Mr. Jofre has been repeatedly highlighted by the New York Times and praised as one of today’s leading artists by Great Performers at Lincoln Center. His music has been recorded by the legendary London Symphony Orchestra, multi-Grammy award winner Paquito D’ Rivera, and Orpheus Chamber Orchestra among others. He has performed and given lectures at Google Talks, TED Talks, The Juilliard School of Music, The New School among others. A recipient of the National Prize of the Arts grant in Argentina, Mr. Jofre has been part of many prestigious festivals, including the Celebrity Series of Boston, Umbria Jazz Festival, Great Performers at Lincoln Center, Seattle Town Hall, Hatfield and Sheffield Chamber Music Festival (U.K) Australian Music Festival for Chamber Music and Kasposfest (Hungary) to name a few.
For the world premiere of his Bandoneon Concerto, the California Mercury News wrote: “…he is an electrifying composer-bandoneon player.” In 2012, Jofre was invited by the Free University of Bolzano and SudTirol Festival (Italy) to perform for the homage to Argentinean Nobel Peace Prize winner, Adolfo Perez Esquivel.
These performances are external rentals presented in coordination with the Kennedy Center
Campus Rentals Office and are not produced by the Kennedy Center.
“A purringly elegant BMW of a singer.”
Rupert Christiansen, The Telegraph
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