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Francisco
Casanova
Tenor
The
last child of a family of musicians, Francisco Casanova hails from
Santa Cruz del Seibo, one of the oldest towns founded by Europeans
in the American lands, the same land which gave birth to World Wide
famous rhythms such as merengue and bachata.
Francisco
started his musical studies with his mother Barbara at age six,
which he continued with Maestro Cuto Estevez at the Academia
Municipal de Musica de Santa Cruz del Seibo. Four years later, when
his father transfered the family to the capital city of Santo
Domingo for work reasons, he continued for a while his musical
studies at the Escuela Elemental de Musica of that city.
At age
sixteen Casanova was admitted to the National Conservatory of Music
of Santo Domingo, where he initiated his singing studies under the
tutelage of renowed Dominican tenor Rafael Sanchez Cestero. Four
years later he obtained his diploma from that institution which
credits him as a Teacher of Solfege and Musical Theory.
Francisco Casanova won the First Grand Prize for Male Voices in the
XXVIII International Singing Competition Francisco Viñas of
Barcelona, Spain (1990), as well as the special La Traviata Prize.
That same year he also won the Second Prize for Male Voices at the
III International Singing Competition in Bilbao, Spain. A year
earlier he had been a National Finalist of the Metropolitan Opera
auditions. In May 1999 the American Landmark Festival in conjunction
with the Richard Tauber Institute of Vocal Art presented him with
the Richard Tauber Medal for Vocal Excellence “in recognition of his
high lyrical achievement.” He is also a winner of the Clarisse B.
Kampel Foundation Awards 2000, as well as the VIDDA 2000 Award.
Mr. Casanova
made his Metropolitan Opera stage debut as Manrico in Il Trovatore
in January 2001, followed by Riccardo in Un Ballo in Maschera and
Cavaradossi in Tosca (Met Opera in the Parks, Central Park). In
June, 2000 Mr. Casanova made his Vienna Staatsoper debut as Eleazar
in Halevy’s La Juive , and will return there to reprise the role in
2002. The tenor made a very successful debut at Carnegie Hall in
April, 1999 in that same role to the acclaim of both audience and
reviewer, with Eve Queler’s Opera Orchestra of New York, and in the
1999-2000 season with the New Israeli Opera.
Upcoming engagements
include a return to Carnegie Hall during the 2000-2001 season for
Arrigo in Verdi’s La Battaglia di Legnano also under the direction
of Maestra Queler. As the recepient of Opera Orchestra of New
York’s prestigious Vidda Award, Mr. Casanova made his Weill Hall
recital debut the fall of 2000. Other engagements this season
include Verdi’s Requiem with the Columbus Symphony, concert
performances of Cavaradossi in Tosca with the San Antonio Symphony,
and future engagements at the Metropolitan Opera include repeat
performances in Tosca and Nabucco.
In 1996 the tenor replaced
Luciano Pavarotti, at his request, in the “Pavarotti Plus” concert
that took place at Avery Fisher Hall singing arias and ensembles
from La Boheme, Un Ballo in Maschera, L’Amico Fritz, La Traviata,
Tosca, Lucia di Lammermoor and Il Trovatore. Also in 1996, he
performed the Verdi Requiem with Stadttheater of Klagenfurt, and the
role of the Dauphin in Verdi’s Giovanna d’Arco with the Opera
Orchestra of New York.
The following season, Mr.
Casanova performed Gabriele Adorno in Simon Boccanegra in San Juan,
Puerto Rico, concerts for Opera Hamilton in Canada, the Verdi
Requiem his debut with the Spoleto Festival USA, the title role in
Donizetti’s Roberto Devereux in Oviedo and Gijón, Spain and at the
Dresden Festival at the Semper Oper opposite Edita Gruberova, the
title role in Verdi’s Don Carlo in Mallorca, Spain, Rossini’s Stabat
Mater with the Colorado Symphony, and Cavaradossi in Tosca for the
Opera of Bogotá¡, Colombia. He also performed Gustavo in Un Ballo
in Maschera in San Juan the following year.
Mr. Casanova has toured
extensively throughout the United States, Italy, Germany, France,
Spain, Yugoslavia and the Dominican Republic. Some notable
engagements have included Oronte in I Lombardi at the Metropolitan
Opera and at the Teatro Communale di Bologna, Alvaro in La Forza del
Destino in Avignon and Riccardo in Un Ballo in Maschera in
Klagenfurt, Austria. He has also appeared with Opera Ontario and
the Stadttheater Wiesbaden.
Mr. Casanova’s most recent
responsibilities at the Metropolitan Opera have included the title
role in Don Carlo, Manrico in Il Trovatore, Faust in Mefistofele and
Cavaradossi in Tosca. Other recent engagements included Rossini’s
Stabat Mater with the Columbus Symphony, operatic concerts with the
New Mexico Symphony, and Verdi’s Requiem with the Haifa Symphony.
Mr. Casanova
is a disciple of renowed tenor Maestro Pier Miranda Ferraro. |
