Karina Gauvin, soprano

Sunday, February 14, 2010 at 2 PM / Roy Thomson Hall / Toronto

Single Tickets: $69.50 - $29.50 / Call 416-872-4255, or buy online www.roythomson.com

or visit the Roy Thomson Hall Box Office at 60 Simcoe Street, Toronto

Toronto, ON. January 21, 2010 – “Canada’s Queen of Song,” soprano Karina Gauvin, brings her exhilarating artistry to Roy Thomson Hall on Sunday, February 14 at 2 PM for a special Valentine’s Day recital featuring love songs by Scarlatti, Chausson, Bizet, Ravel and Kurt Weill. The occasion marks Ms. Gauvin’s Roy Thomson Hall recital debut and also launches the Hall’s 2009/2010 International Vocal Recitals, an annual four-concert series devoted to showcasing the world’s leading opera stars.  Ms. Gauvin is accompanied by the esteemed Canadian pianist Michael McMahon.

A graduate of the Montreal Conservatory of Music, Karina Gauvin has thrilled audiences worldwide in major opera houses and concert halls from London’s Royal Opera House, Covent Garden to New York’s Lincoln Center. She has appeared with many of the world’s leading orchestras including the Chicago Symphony, Philadelphia Orchestra and Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal, as well as such major period instrument ensembles as Musica Antiqua Köln, Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra and Les Violons du Roy.

Often referred to as a “dream soprano,” Karina Gauvin has been praised for both her stunningly expressive vocal quality as well as her musical intelligence. Among her many career highlights are Mozart’s Requiem and Bach’s Magnificat with the Chicago Symphony under Helmuth Rilling, and her Carnegie Hall debut in Bach’s B Minor Mass under Peter Schreier. Ms. Gauvin sang the title role in Handel’s Alcina with Gabrieli Consort at the Beaune Festival in France; sang Iole in Handel’s Hercules with Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin; and last season toured Europe with the Venice Baroque Orchestra in Vivaldi’s Juditha Triumphans. In 2003 she sang the title role in Georg Conradi’s opera Ariadne for the Boston Early Music Festival; the live performance was later released on the CPO label and nominated for a Grammy Award in 2006.

A prolific and widely successful recording artist with more than 20 releases, Karina Gauvin’s albums over the past decade have consistently been nominated for the Juno Award and twice for the Grammy Award.  Two of the albums, Handel’s Silete Venti / Apollo e Daphne and Mozart’s Requiem with Les Violons du Roy, won the Juno Award in 2001 and 2003, respectively. She has recorded extensively for the international labels Deutsche Grammophon, Naïve and CPO as well as the Montreal-based labels Analekta and Atma. Her recent portrayal of Manlio in Vivaldi's Tito Manlio on the Naïve label was called "riveting" by Opera News; and her recording of Lully’s Psyché on the CPO label was nominated for a 2009 Grammy Award. Her most recent album features arias from the operas of Nicola Porpora, released in August 2009 on Atma, her sixth recording for that label. For more information, visit http://www.karinagauvin.com/

Roy Thomson Hall’s 4-concert 2009/2010 International Vocal Recitals:   

Subscriptions Still Available - Call 416-872-4255

1)  Karina Gauvin, soprano; Michael McMahon, piano – Sunday, February 14/10, 2PM

2)  Nathan Gunn, baritone; Julie Gunn, piano – Wednesday, March 10/10, 8PM   

3) Alexandra Deshorties, soprano; Howard Watkins, piano – Sunday, April 25/10, 2PM        

4)  Joseph Calleja, tenor; Craig Rutenberg, piano – Friday, May 28/10, 8PM (rescheduled from Nov.15/09)