Ileana Montalbetti, Soprano

Biography

Canadian soprano Ileana Montalbetti is currently a member of the Canadian Opera Company Ensemble Studio where she recently performed Elettra in the Ensemble Studio Performance of Idomeneo and First Lady in the Ensemble Studio Performance of The Magic Flute. In the 2008/09 season she performed Fiordiligi in the Ensemble Studio Production of Così fan tutte and Mavra Kuzminichna in War and Peace. Her cover assignments for the Canadian Opera Company have included; Elisabetta in Maria Stuarda, The Cook in Stravinsky’s The Nightingale, Helena in Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Amelia in Simon Boccanegra and Foreign Princess in Rusalka.

During the 2010/11 season Ms. Montalbetti covered Anai in Rossini’s Moise et Pharaon, under the baton of Maestro Riccardo Muti at the Teatro dell'Opera di Roma, performed the Countess Almaviva in Le Nozze di Figaro with Saskatoon Opera and, with the Canadian Opera Company, performed Clorinda in La Cenerentola and The Newspaper Seller in Death in Venice. This past season Ms. Montalbetti also covered the roles of Pat Nixon in Nixon in China, First Lady in The Magic Flute and High Priestess in Aida, all for productions by the Canadian Opera Company.

During the summer of 2011, Ms. Montalbetti attended the Steans Institute for Singers at the Ravinia Festival. She will be seen this fall as Fifth Maid in Lehnhoff’s production of Strauss’ Elektra at the Teatro dell’Opera di Roma, and covers Antonia in Tales of Hoffmann, Bianca in Zemlinsky’s A Florentine Tragedy and Nella in Gianni Schicchi with the Canadian Opera Company.

Ms. Montalbetti has attended the Chautauqua Institute where she performed Tatyana in Eugene Onegin and Countess Almaviva in Le Nozze di Figaro. She has also held two consecutive soprano fellowships at the Tanglewood Music Centre where, most notably, she performed Celestial Voice in a concert version of Don Carlo under the baton of Maestro James Levine.

Ms. Montalbetti is a graduate of the opera diploma program at the University of Toronto, where she performed the roles of Rosalinde in Die Fledermaus, Countess Almaviva in Le Nozze di Figaro and Female Chorus in The Rape of Lucretia.

She has also appeared as Donna Anna in Don Giovanni for Saskatoon Opera and The Toronto Summer Music Academy and Festival and was the guest soloist for Manitoba Opera’s “Bravo Gala”.

Ms. Montalbetti placed second in the 2011 Christina and Louis Quilico Awards and was nominated by the Canadian Opera Company to compete in the 2011 Stella Maris Vocal Competition. Ms. Montalbetti was a winner of the 2010 Four City District Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions and a 2010 Laureate of the Jeunes Ambassadeurs Lyriques.