– The outstanding Italian mezzosoprano will sing the female lead of Massenet’s Werther in August, in her long-awaited return to the iconic stage in the Argentine capital before beginning a 2025/2026 season that will take her to the Teatro Verdi in Trieste, ABAO Bilbao Opera, La Fenice in Venice, and to her debut at the Opernhaus in Zurich, among other commitments.
She debuted at the Colón in 2012 with the role of Cherubino in Mercadante’s I due Figaro, an opera conducted by maestro Riccardo Muti, to return in 2018 with her acclaimed Adalgisa in Bellini’s Norma, with Renato Palumbo on the podium. This August, Annalisa Stroppa, one of the most important mezzosopranos on the international lyric scene, returns to the emblematic Argentine coliseum to step into the shoes of Charlotte from Massenet’s Werther, a commitment that has her “absolutely thrilled,” she assures, “firstly, to return to an operatic temple that has an impressive history and which conquered my soul from the first time I performed in it, with extraordinary acoustics and its beautiful, unique energy, which revolves in a round trip between the audience and the stage.” The Italian singer says she remembers contemplating the main hall of the Buenos Aires theatre and being “absolutely paralysed, speechless, moved by so much beauty; the magic of the Teatro Colón and the enthusiasm of its special, participative, and warm public have always captivated me. I hold dear in my memory my debut with Cherubino, at the start of my career, and my return years later with Adalgisa, one of my most beloved roles, so going back on that stage is a dream come true,” she continues.
Annalisa Stroppa emphasizes that this return is marked by a role she especially adores: “Charlotte is a wonderful, intense character,” which allows her to express herself “completely” as an artist, “both vocally and interpretatively; Massenet’s opera possesses an extraordinary charm; it sings the pain of the poet Werther, created by Goethe, with an impressive capacity to move, with refinement and profound emotion, taking us with its music to feel the pain of the young protagonists facing an impossible love, jealousy, and suicide. A mature Romanticism that makes us reflect upon the music of a Massenet who, at 50 years of age, demonstrated having represented the historical and social importance of Goethe’s masterpiece.”
The Italian mezzo, who debuted the role in 2024 at the Klangvokal Musikfestival in Dortmund under the musical direction of Giacomo Sagripanti, also interpreted the character that same year at the Teatro Comunale in Bologna, with Riccardo Frizza on the podium. In Buenos Aires, she will perform it on August 24, 27, 29 and September 2, in a new production by the Teatro Colón with stage direction by Argentine Rubén Szuchmacher and musical direction by Spanish maestro Ramón Tebar at the helm of the Stable Orchestra of the Argentine coliseum; Stroppa will share the stage with French tenor Jean-François Borras (Werther), Jaquelina Livieri (Sophie), and Alfonso Mujica (Albert), among others.
For Stroppa, who arrives in Argentina after two months of rehearsals and performances at the Teatro San Carlo in Naples for her debut as Sara from Donizetti’s Roberto Devereux, an intense 2025-26 season awaits, highlighting Preziosilla in La forza del destino (Verdi) in her debut at the Opernhaus in Zurich; again Charlotte in her return to ABAO Bilbao Opera; Rosina in Rossini’s Il Barbiere di Siviglia at the Teatro Verdi in Trieste; or Carmen (Bizet) at the Teatro La Fenice in Venice, in addition to commitments yet to be announced.