–One of the most important mezzosopranos on the international scene returns to the ABAO Bilbao Opera season after her last performance in the Basque capital in 2016. She will now offer her vision of Massenet’s iconic character, which she sang at the Colón in Buenos Aires this past August.
Italian mezzosoprano Annalisa Stroppa returns to the ABAO Bilbao Opera season “with great excitement,” she says, after a decade-long absence. And she does so with one of her “most beloved” roles, that of Charlotte from Massenet’s Werther, which she has performed in Dortmund, at the Comunale in Bologna, and, most recently, this past August, upon her return to the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires. Stroppa made her debut before the Bilbao audience at the Arriaga Theatre early in her career, in 2012, with La Canterina (Haydn) and Der Schauspieldirektor (Mozart); a few years later, in 2016, she appeared in the ABAO Bilbao Opera season with her iconic Rosina in Il Barbiere di Siviglia.
“Charlotte is a role in which I see myself reflected and which I longed to sing for years; having it in my repertoire now is a tremendous joy,” confesses the Italian mezzosoprano. “I fell in love with this sweet, honest, and sensitive character almost at the start of my career; from an acting perspective, she evolves throughout the entire opera, allowing you to express all her feelings and emotional changes, something the composer masterfully imbues in the singing. Charlotte, trapped and torn between the passionate love she could live with Werther and her promise to marry the pragmatic Albert—following the social rules of the time—chooses duty over her happiness. This internal struggle, representative of the Romantic ideal, condemns her to a life of sadness and resignation. It is thrilling to step into her skin and experience this entire dramatic arc firsthand. On the other hand, Massenet’s music, of incredible beauty and modernity, requires intense and special dedication. The voice is just another instrument within his symphonic conception. Achieving that flow is an effort that, once overcome, is immensely enjoyable. I recently sang it at the Colón in Buenos Aires, so her psychology and feelings are very much on the surface for me. After many years of study and nearly fifteen years on stage, being able to sing Charlotte symbolizes my current life moment: a career I live as a dream come true, a happy dedication to music where every goal, with much work, affection, and continuous dedication, is achieved.”
In Bilbao, Stroppa will perform Charlotte in a production from the Teatro Comunale di Bologna, which she herself sang in 2024, with stage direction by Rosetta Cucchi and under the musical direction of Maestro Carlo Montanaro leading the Bilbao Orkestra Sinfonikoa. With performances on January 17, 20, 23, and 26, the Italian singer will share the stage with Celso Albelo as Werther and Àngel Òdena as Albert, among others.
With a career that has taken her to the most important stages of the international opera scene, this season Annalisa Stroppa has performed, in addition to Charlotte in Buenos Aires, Sara in Roberto Devereux at the Teatro San Carlo in Naples, Preziosilla in La Forza del Destino for her debut at the Zürich Opernhaus, and Rosina in Il Barbiere di Siviglia at the Teatro Verdi in Trieste. Following her engagement in Bilbao, she will perform at the theatres of Modena, Piacenza, Ravenna, and at La Fenice in Venice to sing the title role in Bizet’s Carmen—another role that has opened the doors of great international theatres for her. In the summer, she will return to the Arena di Verona to sing Fenena in Nabucco and will begin the 2026/2027 season in October as Nicklausse in Les Contes d’Hoffmann at the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires.