soprano
Andrea Rost was born in Budapest and graduated from the Ferenc Liszt Academy of Music as a student of Zsolt Bende. She was still a scholarship student of the Hungarian State Opera when she sang Juliette in Gounod’s Roméo and Juliette, directed by Dénes Gulyás. In 1989, she won first prize in one of the most prestigious tournaments in Europe, the Mirjam Helin International Singing Competition.
Right after obtaining her diploma in 1991, she became a soloist in the Wiener Staatsoper, where the audience of Vienna heard her singing in all her major roles: From Zerlina and Adina, to Susanna and Lucia di Lammermoor to the outstanding interpretation of Violetta. Besides opera roles she has also played numerous concerts in Vienna, to a music savvy audience.
Riccardo Muti invited the soprano to La Scala di Milano for the premiere of Rigoletto in 1994. Interpreting Gilda she enjoyed huge international success and she has been a regular guest singer in La Scala ever since. In 1995, she was already a celebrated star when she sang in The Magic Flute for the season-opening premiere at La Scala. These roles were followed in Milano by Susanna of Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro and Violetta in Verdi’s Traviata.
At the Salzburg Festival she interpreted several important roles and worked with widely renowned conductors. She sang the Falcon in Richard Strauss’s Die Frau ohne Schatten under Sir George Solti and she performed Drusilla of Monteverdi’s L’Incoronazione di Poppea with Nikolaus Harnoncourt. In Salzburg she also sang Violetta under Riccardo Muti, and she worked with Claudio Abbado as well, interpreting Xenia in Boris Mussorgsky’s Godunov.
In Paris at L’Opéra Bastille, in addition to Susanna, Gilda and Lucia di Lammermoor she also sang Antonia in Offenbach’s Les Contes d’Hoffmann. In the Royal Opera House in London she made her debut as Susanna in Le Nozze di Figaro, where she also sang Violetta with great success. She interpreted the title role of Donizetti’s Elisabeth at a concert performance, which was also a world premiere. Most recently she has sang the title role in the London premiere of Lucia di Lammermoor.
In March 2002, in Los Angeles, she played the role of Pamina, and later in 2005 in Washington as well. In 2006, Andrea Rost was invited to Madrid to the Teatro Real to sing Blanche in Poulenc’s opera, Les dialogues des Carmélites. She has several times been a guest singer in the US for the Chicago Lyric Opera where she interpreted Zerlina, Gilda, Violetta, Giulietta and Michaela. In 1996, she sang for the first time on the stage of the New York Metropolitan Opera in the role of Adina in Donizetti’s L’Elisir d’Amore, later she also appeared there as Gilda, Lucia, and Violetta. Most recently, in 2006, she sang Susanna at the Metropolitan for Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro. She interpreted Antonia in Les Contes d’Hoffmann at the Washington National Opera, then later sang the same role in Los Angeles.
In 2009-2010, in the Hungarian State Opera, she sang the role of Euridice in L'anima del filosofo, ossia Orfeo ed Euridice, conducted by Ádám Fischer. Making her debut in Puccini’s Madama Butterfly in 2013, in Budapest, was the beginning of a new chapter in the life of Andrea Rost. In September 2013, she performed on the South American continent for the first time in Sao Paulo in Mozart’s Don Giovanni. She interprets the role of Donna Anna in the Hungarian State Opera, in Padova and in Tokyo in the 2014/2015 season. Further roles of the Opera season in Budapest: Nedda (Pagliacci), Margit (Gounod: Faust).
As a concert and song singer she has been the guest of every well-known and significant stage. Not only did she perform at the Wigmoor Hall in London, the Tonhalle in Zurich and the Musikverein of Vienna, she also has appeared on the stage of the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles and the Suntory Hall of Tokyo.
She has also contributed to several CD and DVD recordings. She has proven to be open-minded to new genres when she recently lent her voice to several audio books.
Awards:
• Mihály Székely plaque (2011)
• Béla Bartók Memorial Prize (2006)
• Special Achievement Award (2005)
• Kossuth Prize (2004)
• Prima Primissima Prize (2003)
• Obersovszky plaquette (2003)
• Eminent Artist (1999)
• Company of the Immortals, Eternal Member (1998)
• Franz Liszt Award (1997)
• Honorary citizen of Budapest
• Honorary citizen of Kőbánya
• Honorary citizen of Szolnok
• Honorary citizen of Csepel
• Honorary citizen of Budaörs
