Legends in the Limelight
Featuring Csilla Boross, soprano
Pittsburgh Festival Opera welcomes some of the world’s most powerhouse voices for intimate concerts that bring opera to life for audiences right here in Pittsburgh.
SHOWTIME
Tuesday, September 24 | 7:30 pm
Carnegie Free Library and Music Hall, Carnegie
This performance has passed.
This performance is generously underwritten by Kerry Bron and Robert Levin.
About the Legend
“Hungarian Soprano Csilla Boross, in her company debut, and one standout, is riveting in the role of Nabucco’s fiery daughter Abigaille, her agile and full-throated voice mated to an electrifying stage presence. Certainly, Boross is a name to remember.”
—Broad Street Review from Opera Philadelphia’s Nabucco by Steven Cohen
Hungarian born soprano, Csilla Boross, is one of the world’s leading dramatic sopranos today. She has appeared with major opera houses around the globe including The Metropolitan Opera, Hungarian State Opera, Teatro dell’opera Rome, Teatro Regio Torino, Teatro Massimo Palermo, Raveena, Washington National Opera, Pittsburgh Opera, Opera Philadelphia, Palm Beach Opera, Opéra National de Lyon, Opéra de Marseille, Chorégies d’Orange, Savonlinna Opera Festival, New National Theatre, Tokyo, Janácek Opera Brno, Czech Republic, Macao International Music Festival, and Festival Castell de Peralada – just to name a few.
She is well-known for her iconic role of Abigaille from Verdi’s Nabucco, with which she exploded into international recognition.
Her repertoire of roles is vast. She is a Verdi specialist, but also embraces the lirico spinto and dramatic coloratura roles. She sings roles such as Violetta from La Traviata, Amelia from Ballo in Maschera, Amerlia from Simon Boccanegra, Lady Macbeth from Macbeth, Adia from Adia, Lucrezia Contarini from I due Foscari, and Puccini’s great roles such as Tosca and Madame Butterfly, Manon from Manon Lescaut, Georgetta from II Tabarro, Sister Angelica from Suor Angelica, and Minni from La Fanciulla del West. Other notable roles include Gioconda from Ponchielli’s Gioconda, Tatiana from Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin, Venus and Elisabette from Tannhäuser, and Queen Elisabeth from Donizetti’s Maria Staurda.
Recently she sang Madame Butterfly and Tosca at the Hungarian State Opera, Tosca and Nabucco at the National Theatre in Brno, and Madame Butterfly in Prague, all to the highest acclaim.
The 2022-23 season started with a very interesting political debut of Tosca in Budapest which was followed by Abigalle and Tosca in Brno, Cio-Cio-San in Prague, then another Tosca at the Stockholm Royal Operahouse (Kungliga Operan), Abigalle in Marseille, and Butterfly in Budapest.
The 2023-24 season began with Nabucco in Brno, followed by Verdi’s Attila in Marseille. A role debut as Milada in Smetana’s Dalibor was sung to critical acclaim in Brno, Czech Republic. The season ended with a new production of Butterfly in Bratislava and Dalibor at the prestigious Smetanova Festival Litomyšl.
Season 2024-25 starts with Ms. Boross singing the title role of Adriana in Cilea’s Adriana Lecouvreur with Pittsburgh Festival Opera. She will also sing the title roles of Aida, Nabucci, Madame Butterfly, Tosca, Macbeth, Dalibor and a role debut of Turandot.
In 2010 she was awarded the highest cultural award in the field of opera, the Thalia Award, for her outstanding performance of Madame Butterfly. That same year, she received the professional Diva Prize from the National Theatre in Brno. In 2014 she was awarded the Green Room Award for her portrayal of Amelia in Un Ball in Maschera with the Victorian Opera in Melbourne Australia. In 2016 she was given The Hungarian Order of Merit Knight’s Cross in Budapest.