Tamara Gura

American mezzo-soprano TAMARA GURA is capturing international attention for her "velvet-toned mezzo" Opera Magazine, her "dazzling coloratura" Süddeutsche Zeitung and her "deeply emotional singing" Opernwelt - "a true stage animal" Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. Her varied and extensive repertoire encompasses leading baroque, bel canto, and Mozart roles, as well as French romantic roles and contemporary operas. Engagements have already taken her to some of the most prestigious opera houses including the Staatsoper Hamburg, Semperoper Dresden, Opernhaus Zürich, Oper Frankfurt, English National Opera London, the Händel Festspiele Karlsruhe, Teatro dell'Opera di Roma, Gran Teatre Liceu Barcelona, New National Theater Tokyo, Salzburg Haus für Mozart, Aalto-Theater Essen, Munich Cuvilliés Theater, Amsterdam Festival, Dresden Festspiele in leading roles such as Carmen, Isabella, Adalgisa, Händel‘s Ariodante, Piacere, Sesto (“Giulio Cesare”), Radamisto, Orfeo, Orlofsky, Cenerentola, Pauline, Dorabella, Rosina, and Hermia. She joined the roster of the Metropolitan Opera for the first time in 2020 to cover the role of Nerone in “Agrippina”. Recent engagements include Hermia in Frankfurt and Orlofsky in Hamburg and Tokyo.

Projects for 2022-24 include her debut at the Oper Frankfurt as Hermia in a new production of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” with staging by Brigitte Fassbaender, Orlofsky at the Staatsoper Hamburg and New National Theater Tokyo, Komponist at the Teatro Colón in Argentina, her debut in France at the Opéra de Toulon as Orlofsky in “Die Fledermaus”, a Händel solo CD recording with period instruments, Isabella in “L’italiana in Algeri” in Innsbruck under the baton of Kerem Hasán, Lidoria in “Asrael” in Bonn (staging: Christopher Alden), a tour of “Alcina” (Staging: Nikolaus Habjan) in Germany, Switzerland, and Vienna, Mahler 3 in Bangkok, Verdi Requiem with the Buffalo Philharmonic under the baton of JoAnn Falletta, Hermia in a new production for Des Moines Metro Opera´s 50th Gala season.

Projects for 2020/21 (some canceled due to COVID-19) included a return to the roster of the Metropolitan Opera for their production of “Giulio Cesare” (covering the role of Sesto), Hermia at the New National Theater in Tokyo in David McVicar’s production of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”, a role debut as Gismonda in Händel’s “Ottone” in an Innsbruck Alte Musik Festival production for the Händel Festival Göttingen and the Händel Festival Halle, and a return to the role of Angelina in “La cenerentola”.

In January 2020, she joined the roster of the Metropolitan Opera for their new production of „Agrippina“ (covering the role of Nerone). Recent highlights include Sesto in “Giulio Cesare” at the Semperoper Dresden, the title role in Ariodante at the Aalto-Theater Essen under the musical direction of Christopher Moulds and Matthew Halls. For this role, she was named as best singer by the reviewer Christoph Zimmermann in the prestigious german publication Die Welt.

She has worked with conductors such as Nello Santi, James Conlon, Simone Young, Ingo Metzmacher, Stefan Soltesz, Leo Hussain, Marcus Bosch, Alejo Perez, Vladimir Fedoseyev, as well as baroque specialists such as Matthew Halls, Alessandro DeMarchi, Christian Curnyn, Christopher Moulds, Alan Curtis. She has also worked with stage directors such as Christof Loy, Brigitte Fassbaender, Christopher Alden, Grischa Asagaroff, Paul Curran, Peter Konwitschny, and Uwe Eric Laufenberg.

Additional highlights (2015-19) included the title role in “La cenerentola” at the Cuvilliés Theater in Munich under the stage direction of Brigitte Fassbender, her debut at the Liceu in Barcelona in “Il Viaggio a Reims”, the title role in “Carmen“ at the Aalto-Theater Essen as well as the Staatstheater Wiesbaden. (This production was nominated for best production by Opernwelt),  Hermia in “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” Teatro dell’opera di Roma (Conductor: James Conlon, Staging: Paul Curran), a much-praised role debut as Isabella in "L'Italiana in Algeri" at the Deutsches National Theater Weimar, in a new production by Tobias Kratzer, a return to Teatro dell'opera di Roma as Gymnasiast in William Kentridge's "Lulu", Dorabella in a new production of "Così fan tutte" at the Central City Opera Festival in Colorado, Maddalena in “Rigoletto” in a new production by Amélie Niermeyer in Salzburg, a role debut as Bradamante in Händel’s “Alcina" at Opernhaus Bern, as well as a further successful role debut as Adalgisa in "Norma" at the Staatstheater Wiesbaden. Concert performances included a return to the role of Carmen in New York with the Buffalo Philharmonic under the baton of JoAnn Falletta, concerts with musicians of the Munich Philharmonic, a gala concert in Seoul with Sugi Opera, and a concert of Mozart concert arias in London's Cadogan Hall with Christian Zacharias leading the English Chamber Orchestra and broadcast live for BBC Radio 3.

Further highlights include:

• Rosina in “Il Barbiere di Siviglia” Semperoper Dresden

• Orfeo in “Orfeo ed Euridice” Antwerp, Staatstheater Wiesbaden

• Hermia in “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” English National Opera London

• Radamisto in “Radamisto”- Händel Festpiele Karlsruhe 

• Sesto in “Giulio Cesare” Staatsoper Hamburg

• Zemlinsky concerts Spoleto Festival Italy (Conductor: James Conlon)

• Tangia in “Le Cinesi” (Il Complesso Barocco, Alan Curtis)

• Vagaus in “Juditha Triumphans” (Conductor: George Petrou)

• Magdalena in “La Resurrezione” (Combattimento Consort, Jan Wilhelm de Vriend)

• Piacere in “Il Trionfo del Tempo e del disinganno” (Händel Festspiele Karlsruhe)

• Nicklausse in "Les contes d'Hoffmann" and Donna Elvira in Salzburg with the Mozarteum Orchestra

• Annio in “La Clemenza di Tito“ Staatsoper Hamburg

• Pauline in “Pique Dame” Staatsoper Hamburg

• Nancy in “Albert Herring” Opernhaus Zürich

• Title role in “Ariodante” Mozarteum Orchestra Salzburg (conductor: Christian Curnyn)

At the Staatsoper Hamburg (as a member of the Opera Studio and subsequently as a guest), she sang roles such as Sesto, Annio, Pauline, Zaida in Christof Loy's "Il Turco in Italia", Amore/Valletto in "L'incoronazione di Poppea", Blumenmädchen, and Gymnasiast in Peter Konwitschny's new production of "Lulu"- a role she repeated for the De Nederlandse Oper. She was a resident soloist at the Badisches Staatstheater in Karlsruhe, Germany, where she interpreted roles such as Idamante, Dorabella, Cherubino, Radamisto, Rosina, Orlofsky, Sesto, Zerlina, Hänsel, Wellgunde, and Bersi. She received particular acclaim for her command of baroque style in the title role in Handel's “Radamisto” at the Karlsruhe Händel Festival. 

Tamara was born in the USA to a family of Polish, Italian descent. From early childhood she had lessons in dance (tap,jazz, ballet), voice, piano and theater. Tamara received her musical training in the USA. She was the winner of a Metropolitan Opera National Council Award, a Semans Art Fund Grant for Foreign Study in Salzburg and was chosen by Eva Wagner-Pasquier to be part of the Académie européenne de musique in Aix-en-Provence. She speaks english, german, italian, and french fluently.