Monica Groop

Finnish mezzo-soprano Monica Groop´s wide-ranging career is based upon repertory of great music adventurousness. Specialities in non-mainstream music and standard fare have enabled this artist to appear in concert and operatic roles across the world. The Nordic singer´s repertory is a rich and varied mixture of Baroque, solid classical repertoire and modern masters. Monica Groop has performed with many of the major opera companies and orchestras of the world including the Bayrische Staatsoper, Covent Garden, Royal Opera of Stockholm, Los Angeles, Amsterdam, Cologne, Paris and the New York City Opera, the Glyndebourne and the Aix-en-Provence festivals. Orchestra appearances include the Boston Symphony, Chicago Symphony, Cinncinnati Symphony, Dallas Symphony, Houston Symphony, San Francisco Symphony, , London Philharmonic Orchestra, Philharmonia Orchestra, BBC Symphony, Bavarian Radio Orchestra, Dresden Staatskapelle, Leipzig Gewandhausorchester, NDR Radio Orchestra, Orchestre National de France, Rotterdamer Philharmoniker, Wiener Symphoniker, Wiener Philharmoniker, Accademia di Santa Cecilia under such conductors as Carlo Maria Giulini, Bernard Haitink, Zubin Mehta, Seiji Ozawa, Christoph Eschenbach, Herbert Blomstedt, Gary Bertini, Marek Janowski, Armin Jordan, Neeme Järvi, Myung Whun Chung, Franz Welser-Möst, Kent Nagano, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Daniel Harding and the late sir Georg Solti. An accomplished recitalist, Ms Groop has given solo recitals at New York´s Carnegie Hall and Alice Tully Hall, London´s Wigmore Hall and Musikverein in Vienna. In honour of the Schubert bicentenary and the Brahms centenary, she joined András Schiff for three Brahms/Schubert recitals in Austria and an all-Schubert recital at the 1997 Lucerne Festival. She appears regularly with pianists András Schiff, Rudolf Jansen and Roger Vignoles. Monica Groop has received international acclaim as an interpreter of baroque music and has appeared with conductors Ivor Bolton, Franz Brüggen, Eric Ericson, Gottfried von der Goltz, Paul Goodwin, Philippe Herreweghe, Christopher Hogwood, Ton Koopman, Sigiswald Kuijken, Andrew Manze, Trevor Pinnock, Nicholas McGegan, Helmuth Rilling, Peter Schreier and Bruno Weil. Last season Ms. Groop joined the London Symphony Orchestra for the Lincoln Center´s Great Performers Series in a performance of Sibelius “Kullervo” under Sir Colin Davis, which resulted in a live recording for the LSO´s private label. The DVD of Saariaho´s L´amour de loin, in which she performs the much acclaimed role of the Pilgrim, was released in 2006, and was awarded the BBC Music Magazine Jury Award, as well as The Grammophone magazine´s DVD of the month. In the autumn of 2005 Ms. Groop appeared in Musikverein and at the Vatican in Bruckner´s Te Deum for a series of concerts with the Wierner Philharmoniker under maestro Seji Osawa. She also appeared in Köln and Berlin with the Deutsche Symphonie Orchester and Kent Nagano. The year 2006 began with a recording of the Edvard Grieg songs Vol 6 for the BIS label. All 7 volumes are scheduled to be released during the Grieg year of 2007. In February - March 2006 Ms Groop joined the Montreal Opera for Mozart´s “La Clemenza di Tito” in the role of Sesto. In March she gave a recital at the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society to which The Philadelphia Inquirer raved “Finnish mezzo-soprano Monica Groop is a recitalist with so many strengths you wouldn´t know where to start if all roads didn´t lead to a single place: not her intelligence, not her performance savvy or quality of voice, but her artistry. Thanks to sterling preparation and a combination of thought and care for the material at hand, her performance was seamless.” The 2006-2007 season included concerts at the Ittingen festival with pianist András Schiff, a recital for Flanders Festival at Palais de Beaux Arts in Brussels with Rudolf Jansen and several recitals with guitarrist Timo Korhonen. She joined the Royal Opera in Geneva for a production of Cosí fan tutte and the München Philarmonie for concerts of Schubert´s Mass in A flat major. The spring of 2007 includec concerts at the Festival de Gran Canaria(Gurrelieder),a concert with Bayrische Rundfunk Orchester (Haydn´s opera Lo Speziale), the St.Paul Chamber Orchestra ( Das Lied von der Erde) in St. Paul and at the Ojai festival and concerts with the Atlanta Symphony (St. Johns Passion). In the summer of 2007 Ms Groop sang the principal role at the Savonlinna Opera Festival in a newly commissioned opera “Daddys girl” by finnish composer Olli Kortekangas. She has also been chosen as the festival´s “Artist of the Year 2007”. In August 2007 she gave a recital at the the Helsinki Festival with pianist András Schiff. The 2007/8 season has already taken Monica to Amsterdam (Kullervo with NPS), London (recital at LSO St.Lukes) Dortmund (Kullervo) New York (concert with the Lincoln Center Chamber Music Festival) and Philadelphia (recital) for concerts and to Teatro Real in Madrid for the title role in Britten´s ”The rape of Lucretia”. Other engagements this season have included performances with the BBC Symphony Orchestra for Adriana Mater, and Elijah with the Orquesta Nacional de Espana. Looking further into the 2007/8 season, Monica will perform the title role in Adriana Mater with the Santa Fe Opera and will also record a newly commissioned song cycle “The book of Questions” by finnish composer Kalevi Aho (BIS label). Monica Groop made her professional debut as Charlotte in Massenet´s Werther with the Finnish National Opera in 1987, and has been an international mainstay since her London debut at Covent Garden in the highly acclaimed 1991 Wagner-Haitink Ring Cycle. She has sung Cherubino in Le Nozze di Figaro at both Covent Garden and Munich State Opera, Charlotte in Werther at the Royal Opera in Stockholm and received rave reviews for her performance as Mélisande in Peter Sellar´s production of Pèlleas et Mélisande with the Los Angeles Opera, Esa-Pekka Salonen conducting. The New York Times wrote of that performance "Monica Groop was a subtle, affecting Mélisande. The voice was lovely, graceful and intelligently used". Ms Groop has also performed the title role in Carmen with the Royal Opera in Stockholm. A prolific recording artist, Ms Groop has made over fifty recordings. She records for Sony, Decca, Chandos, Harmonia Mundi, CPO, Accent, Ondine and BIS In 2006 she released her fifth and in August 2007 the sixth volume of Grieg songs with pianist Roger Vignoles for the BIS label. All seven volumes will be released during the Grieg year of 2007. Of the Vol 6 The Grammophone magazine praised, “Groop knows precisely how far to take her vocal characterization of the many forlorn lovers and does a nice line in male seducers.” Additionally , the London Symphony Orchestra featured her on its recording of Sibelius “Kullervo” conducted by Sir Colin Davis. “Flamme d´amour”, a solo disc on the Finlandia label, features opera arias by a diverse group of French composers. Her solo disc "Arie amorose" was released in the spring 2001 on the Finlandia label featuring famous baroque arias. The same label released her rendering of Bach Alto Cantatas in 1998. The San Fransisco Chronicle noted about this recording that "Groop´s sound is a marvel, a rich, velvety sonority with a wealth of color informing every note. Even more striking though, is the clarity and forthrightness that she brings to Bach ´s music". June 2008 Date Last Edited: 30th June 2008 Read more on Last.fm. 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