The young Czech coloratura soprano, who has already won many singing competitions and regularly sings the role of Mozart’s Queen of the Night in Prague, became the salvation for a brand new production at the prestigious Belgian Opera House when she literally jumped at a colleague who fell ill with a covid.
The young Czech soprano Lucie Kaňková first came to Liège (Liège) after an audition in front of conductor and music director Speranza Scapucci to do the cover for the roles Philine from the opera Mignon and Donna Anna from the opera Don Giovanni. Suddenly, she found herself on stage in a completely different role of Gilda of Verdi´s Rigoletto: “I recently studied the role of the Guild in the Czech Republic, so I have it freshly in my mind and I went to see the premiere here in Liège previously. What was my surprise when the next day they called me that the Guild’s alternation was ill and I had jump in as soon as possible, “Lucie Kaňková describes the exciting moments. “I only had less than an hour and a half to rehearse with Maestro Daniel Oren, who is the winner of the Karajan Conducting Competition and has collaborated with legends such as Pavarotti, Mirella Freni and Franco Zeffirelli. I didn’t even have sheetnotes of Rigoletto with me. But luckily I remembered everything. The other colleagues, who without exception sing on the best stages in the world, encouraged me, which gave me a lot of strength. “
In the performance of March 6, Rigoletto was sung by Sebastian Catana, who performs in MET, Covent Garden, at the Salzburg Festival, the Duke was Giuseppe Gipali, winner of the 2nd Prize of Operalia Plácida Dominga and regular guest of the stages in Milan, Barcelona, Paris, Verona and San Francisco. Rigoletto’s alternative in this production is the famous Amartuvshin Enkhbat, who also sings Rigoletto in Scale, as well as Gildi Enkeleda’s Kamani.
“I feel like in a dream, the whole team here is great. So far, I have known the Liege Opera mainly from TV broadcasts on TV Mezzo, Nadine Sierra had a recital here last week, Aleksandra Kurzak and Roberto Alagna two months earlier, and I applauded them from a distance and suddenly I was on stage. The management of the theater liked my performance, as well as the audience, which called bravo and rewarded us with standing ovations, “describes Lucie.
The Royal de Wallonie Opera engaged a young Czech soprano for two performances: on March 6 and 10. Unexpected outbursts take place in the opera world and belong to it, and legends often come with them. He wishes the opportunity ready.
Soprano Lucie Kaňková is the winner of many singing awards. She graduated from the Academy of Music in Bern and Lucerne in Switzerland. Since 2018, she has performed on Czech and foreign opera stages, where she has played the roles of Violetta in La Traviata, Susanna in Figaro’s Wedding, the role of Poppea in the opera Coronation Poppea, Fiordiligi in Così fan tutte and Barče in Smetana’s opera The Kiss. This year’s opera season began with La Traviata in Chisinau, Moldova, live TV broadcast and debuted as Queen of the Night in Prague. This year she made her debut as Guild in Verdi’s Rigoletto. Next artistic commitments are the covers of Donna Anna and Philine in Liège, Belgium, and in the summer Queen of the Night at the Swiss festival in Munot and at the Znojmo Music Festival in Haydn’s opera Return of Tobias in the role of Rafaelle.
Speranza Scapucci introduced herself as the first woman maestro at La Scala in Milan this season and she will conduct productions at the ROH Covent Garden, Zurich, Berlin and next season the new production of Rigoletto at the Metropolitan Opera in New York.
