TIRANA, June 29 – Two of Albania’s best opera singers, Ermonela Jahaj and Inva Mula are sharing the role of Violetta in Verdi’s La Traviata at the Arena di Verona Opera Festival which kicked off on June 17 celebrating the 150th anniversary of the unification of Italy.
The 89th Arena di Verona Festival opened with a new production of Verdi’s La traviata, directed by Hugo de Ana and starring the Albanian soprano, Ermonela Jaho, as Violetta.
Inva Mula, Albania’s most internationally renowened soprano will also perform the Violeta in the same festival. The opera has been scheduled to be perfomed for 9 evenings until August 11. Croatian soprano Lana Kos is also sharing the role with the two Albanian opera singers.
Ermonela Jaho
Born in Albania, Soprano Ermonela Jaho was hailed as a “revelation” by the French musical press after her debut as Violetta in La Traviata at L’Opera de Marseille in December of 2005 and has since gone on to debut at major theaters internationally including the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, the Metropolitan Opera, the Bavarian State Opera, Munich, the Staatsoper Berlin, the Teatro San Carlo in Naples, the Zurich Opera, Opera de Lyon, Cologne Opera and many others. She has gained international recognition as one of the finest interpreters of the role of Violetta to be heard today and has also been praised in roles such as Donizetti’s Anna Bolena, Maria Stuarda, Massenet’s Manon and Thais, Marguerite in Faust and as Cio Cio San in Madama Butterfly.
Ermonela Jaho began her 2010/2011 season as Violetta in La Traviata with the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden on tour in Japan. She opened the 2011 Arena di Verona season in La Traviata and this will also be the role for her debuts at the Staatstheater Stuttgart. Following her first performances of Massenet’s Thais for Opera de Toulon, Jaho made her debut at the Theatre Royale de la Monnaie in Brussels as Mimi. She then appeared in concert at the State Academic Bolshoi Theater and then performed the role of Lui in Turandot at the San Diego Opera. Jaho also made her role debut in the title role of Verdi’s Luisa Miller at the Opera de Lyon. Future engagements include her debuts at the Gran Teatro del Liceo in Barcelona as Marguerite in Faust and at the Vienna State Opera as Violetta.
Inva Mula
Albanian internationally renowned soprano Inva Mula has returned to Albania and is rehearsing to open the new season of the National Theatre of Opera and Ballet with the “Tales of Hoffman” premiere.
Mula, also the opera’s director, will perform three different roles. The opera, scheduled to be staged from on October 1, 3, 5 and 7 will bring Jacques Offenbach’s final opera Les Contes d’Hoffmann (The Tales of Hoffmann) telling three fantastical tales by the writer E.T.A. Hoffmann.
Praised for her superb technique and musicality, Albanian soprano Inva Mula performs a wide range of roles from the lyric, Bel Canto and Mozartian repertoires. She has sung such roles as the title-role of La Traviata, Musetta in La Boh鮥, Antonia in Les Contes d’Hoffmann, Gilda in Rigoletto and Juliet in Romꯠet Juliet throughout Europe and the Americas.
