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The Estonian soprano, Maria Valdmaa, originally studied Estonian Linguistics and Literature at Tallinn University, before continuing her education at the Royal Conservatory in Den Haag, where she received Bachelor's (2006-2010) and Master’s degrees in Early Music and Historical Performance Practice. At the conservatory, she studied with Barbara Pearson, as well as leading specialists in historically informed performance including Jill Feldman, Michael Chance and Peter Kooy. She currently studies with American bass-baritone Vitali Rozynko. In 2014, she won the Michael Oliver Prize and the Audience Prize (Michael Normington Prize) at the Handel Singing Competition, London, and in 2013 won second prize in the Premio Fatima Terzo baroque singing competition in Vicenza, Italy.
Maria Valdmaa has received wide acclaim as an interpreter of both early and contemporary music. She performs regularly across Europe and the USA, and has also appeared in China and South Korea. The leading Estonian arts journal Sirp praised her voice as ‘exceptionally beautiful’. She performed the role of Iris in George Frideric Handel's Semele under the direction of Laurence Cummings, J.S. Bach's Magnificat (BWV 243) with Le Concert Lorrain, Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 4, and Haydn’s Scena di Berenice with Riga Sinfonietta and Tõnu Kaljuste. As a consort singer, she has worked with ensembles including Il Gardellino (Director: Marcel Ponseele), Dunedin Consort (Director: John Butt), Vox Luminis (Director: Lionel Meunier), Nederlands Kamerkoor (Director: Peter Dijkstra), Le Concert Étranger (Director: Itay Jedlin), Collegium 1704 (Director: Václav Luks) and Huelgas Ensemble.
Maria Valdmaa has also performed J.S. Bach's cantata Weichet nur, betrübte Schatten (BWV 202) with Thomas Zehetmair and Estonian National Symphony Orchestra, Arvo Pärt’s Stabat Mater and Sarah was 90 years Old with Goeyvaerts Trio, Knabenstimme in Felix Mendelssohn's Elijah with the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra and Marcus Creed, G.F. Handel's Israel in Egypt with Het Residentie Orkest Den Haag under Richard Egarr, as well with Concerto Copenhagen and Lars Ulrik Mortensen.
Maria Valdmaa is closely associated with the music of Arvo Pärt. Maria worked closely with Arvo Pärt during the production of Adam’s Passion, with director Robert Wilson, and is regularly invited to perform at the Pärt Days festival in Tallinn, led by Tõnu Kaljuste.
On the opera stage, audiences and critics alike have praised her ‘flawless technique and exquisite musical taste’ (Sirp on The Enlightened Disciple of Darkness) and on her ‘comic charm’ (Bachtrack on Semele, London Handel Festival). Her roles include Minna Bertschneider in the premiere of Dominy Clements’ The Enlightened Disciple of Darkness, staged by Giuseppe Frigeni, Angelica (G.F. Handel’s Orlando), Clori (G.F. Handel’s Clori, Tirsi e Fileno), Zerlina (W.A. Mozart's Don Giovanni - Opera2Day), Euridice (Peri’s Euridice with Christina Pluhar) and Gasparina (Haydn’s La Canterina with Sigiswald Kuijken).
Recent engagements include W.A. Mozart’s Requiem with Hong Kong Sinfonietta and Kaspars Putniņš, Monteverdi’s Vespers with Dunedin Consort and John Butt, J.S. Bach's Matthew Passion (BWV 244) with Nederlandse Bachvereniging and Philippe Herreweghe, Arvo Pärt’s Adam’s Passion with Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir, Tallinn Chamber Orchestra and Tõnu Kaljuste, G.F. Handel's Saeviat Tellus in Haapsalu Early Music Festival.
Maria Valdmaa has recorded J.S. Bach's John Passion (BWV 245) with Nederlandse Bachvereniging and Jos van Veldhoven for their All of Bach series. |
