Esther Tonea, soprano
The San Francisco Chronicle praised Romanian-American soprano Esther Tonea for her “powerful, gleaming tone, effortless precision and expressive immediacy” in her rendition of Imogene’s mad scene from Bellini’s Il pirata, where she displayed the “sublime assurance of an established diva.” This season she sings her first performances of Iolanta with Russian Chamber Arts Society and Juliette in Roméo et Juliette with Bel Cantanti Opera, both in Washington, D. C. She also joins the City Choir of Washington for Haydn’s Creation, the Santa Rosa Symphony for Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 and the world premiere by Jonathan Leshnoff, and returns to Richmond Symphony and Richmond Ballet for performances of Carmina Burana. Last season, she joined Atlanta Opera for Heggie’s Another Sunrise, and Richmond Symphony and Richmond Ballet for performances of Carmina Burana, and Wolf Trap Opera as a Filene Artist for the title role of Semele.
While in her Adler tenure at San Francisco Opera, she performed the roles of Sister Antoine in Dialogues des Carmélites and Flower in Dream of the Red Chamber, while also being responsible for leading roles such as Tatyana in Eugene Onegin, Blanche de la Force in Dialogues des Carmélites, Fiordiligi in Così fan tutte, and Marzelline in Fidelio. She has also performed excerpts from Turandot (Liù), Ariadne auf Naxos (Prima Donna), Idomeneo (Elettra), Don Giovanni (Donna Anna), Roméo et Juliette (Juliette), and Il pirata (Imogene) with the San Francisco Opera and Metropolitan Opera orchestras.
A frequent collaborator with composer-librettist duo Jake Heggie and Gene Scheer, Tonea premiered the role of Diana in If I Were You with the Merola Opera Program and workshopped Intelligence as Callie Van Lew with Houston Grand Opera. She has performed Fiordiligi with “gleaming tones and impeccable dynamic control” and continues to sing Mozart heroines such as Donna Anna and Contessa. On the concert stage, Tonea has appeared as soprano soloist in Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 and Symphony No. 4, Janáček’s Glagolitic Mass, Haydn’s The Creation and Missa in Angustiis, Mozart’s Requiem, and Saint-Saëns’ Christmas Oratorio.
Ms. Tonea is a 2022 winner of the Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition, 2024 Finalist in the Elizabeth Connell Prize at Wigmore Hall, Concurso Tenor Viñas Semifinalist, and Giulio Gari Grant Award Winner, a Presser Scholar, and recipient of the Richard F. Gold Career Grant. She is a recent graduate of San Francisco Opera’s Adler Program. She holds a Master of Music in Voice from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and Bachelor of Music degrees in Vocal Performance and Cello Performance from the University of Georgia.