Simona Houda-Šaturová

Simona Šaturová was born in Bratislava (Slovakia). She was only five when she was given her first violin lesson. She studied singing at the Bratislava Conservatory and attended various master classes, most notably with the Romanian soprano singer Ileana Cortrubas and Margreet Honig. She was awarded the “Thalia Prize” for the best vocal performance of the year 2001 as Giulietta in Bellini’s I Capuleti e i Montecchi and the “Förderpreis der Walter und Charlotte Hamel-Stiftung” (Walter and Charlotte Hamel Foundation prize) at the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival in August 2007. Besides her numerous appearances at the National Theatre Prague (Gilda, Konstanze, Pamina, Susanna,..) and State Opera (Adele, Rosina), the soprano singer has also performed on the stages of the Teatro Colón (Buenos Aires), the Théâtre du Châtelet Paris, Opéra de Monte Carlo and the Megaron in Athens. She is a popular guest performer at the Théâtre de la Monnaie (Ilia, Sandrina) in Brussels and the Oper Frankfurt (Lucia, Madama Cortese, Pamina, Oscar). Simona Šaturová has also earned an international reputation as a concert and oratorio singer. She made her debut at the Salzburg Festival in 2006, and in the same year sang the soprano part in Mahler’s 2nd Symphony under Christoph Eschenbach on the occasion of the reopening of the famous Salle Pleyel in Paris. As a result of her spectacular performance, the Philadelphia Orchestra immediately invited her to appear at concerts in Philadelphia and New York’s Carnegie Hall. The live recording of these concerts was released by Ondine in February 2009 and in May featured on the Quarterly Critics’ Choice (“Bestenliste”) of the German Record Critics. Other recent engagements of importance, besides Elias Tour with Thomas Quasthoff include Mega-concert of „Symphony of a Thousand“ in occassion of hundredth anniversary of the death of Gustav Mahler, performed in front of 17 thousand listeners in Prague, Hamburg and Hannover in May 2011. Conductors with whom the soprano singer has worked include Christoph Eschenbach, Sir Neville Marriner, Adam Fischer, Ivan Fischer, Manfred Honeck, Leopold Hager, Helmuth Rilling, Sylvain Cambreling, Gennadij Rožděstvenskij, Jiří Bělohlávek, Tomáš Netopil, John Fiore, Rolf Beck nebo Martin Haselböck and others. In June 2009 the label Orfeo released her first solo recording „Haydn Arias“. „She demonstrates her prowess with Haydn’s allegedly simple melodies: The listener hears a crystal clear and consistently expressive voice with a fine dynamic range, even when singing coloraturas and high notes.” (Der Kulturspiegel 7/2009). This CD was labelled “Editor’s Choice” by Gramophone Magazine. Her latest recording „Gloria” includes Advent and Christmas music including outstanding Tarquinio Merula’s Virgin’s Lullaby framed by Zbyněk Matějů composition Ad Te Domine. Pavel Kašpar Paul Kaspar studied with Prof. Rudolf Macudzinski in Bratislava, Prof. Frantisek Rauch in Prague and finished his studies with Prof. Ludwig Hoffmann in Munich. He has worked with several conductors such as Petr Altrichter, Jiri Kout, Jan Kucera, Libor Pesek, Rastislav Stur, Jan Talich, Allessndro Crudele, Charles Olivieri Munroe, Fan Tao, Heiko Mathias Förster, Dirk Kaftan, Nicola Giuliani, Rui Massena, Allesandro Murzi, Roberto Paternostro, Mladen Tarbuk, Enrico Batiz and Fahrettin Kerimov. His numerous concert appearances around the globe brought him together with notable symphonic orchestras. The prominent German composer Roman Leistner-Mayer dedicated his Piano Concerto to Kaspar, which he premiered in 2001 and which was recorded by the Bayerischer Rundfunk. With the Prazak Quartet he premiered the Piano Quintet by Czech composer Otomar Kvech at the Prague Rudolfinum. Paul Kaspar has recorded for numerous broadcast stations, such as the Bayerischer Rundfunk, Hessischer Rundfunk, Norddeutscher Rundfunk, Südwestfunk, Radio Bremen, RAI, Czech Radio, and others. The Czech pianist regularly appears all over Europe, Israel, Turkey, China, Mexico, U.S.A. and Canada. Reviews: Simona Houda-Šaturová, Za slzy sa nehanbime! Dvojitá dávka: Simona Šaturová v Bratislavě