Ailyn Pérez returns to Bayerische Staatsoper to star as Desdemona in Verdi’s final tragic masterpiece, Otello, on March 27 & 30. Amélie Niermeyer’s production features set design by Christian Schmidt and costume design by Annelies Vanlaere, with lighting design by Olaf Winter.
Ms. Pérez shares the stage with a fantastic cast, including Arsen Soghomonyan and Yonghoon Lee in the title role, Gerald Finley as Iago, Evan LeRoy Johnson as Cassio, Granit Musliu as Rodrigo, Bálint Szabó as Lodovico, Daniel Noyola as Montano, Andrew Hamilton as Ein Herold, and Nadezhda Karyazina as Emilia. Edward Gardner conducts.
Ailyn made her role and house debut as Desdemona at the Houston Grand Opera in 2014. Classical Voice North America had much to love about her performance, raving:
“The Chicago-born Pérez commands a winning stage manner, a full mid-range, smooth legato, and steadiness in all registers. Her soprano has enough power for Desdemona’s passionate denials of Otello’s accusations of infidelity in the “Dio ti giocondi” duet, and she easily dispatched the arching fortissimo phrases in the massive ensemble that caps the third act…she delivered the heroine’s valedictory “Willow Song” with tender introspection and a nicely floated A-flat to end the “Ave Maria.”
Houston Grand Opera. Otello. Photographer: Lynn Lane