Friday, April 16, 2010

James Valenti: Break-Through Star


Photo credit: Dario Acosta

A big congratulations to tenor James Valenti today!

James, who will be gracing our stage as Pinkerton in next month's production of Madama Butterfly, is the winner of this year's very prestigious Richard Tucker award. How prestigious is it? It is undoubtedly considered to be the "Heisman Trophy of Opera."

Not only did James receive the $30,000 prize but he now has the distinction of being THE singer on the verge of a major international opera career.

James shares the honour with past winners Renée Fleming, Deborah Voight, Stephanie Blythe, David Daniels, Joyce DiDonato, Matthew Polenzani and Lawrence Brownlee.

Not bad for the 32 year old who just made his Metropolitan Opera debut a couple of weeks ago, singing the role of Alfredo in La Traviata. James will be making his Royal Opera House debut in July and Paris Opera debut in September, singing the role of Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly.

But you can catch James singing Pinkerton on our stage first and see for yourself a star on the verge.

~ Ling Chan

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