Contralto Theresa Cardinale
Contralto Theresa Cardinale has performed for over fifteen
years before audiences throughout northern California. Praised
by the San Francisco Chronicle for her "strong mezzo-soprano
voice" and "focused clarity," her career runs a
broad gamut between the opera and concert stage. Miss Cardinale
has been featured with northern California opera companies such
as Oakland, Sacramento, Cinnabar Opera Theatre, Festival and West
Bay Opera.
As a concert soloist, Miss Cardinale has performed major works
with many choral organizations and orchestras in addition to the
Napa Valley Chorale. Highlights include the Brahms Alto Rhapsody
with the San Francisco Chamber Orchestra, the Rossini Stabat Mater
with the San Francisco City Chorus, and the Verdi Requiem with
the Santa Cruz County Symphony.
In 1997 Miss Cardinale performed the Dream of Gerontius by Elgar
at a San Francisco premiere with the San Francisco Choral Society.
Other oratorio credits include the Mozart Requiem; Israel in Egypt,
Judas Maccabeus, and Messiah by Handel; the Petit Mess Solenelle;
J. S. Bach's B minor Mass and St. John Passion; the Magnificats
of J. S. Bach, C. P. E. Bach, and Franz Schubert; Beethoven's
Ninth Symphony; Mendelssohn's Elijah, and Verdi's Requiem.
In the modern vein, she performed 20/20 Blake with the George
Coates Performance Works and John Corigliano's Fern Hill.
In Vienna in 1998 she premiered a new lieder cycle by composer-conductor
Kurt Rapf.
Miss Cardinale received training at San Francisco City College,
San Francisco State University, and the San Francisco Conservatory
of Music. Important teachers included Janet Parlova, Barbara Aurora,
and, in Italy, Maria Louisa Cioni. She was a winner of the Western
Regional Award of the National Association of Teachers of Singing
and in 1994 was a Fulbright finalist.
Miss Cardinale teaches voice for the Napa Valley Music Associates
summer Musicamp and also teaches in San Francisco and Berkeley.
She sings with a girl-group, Three Mezzos, who perform jazz and
music from the swing era.
*2004-11-25*