PROGRAMME

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756–1791)

Duet of Ferrando and Guglielmo Secondate, aurette amiche / Blow, friendly breezes – from the opera Così fan tutte

Donna Elvira’s aria Ah, chi mi dice mai / Ah, who could tell me – from the opera Don Giovanni

Duet of Dorabella and Guglielmo Il core vi dono / I give you my heart

Ferrando’s cavatina Tradito, schernito / Betrayed, mocked

from the opera Così fan tutte

Count’s recitative and aria Hai già vinta la causa!… Vedrò, mentr’io sospiro / You have already won the case!… I shall see, while I sigh

Duettino of Susanna and the Count Crudel! Perché finora / Cruel one! Why only now?

from the opera The Marriage of Figaro

Don Giovanni’s canzonetta Deh vieni alla finestra / Oh, come to the window

Duettino of Zerlina and Don Giovanni Là ci darem la mano / There we shall give each other our hands

from the opera Don Giovanni

Georges Bizet (1838–1875)

Carmen’s Habanera L’amour est un oiseau rebelle / Love is a rebellious bird – from the opera Carmen

Charles Gounod (1818–1893)

Faust’s cavatina Salut! demeure chaste et pure / Hail, dwelling chaste and pure – from the opera Faust

Giacomo Puccini (1858–1924)

Duet of Rodolfo and Marcello O Mimì, tu più non torni / Oh Mimì, you will not return – from the opera La bohème

Pietro Mascagni (1863–1945)

Santuzza’s aria Voi lo sapete, o mamma / You know it, mother – from the opera Cavalleria rusticana

Giuseppe Verdi (1813–1901)

Duke’s canzone Questa o quella / This one or that one – from the opera Rigoletto

Rodrigo’s romance Carlo, ch’è sol il nostro amore / Carlo, for only our love…

Duet of Don Carlo and Rodrigo Dio, che nell’alma infondere / God, who infused into our souls

from the opera Don Carlo

Alfredo and Violetta’s brindisi Libiamo ne’ lieti calici / Let us drink from the joyful cups – from the opera La Traviata

KARMEN PUIS graduated from the Heino Eller Music School (1993, teacher A. Kõiv) and the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre (1997, teacher T. Levald), where she also obtained her master’s degree (2005, cum laude, Prof. J. Ryhänen). Since 1997, Puis has been singing as an opera and operetta soloist at the Vanemuine Theatre. She has worked as a choir singer and soloist with the Estonian Radio Choir. Puis has performed solo parts in numerous large-scale works and has given solo concerts in several Estonian cities in collaboration with pianist J. Rand-Sirp. She has a long-standing collaboration with organist A. Humal, with whom she has performed in various churches in Estonia, particularly at Tartu St. Paul’s Church. At the Vanemuine Theatre, Puis has created more than 60 stage roles, including Donna Elvira, Dorabella and Countess Almaviva (Mozart’s Don Giovanni, Così fan tutte, The Marriage of Figaro), Brangäne (Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde), Concepción (Ravel’s L’heure espagnole), Galatea (Handel’s Acis and Galatea), Solveig/Anitra (Grieg’s Peer Gynt), Elisabetta (Donizetti’s Maria Stuarda), Tatiana (Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin), Charlotte (Massenet’s Werther), Catharina Vycken (Tubin’s The Parson of Reigi), Liina (Aints’ Rehepapp), Hanna Glawari (Lehár’s The Merry Widow), Countess Zedlau (Strauss’s Wiener Blut), Hodel (Bock’s Fiddler on the Roof), Abbess (Rodgers/Hammerstein’s The Sound of Music) and many others. She has received a Wagner Society scholarship (2006), the Vanemuine Theatre EMT Music Award (2007), the Georg Ots Prize (2010), Vanemuine of the Year (2011) and the Estonian Theatre Union Annual Award (2012, in the music theatre category). Since 2004, Karmen Puis has been a teacher in the vocal department at the Heino Eller Music School.

RAFAEL DICENTA was born in Madrid. He studied singing at the conservatories of Madrid and Córdoba. His teachers have included Amable Díaz, Valle Duque and Don Carlos Hacar. He has sung in various chamber opera projects, lied recitals and oratorio performances in Spain, Italy and Austria. From 2012 to 2020, he lived in Vienna, and since autumn 2020, Dicenta has sung in the choir of the Estonian National Opera. He has also performed several solo roles in various Estonian National Opera productions. From the new season, Rafael Dicenta works as a soloist at the Estonian National Opera.

AARE SAAL is one of Estonia’s distinguished baritones. He graduated from the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre with a degree in opera singing (I. Kuusk, V. Noreika, J. Ryhänen) and furthered his studies at masterclasses with G. Bechi and R. Panerai in Italy. Saal won first prize at the international competition “Voices of Rossini and Donizetti” (1996, Italy) and was awarded the Georg Ots Prize (1997). He made his debut at the Estonian National Opera in the leading role of Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro (1989). He has performed more than 40 opera and operetta roles in productions at the Estonian National Opera and Vanemuine Theatre, as well as at the Latvian National Opera, Lithuanian National Opera and Ballet Theatre, Teatro Comunale di Firenze, Dramatiska Ensemble in Stockholm and Malmö Opera and Music Theatre. His most important roles include the title roles in Verdi’s Nabucco, Mozart’s Don Giovanni, Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin and Verdi’s Rigoletto, as well as Figaro (Rossini’s The Barber of Seville), Escamillo (Bizet’s Carmen), Belcore (Donizetti’s The Elixir of Love), Verdi roles Don Carlo (Ernani), Rodrigo (Don Carlo), Renato (Un ballo in maschera) and Amonasro (Aida), Yeletsky (Tchaikovsky’s The Queen of Spades), Valentin (Gounod’s Faust), Count Almaviva (Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro), Dandini (Rossini’s Cinderella), Marcello (Puccini’s La bohème), Edwin (Kálmán’s Die Csárdásfürstin), Achillas (Handel’s Julius Caesar), Third Guest and US Soldier (Tüür’s Wallenberg), Severo (Donizetti’s Poliuto) and many others. Saal’s repertoire includes a wide selection of solo programmes featuring Estonian, Russian and Italian music. He has also worked as a vocal teacher at Tallinn Music and Ballet School and as a tutor at the Rapla International Summer Academy for Singers. Aare Saal is a scholarship holder of Music Trust PLMF.

Pianist and singer KATRIN LEHISMETS graduated in piano from Haapsalu Children’s Music School and the Georg Ots Tallinn Music School. She continued her piano studies at the Tallinn Conservatory from 1989 to 1991. In 1995, she graduated from the Estonian Academy of Music with a degree in singing. In 1999, Lehismets obtained a master’s degree in the same field, cum laude, at the Mozarteum University Salzburg. She furthered her studies in 1992 at the Hanns Eisler School of Music in Berlin and, since 2014, with Michèle Crider. Already during her studies, Lehismets worked as a répétiteur and accompanist. As a singer, she made her debut in 1998 at Prague’s Estates Theatre in the role of Zerlina in Mozart’s Don Giovanni. Lehismets has been a soloist at the Prague State Opera, a répétiteur at the Salzburg Landestheater, as well as music director and soloist, a soloist, répétiteur and orchestral pianist at Landestheater Niederbayern, and a singer, actress, pianist and music director at Theater Offensive in Salzburg. As an actress, she has also worked at Varius Theatre. As a répétiteur, Lehismets has worked at the Salzburg Festival, the International Summer Academy of the Mozarteum, the Eva Lind Academy and Grace Bumbry’s private studio, and has accompanied masterclasses by prominent opera singers including J. Kaufmann and S. Jo. Since 2012, Lehismets has worked at the Mozarteum University Salzburg as a répétiteur and vocal coach. Her concert career has taken her to almost every European country, as well as America, Canada, Cyprus, the Philippines and Egypt. She has performed at numerous international festivals, including Saaremaa Opera Days, Solothurn Classics, Prague Spring, Festival Internazionale di Musica Antica e Contemporanea Torino, Trieste Prima, Mezinárodní hudební festival Brno, International Music Festival Santanyí and, on several occasions, Aspekte Salzburg.