Brazilian alto Kismara Pessatti studied acting and voice in her native city of Curitiba before undertaking vocal studies with Norma Sharp and Julia Varady in Berlin. She subsequently took master classes with Thomas Hampson, Reri Grist, and Francisco Araiza, among others. In 2003 she became a member of Zurich Opera House Studio and in 2005 joined the company’s ensemble. During her three-year engagement there, she performed in such operas as Mozart’s The Magic Flute, Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin, Mussorgsky’s Boris Godunov, Verdi’s La traviata and Rigoletto, and Strauss’s Der Rosenkavalier. Pessatti has additionally performed at the Teatro La Fenice in Venice and the Amazonas Opera Festival in Ma-naus, as well as in Tokyo, Berlin, and London. Under Lorin Maazel she sang in a performance of Mahler’s Eighth Symphony, while she made her Moscow debut under Helmuth Rilling in 2011 in Bach’s St. John Passion.
August 2011