DONATA CUCINOTTA - BIOGRAPHY

American soprano Donata Cucinotta, lauded as having “A golden voice” (Main Line Times) and “A flare for comedy” (Opera News) has been recognized for her powerful performances in opera, musical theatre, and concert. Ms. Cucinotta’s 19/20 season includes Countess Almaviva in Le Nozze Di Figaro with Opera Ithaca, Josephine in HMS Pinafore with Knoxville Opera, returning to Indianapolis Opera as Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni and joining the Jackson Symphony Orchestra for Mahler’s 3rd Symphony.

The 2018/19 season included appearances as Musetta in La Bohème with Indianapolis Opera, Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni with Opera Ithaca, Countess in ¡Figaro! 90210 with Morningside Opera, Josephine in HMS Pinafore at Knoxville Opera, Erste Dame in Die Zauberflöte at Opera Tampa, Die Fledermaus with Amarillo Opera and Knoxville Opera, Nina in The Firefly with Ohio Light Opera and Nedda in Pagliacci with Opera in the Heights where D.L Groover of the Houston Press noted:

“Cucinotta’s fiery soprano opened up with a blistering top, square on, raising goose bumps in the best possible way.”

Previous 2017/18 engagements include concerts with Baltimore Concert Opera, and First Coast Opera, Asheville Lyric Opera debut as Aldonza in Man of La Mancha, and Indianapolis Opera in Johnathan Dove’s Mansfield Park. She also sang the title role in Evangeline with the Longfellow Chorus and recorded her first Mimì in La Bohème with Reclamation Opera, and jumped in for Rachel Peters’s Wild Beasts with Center for Contemporary Opera where Richard Sasanow of Broadway World wrote:

“Donata Cucinotta was the center of it all as The Girl, with its rangy music. She captured all that was puerile and needy, and at the same time cruel and unthinking, in the dysfunctional worlds The Girl lives in and Imagines.”

A frequent concert soloist, Ms. Cucinotta regularly performs with the Terre Haute Symphony Orchestra, and the Columbus Indiana Philharmonic as a Featured Soloist. She has sung with Denver Choral Fest in Mozart’s Mass in C, Bach’s Magnificat and the Dvorak Requiem. Other notable performances include soloist in Vaughn Williams’ Dona Nobis Pacem with Indianapolis Symphonic Choir, Bach’s Die Elenden Sollen Essen, Mendelssohn’s Elijah, Dave Brubeck’s To Hope and Handel’s Messiah. As a recitalist, she will be touring her #MeToo program in conjunction with Sing For Hope and has performed as a guest artist with On Site Opera.

Early in her career Ms. Cucinotta joined Shreveport Opera as a Young Artist where she understudied the roles of Violetta in La Traviata, and Susanna Le Nozze di Figaro on the main stage. As a member of Opera Colorado’s ensemble, she appeared as Berta in Il Barbiere di Siviglia, understudied the Four Heroines in Les Contes d’Hoffmann, and sang the roles of Masha in The Music Shop and Juliette in Roméo et Juliette. She was then invited to make her Opera Fort Collins debut as Gilda in Rigoletto.

Donata is a graduate of Mannes College of Music, Metropolitan Opera National Council Regional Finalist, a Finalist for the American Prize in Art song, semi-finalist in the Art Song Preservation Society of New York Competition, semi-finalist in the American Prize art song competition, semi-finalist in the San Antonio Opera Competition, Audience Choice Award and Honorable Mention at the Shreveport Opera Singer of the Year Competition, and a finalist at the Classical Singer Competition.

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