Biography

Soprano Lydia Caruana made her debut in opera in 1995 with La Bohème, and has, since then, exhibited an intriguing versatility both on the opera and concert stage: she was singled out in Opernwelt, the leading European opera magazine, as “an impressively interpretative singer” for her role of Elvira in Don Giovanni. Other roles include Angelica (Suor Angelica), Mimi (La Bohème), Musetta (La Bohème), Norina (Don Pasquale), Therese (Jeannot et Colin), Graziella (I Martiri) and Rosalinde (Die Fledermaus). She has performed in major European cities, including Vienna, Bratislava, Prague, Bologna, Berlin, Geneva, Hamburg, Edinburgh, and Dublin, besides performing in sixteen prominent cities in Germany with a concert tournèe. Outside Europe she has sung in Washington DC and Toronto.

Lydia studied singing with the Maltese soprano Antoinette Miggiani, and had master classes in Vienna with Sona Ghazarian. Lydia has worked with conductors such as Manfred Honeck, Markus Poschner, Martin Kerschbaum. David Gimenez, Carlo Bernini, Vyacheslav Volich, Colman Pearce, Alessandro Sangiorgi and Charles Olivieri Monroe, amongst others. She has also worked extensively with Maltese conductors Joseph Vella and Michael Laus. In opera productions she has worked with stage directors Mauro Avogadro, Novella Tabili, Aldo Tarabella and Vivienne Hewitt.

Lydia has partnered Josè Carreras and Andrea Bocelli, on different occasions, to mega audiences in Malta and joined Maltese tenor Joseph Calleja, to sing in Regensburg, Germany for the Rathauskonzerte Series. Other highlights include concerts with tenor Dymitro Popov and the Berwald Symphony Orchestra of Stockholm directed by Manfred Honeck, with the BadenStadt Orchester directed by Martin Kerschbaum, and the tournèe of sixteen concerts together with the WienerJohannStrauss Philharmonie of Belarus, performing all over Germany, in foremost concert halls and theatres, such as Essen’s Philharmoniesaal and Hamburg’s Musikhalle. Lydia has also recorded live for ORF in Vienna.Also in Germany, Lydia has performed in the Festival ‘Das Neue Europa’ in Ingolstadt together with the GeorgischesKammerorchester under the baton of Markus Poschner. She has also been guest singer in concerts with the Malta Philharmonic Orchestra, the Soloists of the Vienna Chamber Orchestra, the Imperial Ensemble of Vienna and the WienerKlang Ensemble. Lydia has also sung at the celebrated Accademia di Bologna with I Musici dell’Accademia under the baton of Joseph Vella, and at the Theatre of the Estates in Prague. She was invited twice to perform at the International Opera Gala Series in Ireland, singing in concerts with Mario Malagnini and Marzio Giossi together with the Pro-Arte orchestra at the National Concert Hall in Dublin and at the City Hall in Cork. Lydia participated at Slovakia’s foremost opera festivals in Banska Bystrica, singing together with tenor Ondrej Saling to packed audiences.

Other memorable performances include her United Nations concert ‘Crossroads of Civilisations’ at the World Intellectual Property Organisation Centre (WIPO) in Geneva, her Mozart Celebration Concert as the Finale of the International Sacred Music Festival in Malta and her Mozart and Handel Concert at St Giles Cathedral in Edinburgh.

Lydia Caruana has recorded a CD of Mediterranean songs together with pianist Paul Gulda, released on the Gramola Label, and launched after various performances in Malta at the Teatru Manoel and at the Bösendorfer Saal in Vienna. As a recitalist she has performed extensively, mostly in Europe but also in the United States, in Washington and especially in Canada where she received incredible ovations from Maltese expatriates. In her capacity as recitalist she has also introduced a great variety of music by Maltese composers to foreign audiences and recorded an entire programme of 18th, 19th and 20th century Maltese compositions in a performance entitled Malta Felice! at ORF Radiokulturhaus in Vienna, a programme she also repeated at Salzkammergut Festwochen Gmunden in Wachau, Austria. In Malta she sings regularly in special performances for the Diplomatic Corps, State visits and NGO’s. She has also paid tribute to Maltese women with a gala recital at the Teatru Manoel on Woman’s day, in aid of the Malta Community Chest Fund, one of her favourite philanthropic beneficiaries .