Oper! Awards (Germany)
The best female singer 2024
“It is well known that an opera career requires more than just a beautiful voice. Still, it is rare that an artist is willing to reveal their innermost being to the audience though their singing and their acting alike. The enormous power in Giacomo Puccini’s melodies, the abysses within the most delicate cantilenas can only be experienced through the artistry of someone embracing a character’s conflicts, their weaknesses and longings with great honesty. In Zurich in 2023, Puccini’s La Rondine became a moving and exhilarating night at the opera with enormous depth thanks to Ermonela Jaho as a brilliant Magda: a trilling swallow and a dying swan all in one…”
Artist of the Year 2023
International Classical Music Awards (ICMA)
“With the unique beauty of her glorious, securely led and magnificently shimmering voice, Ermonela Jaho fascinates with her pure vocal aesthetics. But this is only one side of the singer’s great art, the other being her electrifying theatrical presence. Few singers achieve such a high degree of identification with their roles, such a total veracity and deeply moving emotion. Once on the stage, Ermonela Jaho throws off her own personality like a cloak and fully embodies the character she has to interpret.”
Spain’s “The best foreign artist 2023”
Short Bio
Ermonela Jaho is internationally recognized as today’s foremost celebrated operatic singing-actresses, who performs regularly at the most important opera houses around the world. As recently titled Artist of the Year at the 2023 International Classical Music Awards, The Best Female singer of Germany’s OPER Awards 2024 and Spain’s Opera XXI Best Foreign Artist 2024. She is the winner of ICMA Vocal Music 2021 award for her solo album Anima Rara, and the winner of the Readers Award at the 2016 International Opera Awards. She is the Artist Ambassador of Opera Rara and Opera for Peace. She is a member of the Academy of Sciences of Albania.
Her signature roles which are much acclaimed from the public and critics alike, include Violetta, Cio Cio San, Suor Angleica, Adriana Lecouvreure, Anna Bolena, Thais, Luisa Miller etc. She has sung at the most important stages in the world such as Royal Opera House in London, Metropolitan Opera in New York, Bayerische Staatsoper, Gran Teatre del Liceu, Teatro alla Scala in Milan, Opéra national de Paris, Wiener Staatsoper, Teatro Real in Madrid, Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires, Arena di Verona and more. Her recent engagements include performances in London, Paris, New York, Munich, Zurich, and Madrid etc.
About
Ermonela Jaho was born in Albania and studied singing at the Conservatory of Tirana and Santa Cecilia in Rome. After finishing her studies, she won multiple competitions which opened the doors to her professional international career. Her repertoire ranges from baroque, bel canto to verismo. Her vivid interpretations and her exceptional identification with the roles she performs, are highlighted in all her reviews.
The Economist described her as “Fiery angel… the world’s most acclaimed soprano”, Financial Times “she throws heart and soul into her singing. Don’t even try to resist!”, The Independent as “the best Madama Butterfly London has seen in years” and Australia’s Daily Telegraph describing her as “an unstoppable phenomenon”. Ermonela Jaho is a member of the Academy of Sciences of Albania and she supports many causes. She is the ambassador of the YWCA of Albania.
She was awarded “The best female singer 2024” by Oper! Awards in Germany, she joined the “Opera for Peace” as an ambassador in 2024, “The best foreign artist 2023” in Spain, "Artist of the Year" at the International Classical Music Awards (ICMA) 2023. She was nominated by Gramophone Awards Magazine 2023 for the “Turandot” recording of Warner Classics & Erato. She also won the Vocal Music Prize at the ICMA 2021 with her album Anima Rara. As an Opera Rara Ambassador, she is also committed to the rediscovery of 19th and 20th century operas that have fallen into oblivion.
2022-23 Season
In the 2023-24 season, Jaho will sing Magda in Puccini’s La Rondine in Opernhaus Zurich, Liu in Opera National de Paris, La voix humaine and Adriana Lecouvreur at Teatro Real in Madrid, Suor Angelica at Bayerische Sattaoper in Munich, Madama Butterfly at Festival Aix en Provence and will have concerts in Barcelona, London, Nice, Athens, Oviedo, and Valencia. She will record an album for Opera Rara with French and Italian songs from Donizetti and will perform them at Wigmore Hall in London together with the artistic director Carlo Rizzi.
For the closest performance go to the schedule page
“’When I have to cry, I do cry, for sure. If I have to scream, I scream for real.’ Ermonela Jaho speaks of the stage as if it’s the one place where you are compelled never to deceive. All the artifice and artistry and the technical preparations count for little, she says, without genuine emotion.”
BBC Music Magazine
Photos for Press & Autographs
(Click on the image to open on a new window and then right click and choose Save Image As to download the high-resolution photos. They are copyright free as long as the name of photographer @Fadil Berisha is credited.)
Copyright free as long as the name of photographer Fadil Berisha is credited.
Copyright free as long as the name of photographer Fadil Berisha is credited.
Copyright free as long as the name of photographer Fadil Berisha is credited.
Copyright free as long as the name of photographer Fadil Berisha is credited.
Copyright free as long as the name of photographer Fadil Berisha is credited.
Copyright free as long as the name of photographer Fadil Berisha is credited.