Beginning 2023 with her first depiction of the Persian prince Cyrus in Theater an der Wien’s staging of Händel’s oratorio Belshazzar, internationally-renowned mezzo-soprano Vivica Genaux embarks on a year in which she returns to beloved music and venues and celebrates new additions to her repertoire. Following Vivaldi concerts with Bach Consort Wien in Barcelona, Madrid, and Girona, she returns to Händel, singing Ino and Juno in Semele and Dejanira in Hercules (rôle début) with Internationale Händel-Festspiele Göttingen. Later, she travels to Buenos Aires for a concert at Teatro Colón.

A 2008 recipient of Pittsburgh Opera’s Renaissance Award, Vivica returns to Pittsburgh in October 2022 for Quantum Theatre’s and Chatham Baroque’s modern-première production of Riccardo Broschi’s opera Idaspe, interpreting the rôle of Dario, written for the composer’s brother, legendary castrato Farinelli. Subsequently, her passion for the music of Georg Friedrich Händel takes her to Yokohama, Japan, for a reprise of her portrayal of Lepido in Lucio Cornelio Silla with Europa Galante. Following a performance of her recital programme Capriccio: temi e variazioni in Spain in November, the Eternal City welcomes her for a concert at Villa Torlonia.

In August 2022, Vivica made her first foray into Verdi repertoire with her rôle début as Giulietta di Kelbar in a concert performance of Un giorno di regno at Warsaw’s ‘Chopin and his Europe’ Festival. She furthered her dedication to nurturing future generations of singers by adjudicating Innsbrucker Festwochen der Alten Musik’s Cesti Competition and leading masterclass courses for Associazione Musicale Tito Gobbi and Festival Internacional de Música y Danza de Granada. June 2022 witnessed Vivica’s rôle début as Alcina in Vivaldi’s Orlando furioso at Dortmund’s Klangvokal 2022 and a Händel-Festspiele Halle concert featuring Händel-Preis winners. In April 2022, she unveiled a new concert programme, Lucifera, with Chicago’s Third Coast Baroque.

During her storied career, Vivica has amassed a repertoire of more than sixty rôles in opera and oratorio, many of them travesti parts. Acclaimed for her vocal agility and the emotional depth of her performances, she is a celebrated interpreter of Baroque and bel canto works, especially parts composed for castrati. Male and female rôles in the operas of Gioachino Rossini remain a cornerstone of her repertoire. It was in her most-performed rôle, Rosina in Il barbiere di Siviglia, that she débuted at New York’s Metropolitan Opera in 1997.

A native of Fairbanks, Alaska, Vivica launched her professional career in 1994 as Isabella in Rossini’s L’italiana in Algeri with Milwaukee’s Florentine Opera Company. The host of awards that her work has garnered include an ARIA Award, New York City Opera’s Christopher Keene Award, the Hasse-Preis, International Opera and International Classical Music Awards, and four GRAMMY® nominations. An indefatigable advocate for neglected and under-appreciated music, she has contributed indelibly to the renewal of interest in the operas and cantatas of Johann Adolf Hasse. Formalizing her initiative to share her experience and expertise with young singers, she established V/vox Academy in 2017, and she continues to refine her own technique via interactions with peers and pedagogues.