Above: soprano Margaret Jane Wray taking a curtain call as Gutrune at the Met's 2009 RING Cycle.
Ms. Wray represented the USA at the 1991 Cardiff Singer of the World Competition.
Margaret Jane Wray - LOHENGRIN aria - Cardiff 1991
Margaret Jane Wray - WALKURE aria - Cardiff 1991
Margaret Jane Wray was a 1985 Met Auditions winner, and made her Met debut in 1987 as Annina in TRAVIATA. She has sung nearly 100 performances with The Met in New York City and on tour, including Helwige, Sieglinde, and Gutrune in the RING Cycle.
We saw Ms. Wray as Hippolyta in Britten's MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM at Glimmerglass in 1987, one of our first visits to that beautiful theater.
In 1997, I heard Ms. Wray sing the Liebestod from TRISTAN UND ISOLDE at a New York Philharmonic concert conducted by Kurt Masur. At the 1999 Aspen Festival, Ms. Wray sang Brunnhilde in a concert performance of GOTTERDAMMERUNG, conducted by James Conlon, during a thunderstorm:
Margaret Jane Wray - Immolation Scene - Aspen 1999 - J Conlon conducts
Ms. Wray is Sieglinde and Jane Eaglen is Brunnhilde in a scene from Act III of DIE WALKURE from Seattle 2001; listen to them here.
In 2006, Margaret Jane Wray sang the 3rd Norn in the Seattle Opera's RING Cycle, joined Stephanie Blythe and Ewa Podles:
The Norns~GOTTERDAMMERUNG - Eva Podles - Stephanie Blythe - Margaret Jane Wray - Seattle 2006
Baritone Dae-san No was at Cardiff for the 1999 Competition, where he won the Song Prize. A native of Seoul, Korea, he earned his Bachelor of Music degree at Han-Yang University in Seoul. He studied further at the Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore, the Academy of Vocal Arts in Philadelphia, at the Music Academy of the West, and at Tanglewood.
His operatic roles have included Falstaff (at Tanglewood, under the baton of Seiji Ozawa), Rigoletto, Leporello, Marcello in BOHEME, the Bonze and Yamadori in MADAMA BUTTERFLY, Germont père, Enrico in LUCIA DI LAMMERMOOR, Baron Scarpia, and Escamillo. He sang at the New York City Opera, with Opera Grand Rapids, and at the National Opera of Korea. Dae-San No's career has also included extensive concert and recital work.
Dae-San No sings "Nemico della patria" from ANDREA CHENIER here.
Camilla Nylund competed at Cardiff in 1997, thereafter going on to a major international career.
Ms. Nylund studied musicology and voice in her native Finland, and later at the Mozarteum, Salzburg. She had her earliest career successes at Hanover and Dresden in such roles as Marenka (BARTERED BRIDE), Agathe, and Fiordiligi. She later moved into heavier repertoire with Wagner's Elisabeth, Strauss's Salome, and Beethoven's Leonore.
The soprano has appeared at Bayreuth, Salzburg, Frankfurt, Los Angeles, Vienna, and with the Dutch National Opera. Her roles have included Rusalka, Sieglinde, Senta, Elsa, Ariadne, the Marschallin, the Kaiserin in FRAU OHNE SCHATTEN, and the Countess in CAPRICCIO. Her concert repertoire includes Beethoven's 9th symphony and his Missa Solemnis.
In 2018, Camilla Nylund sang Isolde with the Boston Symphony Orchestra at Carnegie Hall, and in 2019 she made her Metropolitan Opera debut as the Marschallin.
Camilla Nylund - Wesendonck Lieder ~ Träume (Live at Villa Wahnfried)