October 30, 2020 – Austin Opera today announces a casting update for its spring 2021 production of Puccini’s Tosca. Celebrated American soprano Latonia Moore joins the cast in the title role, replacing Leah Crocetto, who has withdrawn from the production for an extended engagement in Australia.
A native of Houston, Moore makes her Austin Opera debut as the fiery diva caught in the crossfire of love. She has recently sung Tosca at Washington National Opera, Opera Australia, and in Rouen, France. Last season, she was highly praised for her role as Serena in a new production of the Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess at the Metropolitan Opera, where she stopped the show at each performance singing “My Man’s Gone Now.” She has received global acclaim for her interpretation of the title role in Aida at the Met, the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, The Dallas Opera, Opernhaus Zürich, Teatro Colón, English National Opera, New National Theatre Tokyo, Dubai Opera, San Diego Opera, and Pittsburgh Opera, among others. She is a winner of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions and The Dallas Opera’s Maria Callas Debut Artist of the Year Award.
Tosca, which also stars Adam Smith as Cavaradossi and Aleksey Bogdanov as Scarpia, is conducted by the Sarah and Ernest Butler Principal Conductor & Artistic Advisor Timothy Myers and directed by David Lefkowich. Additional tickets will be released in early 2021.
Biography for Latonia Moore, soprano
Praised as “richly talented” by the New York Times, the 2020–2021 season sees American soprano Latonia Moore return to the Metropolitan Opera to star as Sister Rose in Ivo van Hove’s new production of Dead Man Walking, which will be broadcast as part of the Met’s Live in HD series. Ms. Moore was scheduled to star as the title role in Michael Mayer’s new production of Aida, conducted by music director Yannick Nézet-Séguin, which was also to be broadcast to cinemas around the world as part of the Met’s Live in HD series, and as Sister Rose in Ivo van Hove’s new production of Dead Man Walking. Ms. Moore will make her debut with Austin Opera in the title role of Tosca. Ms. Moore was also scheduled to make her role debut with the Philadelphia Orchestra as Musetta in La bohème, conducted by Yannick Nézet-Séguin.
Ms. Moore returned to the Metropolitan Opera in the 2019 – 2020 season to sing Serena in a new production of the Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess which is broadcast as part of the Met’s Live in HD series, and which the New York Times noted she “stopped the show…from almost vibrato-less, celestial high stretches to chilling, chesty low phrases, all of which she sang grippingly.” Ms. Moore also sang the title role in Tosca with Opéra de Rouen Normandie Théâtre des Arts, and was scheduled to sing the same production with Théâtre de Caen which was cancelled due to COVID-19. Ms. Moore was also scheduled to sing Serena in Francesca Zambello’s production of Porgy and Bess in a return to Washington National Opera, conducted by music director Evan Rogister, which was cancelled due to COVID-19. Orchestral appearances included an appearance as a featured soloist in the Metropolitan Opera’s memorial service for Jessye Norman, as well as her Brazilian debut with Mozarteum Brasileiro, conducted by Constantine Orbelian, which was cancelled due to COVID-19. Ms. Moore also appeared in recital with bass-baritone Ryan Speedo Green with the George London Foundation at the Morgan Library.
Ms. Moore has received global acclaim for her interpretation of the title role in Aida, of which the New York Times said: “her voice was radiant, plush and sizeable at its best, with gleaming top notes that broke through the chorus and orchestra during the crowd scenes.” Houses where she has sung the role of Aida include the Metropolitan Opera, Royal Opera Covent Garden, Opernhaus Zürich, Opera Australia, Teatro Colón, English National Opera, New National Theatre Tokyo, Dubai Opera, Dallas Opera, San Diego Opera, Pittsburgh Opera, Detroit Opera, Polish National Opera, and at the Ravinia Festival with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra under James Conlon. Additional operatic highlights include appearances as Cio Cio San in Madama Butterfly at the Metropolitan Opera, Liù in Turandot at Royal Opera Covent Garden, the title role in Tosca and Elisabeth in Don Carlo with Opera Australia, the title role in Tosca with Washington National Opera, Cio Cio San in Madama Butterfly and Mimi in La bohème with Semperoper Dresden, Cio Cio San in Madama Butterfly at the Hamburg State Opera, Micaëla in Carmen, Liù in Turnadot, Elvira in Ernani, and Lucrezia in I due Foscari in Bilbao, Desdemona in Otello at Bergen National Opera, Serena in Porgy and Bess at both English National Opera and De Nationale Opera Amsterdam, and an appearance on the 50th Anniversary Gala of the Metropolitan Opera.
Orchestral highlights include the role of Lady Macbeth in a recording of Macbeth with Edward Gardner for Chandos, Mahler’s Symphony No 2 with the Vienna Philharmonic and Gilbert Kaplan for Deutsche Grammpohon, Vivetta in L’Arlesiana and Dielia in Edgar with the Opera Orchestra of New York at Carnegie Hall, and Bess in Porgy and Bess with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Sir Simon Rattle.
