Soloist Maria Ferrante

Learn about our soloist for our upcoming performance of Poulenc’s Gloria, Soprano Maria Ferrante

Portsmouth Pro Musica is excited to perform this amazing work with such a talented singer. Concerts are December 9th in Dover and December 11th in Portsmouth. Don’t miss what will surely be an outstanding performance!

Soprano Maria Ferrante maintains a full schedule of performances on both the local and international stage. Her name has become familiar to audiences world over. A winner of the Mario Lanza Voice Competition, she has been acclaimed by the Washington Post and the Boston Phoenix. Richard Dyer of The Boston Globe has called her “a true singing actress… Maria Ferrante broke my heart last night.” Maria’s performances have delighted audiences from New York to the Virgin Islands, Prague, Japan, Geneva and London as well as in local venues such as Jordan Hall and Sanders Theater. Some of her many operatic roles include Cio-Cio-San (‘Madama Butterfly’), Desdemona (‘Otello’), Liu (‘Turandot’), Violetta (‘La Traviata’), Despina (‘Cosi Fan Tutte’), Pamina (‘Die Zauberflöte’), and Gretel (‘Hänsel und Gretel’).

Maria appeared live on WGBH-TV as Sacerdotessa in Verdi’s Aida. She was invited to commemorate The Goethe Institute of Boston’s 250th Gala Celebration with Xavier de Maistre, solo harpist with the Vienna Philharmonic.

Ms. Ferrante has recorded for Naxos, Albany, Navona Records and AFKA labels and also has four solo CDs to her credit, including Christmas in Worcester, Best Kept Secrets and Sea Tides and Time, which received rave review from the Boston Herald: [Ms. Ferrante] known for her lilting soprano voice and probing mind…brings a supple and colorful approach to a broad variety of repertoire.” The Boston Globe said: “Superb”.

Maria opened the 2013 season of the Newport Music Festival. He has appeared on Swiss TV with The TEDx talks at CERN, and sang with Max Hobart performing Mahler’s Fourth Symphony at Jordan Hall. She has also performed with the Newton Choral Society singing Haydn’s St. Nikolai Mass & Mozart’s Vesperae de Domenica as well as Golijov’s How Slow the Wind & Lúa Descolorida and Dvorak’s Rusalka’s Aria with the Worcester Chamber Music Society. Maria appeared with The Cape Cod Symphony, in recital at Merkin Hall (NYC) and at The Historical Piano Concerts from the Frederick Piano Collection. From 2012 – 2016 she has been seen live worldwide on YouTube from Sanders Theatre with The IG-Nobel Prize Award Ceremony at Harvard University.

She is a vivid and active recitalist, working locally with numerous ensembles both in Massachusetts and nationally.  For example, she has performed locally with The Mohawk Trial Concerts, the Boston Ballet, The Nantucket Arts Council, and The New England String Ensemble. On a national level, she has appeared with The Ensemble for the Romantic Century (NYC), The Charleston Orchestra, The Delaware Symphony Orchestra, The Enid Symphony Orchestra (Oklahoma), The Florida Northwest Symphony, The Concert Society Chamber Orchestra (Connecticut), Great Waters Music Festival, Wolfeboro, NH, The Shakespeare Concerts (Boston/Prague), Concert Recitals in Apalachicola and The National Museum of Women in The Arts (Washington DC). This season she is soloist with Batraxoi in the requiem, “Weep with Those Who Weep”, in Mason NH, at Mechanics Hall Children’s Concerts, and in recital with Brett Maguire.

Ferrante’s extraordinary voice was not discovered until she sang in a voice class at Temple University. “The professor asked if anyone in the class knew how to sing Schumann’s song cycle, ‘Dichterliebe,’?” She remembers, “No one in class would sing it. I said I knew it and sang one of the songs, ‘Ich Grolle Nicht’. When I finished, the room was quiet. And then everyone said ‘You should sing!’” She took the suggestion seriously and began studying voice with one of the great tenors of the century – Franco Corelli – and his wife, Loretta Corelli. Later she studied with such noted teachers in Boston as Phyllis Curtin, Sharon Daniels. And by special invitation, she received lessons from the renowned soprano, Elly Ameling. In 2007 she continued her studies in Beijing to discover aspects of bel canto from master, Jiang Jou.

An engaging, enthusiastic teacher and coach, Maria has taught Vocal Master Classes throughout and New England and New York and offers unique and personalized strategies for her students.