soprano

Amanda Forsythe has been praised by Opera News for her "light and luster", "wonderful agility and silvery top notes". In August 2007, Ms. Forsythe made her European début, singing Corinna in "Il Viaggio a Reims" at the Rossini Festival in Pesaro. According to The Stage (UK), "Amanda Forsythe, the outstanding Corinna, [was] technically in command of the role - she delivered All'ombra ammena flawlessly with every run in place, the legato lines seamless, the vocal line expressively shaped in support of the text. It was perfection."

Following her success in Pesaro, she was immediately engaged at the Grand Théâtre de Genève as Dalinda in Handel's Ariodante, where she was proclaimed "the discovery of the evening" (Financial Times). The new production, starring Joyce DiDonato, was directed by Pierre Strosser and conducted by Kenneth Montgomery. She reprised this role in January 2008 at the Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich.

She returned to Pesaro in 2008 as Rosalia in Rossini's L'Equivoco Stravagante, and also performed in concert with mezzo-soprano Joyce Didonato in duets from Bellini's I Capuleti e i Montecchi. Also in the 2007/2008 season, Ms. Forsythe made débuts with The Calgary Philharmonic (Golijov's Ainadamar), L'Orquesta Sinfonica Nacional de Mexico (Mahler 2), and Gran Teatro La Fenice (Rossini arias).

Ms. Forsythe can be heard as Minerve and La Grande Pretresse on The Boston Early Music Festival's premiere recording of Lully's Thésée, a "Best Opera Recording" nominee for the 2008 Grammy Awards. She made her onstage début with the company as Aglaure in their June 2007 production of Lully's Psyché, and is featured on the premiere recording of that work. As part of the festival, she also sang the Pergolesi Marian Vespers and the role of Pallas in Eccles' The Judgement of Paris.

Ms. Forsythe recently débuted with Opera Boston as The Angel in the North American premiere of Peter Eötvös's opera, Angels in America, a performance that the critics hailed as "gorgeous" (Musical America), "heavenly" (The Boston Herald), "radiant" (The Financial Times), "brilliant" (Opera News) and "powerfully sung" (The New York Times).

Ms. Forsythe created the role of Young Margarita/Nuria in Osvaldo Golijov's Ainadamar, and was praised for her "raw passion" (The Los Angeles Times), "sparkling clarity" (The Financial Times), and "crystalline, finely expressive voice" (The New Yorker). She later reprised that role with The Los Angeles Philharmonic at Walt Disney Hall.

Other performances include Handel's L'Allegro, Il Penseroso, ed il Moderato with The Netherlands Radio Philharmonic, Le Nozze di Figaro (Barbarina) at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, Xerxes (Atalanta) with Boston Baroque, Blow's Venus and Adonis (Venus) with The Boston Early Music Festival, Handel's Messiah with The Baltimore Symphony and Apollo's Fire, Mozart's Exultate Jubilate and Mahler 4 with L'Orquesta Sinfonica de Tenerife, and Steffani's Niobe (Manto) at The Royal Opera House/Covent Garden.

Amanda Forsythe is represented by Helen Sykes Artists Management (Worldwide)

Amanda Forsythe is represented by Thea Dispeker Incorporated (North America)

News and Press

[Concert Review] Angels in America

By calling his drama Angels in America “a Gay Fantasia on National Themes,” Tony Kushner implies that his two-part, seven-hour saga about America’s response to Aids operates like a musical work; perhaps he even envisioned that it might one day be turned into an opera. That day came in 2004 when the Hungarian composer Peter Eötvös’s opera had its premiere at the Châtelet in Paris. That a long play had been transformed into a shortish opera (2? hours) provoked little dissent, but critics held that Eötvös’s music lacked a strong profile.

The Financial Times Full review
[Concert Review] Some Angels: Opera Unlimited does Tony Kushner

Whatever anyone thinks of the actual opera, congratulations are again in order to Opera Unlimited, the collaboration between music director Gil Rose’s Opera Boston and his Boston Modern Orchestra Project, this time for bringing to Boston the American premiere of Hungarian composer Peter Eötvös’s attempt to make an opera out of Tony Kushner’s Angels in America, his Pulitzer-winning play about the AIDS epidemic and the collapse of public and personal values under Reagan (one remaining performance, June 24 at the Majestic Theatre).

The Boston Phoenix Full review
[Concert Review] "Angels in America," already operatic, is now presented as an opera

Much of life is spent thinking about death. Primary in our thoughts are the rate of its approach and hour of its arrival. It is a little like driving a car whose accelerator and brakes are out of our control. This idea may explain the public’s hideous and enduring fascination with executions and suicides, for in both cases time races and the date is set. People are in control.

The New York Times Full review
[Concert Review] Soul-searching fills musical "Angels"

Tony Kushner’s Angels in America is an epic, historical, political, personal , and apocalyptic drama that is also an opera waiting to happen. It is full of larger-than-life characters who deliver long aria-speeches of interior questioning; characters meet each other in dream landscapes and there are interwoven, simultaneous episodes that resemble operatic ensembles. There is even a grand death scene.

The Boston Globe Full review