About Me
Please note: This is a fan site for Ms. Sass. Her official website is listed below.
Born in Budapest 1951. Studied at the Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest. First operatic appearance 1971, as Frasquita in Carmen.
1972: Sass won First Prize and a Special Prize at the Kodaly Voice Competition in Budapest
1973: Sass won the Grand Prix as Violetta in Verdi's Traviata at the International Opera Competition for Young Singers, as well as a Special Prize for best song interpretation, in Sofia.
1972 - 73: WAGNER: Gutrune in Gotterdammerung, Budapest -- VERDI: La Traviata, Sofia -- WAGNER: Freia in Das Rheingold, Budapest -- GERSHWIN: Clara in Porgy and Bess, Budapest -- KODALY: A Fiatal Leany in Szekely Fono, Budapest
1973 - 74: VERDI: Desdemona in Otello, Budapest --
PUCCINI: Mimi in La Boheme, Budapest -- VERDI: Giselda in I Lombardi, Budapest -- SZOKOLAY: Delila in Samson, Budapest -- Concerts in Salzburg, Bregenz and Bratislava -- Recording: GOUNOD's Faust (excerpts), on Hungaroton --
Won the Silver Medal - no First Prize was awarded - at the International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow, 1974.
1974 - 75: MOZART: Donna Anna in Don Giovanni, Budapest -- MONTEVERDI: Penelope in Il Ritorno d'Ulisse, Budapest -- PUCCINI: Debut as Tosca, Sofia -- Recording: MESSIAEN's Cinq Rechants, on Hungaroton
1975 -76: WAGNER: Eva in Meistersinger, Budapest -- VERDI: Traviata, Budapest -- VERDI: Desdemona in Otello, Glasgow, her UK Debut with the Scottish Opera -- MOZART: Fiordiligi in Cosi Fan Tutte, Hamburg -- VERDI: Giselda in I Lombardi, London's Royal Opera House, with Jose Carreras -- VERDI: Traviata, Aix-en-Provence -- Recording: Mozart Arias, Hungaroton -- Won the Szekely Mihaly Prize and the State Prize Franz Liszt I deg.
1976 - 77: DURKO: the Mother in Mozes, Budapest, world premiere -- MOZART: The Countess in Le Nozze di Figaro, Budapest -- PUCCINI: Tosca, Salzburg -- PUCCINI: Tosca, NY's Metropolitan Opera (with Carreras) -- VERDI: Traviata, London -- Recorded Presenting Sylvia Sass for Decca, a recital disc of Puccini and Verdi arias: Turandot, Tosca, Manon Lescaut, Butterfly, Aida, Lady Macbeth, Giselda, with the London Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Lamberto Gardelli.
1977 - 78: BELLINI: Norma, Budapest -- VERDI: Traviata, Paris -- VERDI: Macbeth, Torino -- VERDI: Elisabeth in Don Carlo, Hamburg -- PUCCINI: Manon Lescaut with Placido Domingo, Sass's La Scala debut, televised across Europe -- VERDI: Requiem, London's Royal Albert Hall -- Recorded: DURKO's Mozes, WAGNER's Wesendonk Lieder, CHERUBINI's Medea (with Lamberto Gardelli), all for Hungaroton, and her LP of Dramatic Coloratura arias for DECCA (Norma, Violetta, Gioconda, Lady Macbeth, Il Trovatore) -- Was made an Honored Artist of Hungary
1978 - 79: VERDI: Il Trovatore, Budapest -- VERDI: Ballo in Maschera, London -- VERDI: Don Carlo, London -- BARTOK: Judith in Bluebeard's Castle, London's Royal Festival Hall, with Solti -- Recordings: MOZART: Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni, with Sir Georg Solti, BARTOK: Bluebeard's Castle, also with Solti, LISZT/BARTOK: Lieder, Decca, with Andras Schiff at piano, VERDI: Lina in Stiffelio, with Carreras
1979 - 80: BELLINI: Norma, London (new production)-- Concerts in Berlin, Tokyo, Copenhagen, Helsinki, London, Cologne, Bayreuth
1980 - 81: VERDI: Ballo in Maschera, Cologne (new production) -- VERDI: Trovatore, Caracas -- VERDI: Ballo, Caracas -- Recorded Ernani and STRAUSS's Four Last Songs on Hungaroton -- Starred in the Unitel film of Bluebeard's Castle
1981 - 82: PUCCINI: Tosca, Bologna -- GLUCK: Alceste, Brussels -- Recorded GREAT SOPRANO ARIAS of Verdi and Donizetti for Hungaroton
1982 - 83: GOUNOD: Romeo et Juliette, Paris -- PUCCINI: Il Tabarro, La Scala, videotaped and televised across Europe -- PUCCINI: Suor Angelica, La Scala (took over for Rosalind Plowright) -- PUCCINI: Tosca, Bologna -- PUCCINI: La Rondine, Venice -- PUCCINI: Tosca, Rome's Terme di Caracalla -- PUCCINI: Title role in Turandot, London's Barbican Hall, world premiere of ALFANO's ending, with Barbara Hendricks -- GIORDANO: Fedora, Paris radio concert performance -- Recorded VERDI's I Lombardi for Hungaroton
1983 - 84: PUCCINI: Turandot, Budapest -- VERDI: Macbeth, Puerto Rico -- PUCCINI: Tosca, Santiago, Chile -- Concerts in Tokyo, Basel, Amsterdam, Paris, Luxembourg -- Recorded ERKEL's Hunyadi Laszlo for Hungaroton, world premiere recording
1984 - 85: SCHREKER: Der Ferne Klang, Venice (new production) -- PUCCINI: Tosca, Tulsa and Denver, USA -- VERDI: Macbeth, Santiago, Chile -- Recorded Macbeth for Hungaroton (with her Tabarro costar Piero Cappuccilli)
1985 - 86: CILEA: Adriana Lecouvreur, Monte Carlo (new production) -- VERDI: Il Corsaro, Nimes -- BARTOK: Bluebeard's Castle, concert performance at Carnegie Hall, with Solti -- Recorded OPERATIC ARIAS (Cav, Eugene Onegin, La Wally, Adriana Lecouvreur, Faust, Mefistofele) for Hungaroton -- Was the subject of a Hungarian documentary for her painting, and exhibited art shows in Hungary.
1986 - 87: VERDI: Macbeth, Toronto -- VERDI: Macbeth, Brussels -- PUCCINI: Il Tabarro, Venice -- Recorded the role of Odabella in VERDI's Attila for Hungaroton
1987 - 88: PUCCINI: Tosca, New Orleans -- MASCAGNI: Santuzza in Cavalleria Rusticana, Pittsburgh -- VERDI: Macbeth, Palermo -- Sang the role of Candida in the world premiere recording of RESPIGHI's Belfagor
1988 - 89: MASCAGNI/LEONCAVALLO: Cav/Pag, Koszeg, Hungary -- MALIPIERO: Sogno di un tramonto d'autunno, Mantova world premiere -- STRAUSS: Salome, Budapest (new production) -- BARTOK: Bluebeard's Castle, Montpellier -- Concerts in Vienna and London
1990: STRAUSS: Final scene from Salome, Los Angeles, Pasadena Civic Auditorium, the From the Heart Committtee's International Gala of Opera and Ballet, to benefit the AIDS Hospice Foundation.
1992: CHERUBINI: Medea, concert performance to inaugurate the Boston Festival Opera.
Sass recently sang her first Carmen at a music festival in Budapest, and in Paris, in late 1997, she performed the aria "Sola, perduta, abbandonata" from Manon Lescaut at a special celebration honoring the memory of Maria Callas. She continues to give recitals.
On her own record label, Cant-Art, which she organized after the fall of Communism, she has produced four (mostly) solo CDs:
1993: Liszt Songs, with her student, Izabella Simon, at the piano -- 1994: Operatic and Concert Arias, with the Ference Erkel Chamber Orchestra: ROSSINI aria from William Tell; MOZART "Basta, vincesti" K.486a; BEETHOVEN's "Ah! perfido"; GLUCK arias from Iphigenie en Tauride and Iphigenie en Aulide; HANDEL's "Ombra mai fu" from Serse; PURCELL's "Thy hand Belinda" from Dido and Aeneas
1996: STRAUSS Orchestral Songs with the Hungarian State Symphony Orchestra under Janos Kovacs.
1997: Sylvia Sass/Karoly Fekete: Schubert/Brahms. With Izabella Simon at the piano. Sass performs SCHUBERT's "Der Liedler," "An den Mond in einer Herbstnacht" D.614, and "Ballade" D. 134 Op 126.
The two most recent Cant-Art CDs feature expressionistic paintings by Miss Sass as cover art.
Miss Sass performed and taught an extensive Master Class at the inaugural Festival of Operatic Art in Pezenas, France in late 2007.
She will give another Master Class at the 14th Mushashino Musicae International Summer School in Tokyo, Japan, July 19th-29th, 2008.
For information: http://sylvia-sass.com
