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Rising star, American Soprano Christina Major, is becoming known for her versatile lyric soprano in repertoire that ranges from Mozart, Rossini and Handel to Gounod, Stravinsky, Bizet, Verdi and Puccini.
The San Francisco Chronicle called her a “fascinating and hugely talented singer,” with a “magnetic presence and vocal brilliance,” and the Oakland Tribune called her performance as Violetta “literally and figuratively worth dying for.” The San Jose Metro wrote of her Donna Anna that she “built tension with precision, delivering high notes at low volume, expressing excitement and yearning with her richly layered voice, feathered by quivering restraint. It was the highlight of the production.”
Engagements during the 2008 – 2009 season include the role of Violetta in La Traviata with Opera Plus!, Konstanze in Die Entfurung aus dem Serail with the Midsummer Mozart Festival in San Francisco and concert performances of Handel’s Messiah with the Tucson Symphony, among others. During the 2007 – 2008 season, Christina Major portrayed the title role in Madame Butterfly with Opera Plus!, and was heard on the concert stage in two separate performances with the Tucson Symphony, one for Handel’s Messiah and another for Mozart’s Exultate Jubilate and Strauss’ Voices of Spring. Additional performances included concerts with the Trujillo Symphony in Peru and a recital in Lima, Peru as part of the International Concurso de Trujillo Winner’s Concert Series. She sang Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 with the Greenville Symphony and the Florida Bach Festival, Mendelssohn’s St. Paul with the Dallas Symphony Chorus, and Handel’s Messiah at the St. Andrew’s Methodist Church in Hacienda Heights, California.
In the 2006-2007 season Ms. Major was Mimi in La Boheme with the Forth Worth Opera, was the soprano soloist in Carmina Burana for her debut with the Delaware Symphony and also with the Colorado Music Festival, she sang Brahms’ Requiem with the Dallas Symphony Chorus in both Dallas and on tour in South America, Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 with the Winston-Salem Symphony, and performed in a Gala concert with Arizona MusicFest.
During the past several seasons, Ms. Major performed the role of an Accuser/Victim in the world Premier of Bright Sheng’s Madam Mao at the Santa Fe Opera, Mimi in La Boheme Knoxville Opera, Rosina in Il Barbiere di Siviglia in Idaho, and Violetta in La Traviata with Rimrock Opera in Billings, Montana and at the Nevada Opera. Additional performances include Nedda in Pagliacci with Opera San Jose, the Countess in Le Nozze di Figaro with the Amarillo Opera, and performances of Pirates of Penzance at the Santa Fe Opera. Additional roles in her repertoire include Leila in Le Pecheurs de Perles, and Rosalinde in Die Fledermaus, among many others.
Highlights of her recent concert calendar include Carmina Burana with the Phoenix Symphony, Brahms’ Requiem with the University of Alaska, and Mozart’s C minor Mass with the Midsummer Mozart Festival in San Francisco, under the baton of Maestro George Cleve. She has also performed with the National Philharmonic and at Duke University.
From 1998-2000 Ms. Major was on Opera San Jose’s resident principal artist roster, the youngest singer ever selected for the program at that time. She made her professional debut there in the role of Anne Trulove in The Rake’s Progress, and shortly thereafter, sang the roles of Juliette in Gounod’s Romeo et Juliette, Donna Anna in Don Giovanni, and Hanna Glawari in Die Lusitge Witwe. In 1999, she returned as a resident artist to sing the roles of Rosina in Il Barbiere di Siviglia, and later performed there as Micaela in Carmen and Violetta in La Traviata. Ms. Major has also participated in the young artist programs at the Santa Fe Opera and Des Moines Metro Opera. She was a finalist in the Sarah Tucker Grant Awards in 2002 and a national finalist in the Marguerite McCammon Vocal Competition in 2003 and Dallas Opera Guild Winner in 2005.
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