The Boston Globe described her Norma, with the Boston Bel Canto Opera, as a "mythic soprano with heroic declamation, suave cantilena, delicate fioritura and a huge vocal and emotional range, a poet's feeling for nuance and the staying power of a triathelete…sending the audience into frenzies with her melting cadenzas, impassioned recitatives and floating high notes.". Opera News said her Norma demonstrated "fine bel canto style, passion, color and phrasing". The American Record Guide January 1999 complimented "the absolutely phenomenal dramatic soprano" Joanna Porackova for her performance as Anaide to Jerome Hines' Mose in Rossini's Mose in Egitto at Alice Tully Hall in New York's Lincoln Center. She also won critical acclaim from the New York Times for the same role as, "the most stageworthy in the cast and her soprano blossomed throughout the evening".

In 2004 Ms. Porackova sang her first Isolde in Tristan und Isolde with the Grand Theater de Tours, Tours, France. She has been engaged in principal roles with the Washington Opera, Paris Opera, Hong Kong Opera, Mainfranken Theater Wurzburg, Germany, Stadt Theater Bern, Switzerland, Klagenfurt Theater, Austria, Boston Lyric, Baltimore, Connecticut, Greater Miami, Seattle, Anchorage, Boston Bel Canto Operas, Opera at Florham, Boston Academy of Music and The Concert Opera of Boston. She has performed the title roles of Turandot, Norma, Aida, Medea, Tosca, La Wally, Rusalka as well as Amelia in Un Ballo in Maschera, Lady MacBeth in MacBeth, Leonora in Il Trovatore, Santuzza in Cavalleria Rusticana, Giorgetta in Il Tabarro, Magda Sorel in The Consul and Senta in Der Fliegende Hollander. She made her European debut in the title role of Salome and Abigaille in Nabucco in Germany. Ms Porackova concert repertoire includes the Mahler 2nd Symphony, Verdi's Requiem, Wagner's Wesendonk Lieder, Beethoven's Ah! Perfido, Strauss' Vier Letzte Lieder, and Wagner's Liebestod. She has performed with the Civic Symphony Orchestra of Boston, the Ars Musica Chorale (NY), Symphony Pro Musica, Plymouth Philharmonic and the North Shore Philharmonic. She sang a recital in the Diaspora Museum, Tel Aviv, Israel where she was the first place winner in the Jerusalem Vocal Institute Competition. She was also presented by the Wagner Society of New York in a debut recital in CAMI Hall, NY and she was an invited guest performer in the 1999 Metropolitan Opera Guild Master Classes. Ms. Porackova has worked under the direction of Gian-Carlo Menotti, James Conlon, David Stern, Thomas Bo, Francisco Noya, Jonathan McPhee, Guido Mancussi and Daniel Klajner.

A winner of numerous awards and competitions, Ms Porackova was a finalist in the Richard Tucker Foundation Competition, a fellowship award winner with the Opera Theater International (OMTI) and a grant competition winner from the Wagner Society of New York. She is also prominently listed in the American Wagner Singers Gold Book 2000. She has appeared on CBS Good Morning America and her voice has been heard on WGBH Boston classical radio and National Swiss Radio. Ms. Porackova has performed recitals in Washington, D.C. sponsored by Americus Records, Music at Beaulieu Abbey Concert Series, Hampshire England, the Gerlesborg Art School Concert Series, Sweden and the Paris International Conservatory. She is featured in the British television series "The Estate", directed by Michael Mansfield.

Ms. Porackova has recently released a CD with pianist Dag Achatz on Americus Records in their Russian Masters Series featuring songs by Medtner, Rachmaninoff and Scriabin . She will sing the title role of Elektra at the Klagenfurt Theater, Austria 2005.

View video clips

Medtner: Willows Bending
(Joanna Porackova, soprano with Dag Achatz, pianist)

Reviews

"She mastered the enormous technical and musical work [of Medea] with wonderful modulations of the voice and an intensely dramatic, bravura performance."

Neue Zuricher Zeitung, Switzerland

"Joanna Porackova's performance of Anaide was the most impressive in the cast and her soprano blossomed throughout the evening."

Allan Kozinn, New York Times
May 24, 1995
 

"Mythic soprano with heroic declamation, suave cantilena, delicate fioritura and a huge vocal and emotional range, a poet's feeling for nuance and the staying poet of a triathelete…sending the audience into frenzies with her melting cadenza, impassioned recitatives and floating high notes."

Susan Larson, Boston Globe
September 1997 (Title role, Norma)
 

"The absolutely phenomenal dramatic soprano, Joanna Porackova"

American Record Guide 1999
 

"Porackova distinguishes Bel Canto"

Richard Dyer, Boston Globe (Aida)
September 1998
 

"Porackova wins with Strauss and Wagner ... you were never in doubt that she was singing different roles in different languages. The voice boasts a distinctive Slavic tartness to go with an unmistakable inborn glamour and what was manifestly an advanced and supple technique. Her performances of Dvorak, Catalani and Verdi were musically full-fledged events, and the opera scene will be hearing from her."

Richard Buell, Boston Globe
August 1, 1995
 

"Fine bel canto style, passion, color and phrasing."

Jeffrey Smith, Opera News (Norma)
 

"Porackova as Leonora melted hearts with her tender liquescent phrases, her clean fioritura and her blazing high notes."

Susan Larson, Boston Globe (Leonora in Il trovatore)
 

"Puccini's Vissi d'arte, from Tosca was given a moving performance by Joanna Porackova. With her large, opulent voice and dramatic stage presence, she is perfect casting for the passionate, larger-than-life heroine."

Naples Daily News
January 23, 1997

"Joanna Porackova sang accurately and was in good voice ... The soprano showed impressive physical stamina, beginning a vocally secure "Vissi d'arte' prostrate, her face flat against the floor.

Mike Durham, Opera News
April 1993
 

"Porackova is a world class soprano with a big, luscious voice and exceptional dramatic sense.With amazing breath control and dynamic flexibility over her entire range, she hit all pitches secularly and her tone never wavered."

The Times, Northwest Indiana
March 1, 1996
 

"Strongly expressive and compelling in a superb vocal performance by Joanna Porackova who was performing the title role [Salome] as a guest from the U.S.A.'

Stralsunder Zeitung
April 11, 1994
 

"Joanna Porackova excelled in opera arias, which were real pearls ... She sung brilliantly with deft articulation in the rarely sung Romance. by Scriabin .Bold and winning, Ms. Porackova's exuberant singing ... enhanced her authority. Rachmaninoff was a highlight. Her sultry soprano interpreted O never sing to me Again and Spring Waters with dignity. There is a mezzo quality about her voice that proved an advantage for the rich coloring the music demanded ... Ms Porackova interpreted Strauss' Four Last Songs with luster and rich nuance. Giving generously of herself ... she was irresistible in Vissi d'arte and in arias from Verdi's Aida and Bellini's Norma. And who could resist Ms Porackova in the encore, the romantic "Jag alskar dig" by Grieg?"

Lennart Wikstrom, Bohuslåningen, Gerlesborg, Sweden
June 22 1999
 

"Joanna Porackova is an incredible talent, a wonderful singer AND actress -- a real presence."

Olympia Dukakis
 

"It now strikes me as perfect that Joanna Porackova will sing the role of Magda in the Washington Opera's production of Menotti's 'The Consul'. That's a heavy, tragic affair, gut-wrenching -- and a frothy soprano could never do it. Remembering her voice when I heard it in New York, I knew she would be well suited to dramatic roles, with just the right mixture of femininity, maturity and power. Her command of the material she undertook was thrilling."

Hugh Downs

Awards and citations

• First Place in the New York/Jerusalem Vocal Institute Competition.
• First Place in the National Association of Teachers of Singing Competition,
• Honorable Mention in the Enrico Caruso International Vocal Competition
• Fellowship Award with the Opera Music Theater International.
• Finals candidate, Richard Tucker Foundation Award Competition,
• Finals candidate, the Gerda Lissner Foundation Vocal Competition.
• Awarded a study grant from the Wagner Society of New York
• Recommend in the American Wagner Singer's Gold Book, 2000

Contact details and further information

E-mail IMCA

See also Tower of Babel
and MP3 site.