Santa Fe Opera - Zenobia, Radamisto
“Handel, Faithlessness and Devotion… The lovely mezzo-soprano Deborah Domanski (replacing Christine Rice, who withdrew from the production because of illness) sings the courageous Zenobia with luscious sound and lyrical refinement. - Anthony Tommasini, New York Times, Monday, August 4, 2008.
“Santa Fe Opera: Radamisto… A late change to the cast, Deborah Domanski as Radamisto’s wife Zenobia exudes sensuality both in voice and stage presence. Her clear, focused and radiant mezzo-soprano illuminates both her enthusiastic acceptance of death “Son contenta di morire” and her tender plea “Quando mai” (When cruel destiny). She and David Daniels are later reunited in a sparkling duet.” -D.S. Crafts, The Albuquerque Journal, Monday, July 21 2008.
Opera Southwest - Cherubino, Le Nozze di Figaro
“Review: Opera Southwest... Deborah Domanski as Cherubino, is outstanding in this “trouser role”. Playing a teenage boy full of overly-amorous spirit, she captures the character perfectly with a sweet, yet vibrantly captivating soprano. In the confessional Non so piu (I no longer know) she/he tells of exploding adolescent hormones, cast of course in 18th century language. She graces Voi che sapete (You who know what love is) with delightfully surprising ornaments in the repeat.” - D.S. Crafts, Albuquerque Journal, Monday, 15 October 2007.
Tulsa Opera - Cherubino, Le Nozze di Figaro
“The things we do for love, 'The Marriage of Figaro' sings with comic brilliance… Domanski may be the best Cherubino we've seen. She perfectly captures the spirit of a hormone-crazed young fellow so in love with love he can't do anything right. The dressing-up scene is a hoot as Cherubino plays at being a woman. But Domanski also delivers vocally, with fine performances of "Voi, che sapete" and "Non so piu cosa son." - James D. Watts Jr., Tulsa World, Monday April 24, 2006.
Ashlawn-Highland Festival - Rosina, The Barber of Seville
“‘Barber’: Shear romance…She [Deborah Domanski] has a beautiful voice that can handle all the ornamentation that Rossini throws her way, plus the no-nonsense, full-throttle, no-holds-barred, magnificent, full out voice that he expects. She is truly a feast for the eyes.” - Eleanor Tudor, The Daily Progress, Tuesday, July 27, 2004.
Pittsburgh Opera Center - Minerva, Il ritorno d'Ulisse in patria
“Opera Center delivers superb production of ‘Return of Ulysses’… Deborah Domanski was spectacular as Minerva, bounding over the composer’s arpeggios to brilliant, open high notes.” – Steven Singer, Pittsburgh City Paper, Wednesday, May 5, 2004.
Pittsburgh Opera Center - Erika, Vanessa (Scenes)
“Opera Singers provide intriguing mix in ‘Sampler’… Mezzo-soprano Deborah Domanski sang a flawless rendition of "Must the Winter Come So Soon?" from Barber's Vanessa. Her voice was rich, smooth and balanced, her technique rock-solid and every syllable clearly projected.”- Eric Haines, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Saturday, January 31, 2004.
Music Academy of the West - Cherubino, Le Nozze di Figaro
“The Marriage of Figaro, a musical bliss from beginning to end…Mezzo-soprano Deborah Domanski sang and acted the boyish role of Cherubino with joyous abandon, perfectly embodying the sexual ambiguities and love’s angst of the role. Her singing was unfailingly musical in the two newly-embellished numbers for Cherubino, “Non so piu” and “Voi che sapete.” – Truman C. Wang, Classical Voice.Org, Sunday Aug 10, 2003.
“Figaro’s wedding…Deborah Domanski fully inhabited the spirit and song of Cherubino, which is saying something. Not only was she convincing as a boy, but utterly believable as the adolescent who has discovered that all women are magic. Her foolishness was character-driven, her comic bits the natural extension of ardent and effervescent youth. We cared about her plight and her happiness.” – Peter Frisch, Santa Barbara News-Press, Wednesday, August 13, 2003.
Juilliard Opera Center - Zerlina, Don Giovanni
“Deborah Domanski's Zerlina was a total delight, visually & vocally.” – Glenn Lonely, New York Theater Wire, May 10, 2003.
Los Angeles Philharmonic - Alto Soloist, Mozart’s Requiem
“Cathedral: 3,000 Attend Philharmonic Concert… Four promising young singers - …Deborah Domanski – were the vocal soloists.” - Daniel Cariaga, Los Angeles Times, Monday, September 30, 2002.
Music Academy of the West - Nancy, Albert Herring
“’Albert Herring’ Finds a Youthful Voice…The richest, most promising voices of the cast belong to… Deborah Domanski (Nancy)…, all of whom deliver their words with admirable clarity and sung with ardor.” – Daniel Cariaga, Los Angeles Times, Monday, August 12, 2002.
“Santa Barbara, California… Nancy was the lovely mezzo-soprano Deborah Domanski, who shone vocally and looked adorable in the part of a village sweetheart.” – Carl Byron, Opera News, November 2002. Vol. 67, No. 5.
Manhattan School of Music - Aphrodite, Paris and Oenone
“New York…Of special note was Deborah Domanski, a knock-out Aphrodite.” – Donald Westwood, Opera News, May 1999.
“Music Review; 2 Operas Have Some Fun… Deborah Domanski (Aphrodite) – sang alluringly as a trio and individually.” – Allan Kozinn, New York Times, January 13, 1999.
Articles
The Hindu, India Friday January 19, 2007
She destroys the stereotypes of opera singers... [ Read Full Press Piece ] – Nandini Nair
The Albuquerque Journal
Major Solo Role Goes To Opera Apprentice
Sunday, July 6, 2008
by Kathaleen Roberts • Journal Santa Fe
Original lead in ‘Radamisto’ withdrew for health reasons
Deborah Domanski’s dreams came true next to some cantina trash cans in the shadows of the Sangre de Cristos.
Last week, Santa Fe Opera conductor Harry Bicket and general director Richard Gaddes chose the 33-yearold Santa Fe resident to ascend to the principal role of Zenobia in Handel’s “Radamisto.”
Domanski will replace Christine Rice, who withdrew because of health issues. The opera opens July 19.
Domanski worked as an apprentice during the opera’s 2005-06 season. She had been tapped as Rice’s “cover” — opera-speak for understudy — but was untried as a major role soloist. She knew something was up when Bicket began marking up his score according to her breaths and musical ornaments during what she assumed was a coaching session.
“I thought this was really weird,” she said. “It was actually an audition, which was a good thing. If I’d known, I’d have been a nervous wreck.”
She grew especially suspicious when both Gaddes and Bicket asked her to meet them at the cantina.
“They said, ‘We’ve got good news and bad news. The good news is we want you to do the role. The bad news is we want you to do the role.’
“I started squealing,” Domanski said. “Then I regained my composure and I said, ‘Thank you very much.’ I called my husband. I called my dad. I called my sister. I called my aunt. I sent out an e-mail.”
The Cinderella scene was radically different from her first summer at Santa Fe. Overwhelmed by the pressures and brutal hours of mastering five operas, she says she had a breakdown.
“My first year was insane,” she said. “It was a huge learning experience, and it was also extremely tortuous. I had the one and only nervous breakdown of my entire life.”
Apprentices attend daily rehearsals that often linger until 1 a.m. or longer. Domanski began her days by warming up her voice at 7 a.m. The season included “Ainadamar,” directed by Peter Sellars, renowned for his modern stagings of classical operas. The title means “fountain of tears” in Arabic; the production is a boiling cauldron of emotion and dark passions set during the Spanish revolution. Like any good director, Sellars pushed his singers to fully express the resulting anguish, rage and grief. Domanski finally collapsed.
“I literally sat on that curb and couldn’t move a muscle,” she said. “I looked at my arm, and I literally couldn’t move it. I literally cried for the next three hours.”
She slept for an hour, then returned to perform in “Lucio Silla.”
“When you’re an apprentice here, you’re proving yourself every single day,” she explained. “You cannot let on weakness. You’re hoping to be the next star of the show.”
Domanski was an easy choice for the rarely performed “Radamisto” because she had been working on the score since last November.
“If it was ‘(The Marriage of ) Figaro,’ one could find a million Susannas because it’s done all over the world,” Bicket said. “Deborah was wonderful to have because she was already studying it. (She has) a strong, beautiful, warm voice, and it’s got a lot of color in it. In a big role like this, you need someone with a lot of character to bring these long arias to life.”
Domanski sings five arias, a duet, a quartet, the final chorus and “about six million recitatives.”
“These are real Everests of the singing repertoire,” Bicket said. “Handel exposes the voice like no one else. There’s no cushioning, very often (you’re) just alone with a violin. You can fall off a cliff. But she’s been wonderful. She’s not as experienced as the others, but you wouldn’t know it from the way she performs.”
Domanski is one of 13 former apprentices to land principle roles this year under Gaddes’ direction , SFO spokeswoman Cindy Layman said.
After her tumultuous apprentice season, Domanski made her debut with the Tulsa Opera as Cherubino in “The Marriage of Figaro,” which earned rave reviews. She returned to Santa Fe as Mercedes in last year’s “Carmen.” Later, she sang with the American Symphony Orchestra at New York’s Avery Fisher Hall and in Southwest Opera’s production of “Figaro” in Albuquerque.
First performed in 1720, “Radamisto” is the story of Zenobia and her husband, Radamisto, heir to the Thracian throne. The Armenian King Tiridate goes to war hoping to possess Zenobia. But she remains faithful to her husband.
“She is a very, very strong woman,” Domanski said. “She has more fire in her than anybody in the whole opera. She gets captured by the tyrant (king). For the rest of the opera, I’m being seduced by the tyrant king and nearly raped in two different scenes. But she has so much strength and fire in her, she resists.”
Domanski grew up near San Diego, where she sang in school choruses and choirs. She later studied at both the Manhattan School of Music and at Juliard. She never considered doing anything else.
“It’s like a snowball,” she said. “People ask me how I got into singing opera. I don’t know; it just got into me. My voice has a mind of its own.”
This time, she envisions no breakdowns. Her voice changed when she turned 30, growing fuller and richer, she said. She’s developed a solid technique.
“I’m only doing one opera,” she said. “When you’re an apprentice, you learn five. Just being given an opportunity like this — living up to and exceeding everyone’s expectations. I’m getting really great feedback, so that gives you a great amount of confidence.”
An admitted perfectionist, she mulls over the Italian score during breaks in the cantina, digesting everyone else’s parts as well as her own.
“There’s always something more you can learn from the score,” she said. “I’m seeing what my colleagues are singing so I know exactly what they’re singing about.
“The hard part is being in the right place at the right time,” she added. “I’ve been hoping for this all my life.”
If you go
WHAT: “Radamisto”
WHEN: 9 p.m. July 19, 23; 8:30 p.m. Aug. 1, 7, 15, 20
WHERE: Santa Fe Opera, seven miles north of Santa Fe off U.S. 84/285.
CONTACT: (800) 280-4654, (505) 986-5900 or www.santafeopera.org