© Simon Pauly
Heidi Stober
Soprano
Stunning audiences with her sterling lyric voice and incisive stage personality, American lyric soprano Heidi Stober has established herself as a house favourite at leading companies on both sides of the Atlantic. Since her critically acclaimed debut at the Deutsche Oper Berlin in the autumn of 2008, Heidi has cultivated a long-standing relationship with the company, with recent roles including Donna Elvira Don Giovanni, Micaëla Carmen, Marguerite Faust and Liu Turandot. With a particular affinity for the Baroque, her appearances outside of Berlin include Cleopatra Cesare at Houston Grand Opera, Dalinda Ariodante at the Chicago Lyric cond. Harry Bicket, title role Esther with Music of the Baroque, title role Semele for Garsington Opera and Angelica Orlando for San Francisco Opera. Heidi opens the 2021-22 season as Mother/Waitress 2/Sphinx 1 in Turnage’s Greek at the Deutsche Oper Berlin, where she also sings Donna Clara in Zemlinksy’s Der Zwerg. Other highlights of the season include Micaela Carmen for Houston Grand Opera and Fiordiligi Così fan tutte for the Semperoper Dresden.
News
Stober returns to Houston Grand Opera
We are delighted to announce that Heidi Stober returns to Houston Grand Opera this autumn as Micaela in Rob Ashford's acclaimed production of Carmen. Joining Heidi in the cast are Carolyn Sproule in the title role, Tray Smagur as Don José and Christian Pursell as Escamillo. The production opens on 22 October, with further performances on 24, 28, 30 October and 3, 5, 6 and 7 (matinee) November.
Later this season, Heidi will appear as Donna Clara in Zemlinksy’s Der Zwerg at the Deutsche Oper Berlin and as Fiordiligi in Così fan tutte for the Semperoper Dresden.
Visit the Houston Gran Opera website here or more information.
Media
Repertoire Includes
Concert
BACH
Mass in B minor
St John Passion
St Matthew Passion
BARBER
Knoxville: Summer of 1915
BEETHOVEN
Symphony No.9
Choral Fantasy
BRAHMS
Ein Deutsches Requiem
CHAUSSON
Poème de l'amour et de la mer
FAURÉ
Requiem
HANDEL
Messiah
HARTKE
Symphony No. 4 ‘Organ’
HAYDN
The Creation
MAHLER
Symphony No. 2
Symphony No. 4
MOZART
Coronation Mass
Requiem
Exsultate Jubilate
ORFF
Carmina Burana
PENDERECKI
Credo
POULENC
Gloria
RUTTER
Requiem
SCHUBERT
Mass No. 5 In Ab Major
Opera
BELLINI
La Sonnambula (Lisa)
BERLIOZ
Les Troyens (Ascagne)
BIZET
Les Pêcheurs de Perles (Leila)
Carmen (Micaëla)
CIMAROSA
Il Matrimonio Segreto (Carolina)
COPLAND
The Tender Land (Laurie)
DONIZETTI
Don Pasquale (Norina)
L'elisir d'amore (Adina)
GOUNOD
Roméo et Juliette (Juliette)
Faust (Marguerite)
GORDON
'27' (Alice B Toklas)
HANDEL
Agrippina (Poppea)
Alcina (Alcina, Morgana)
Giulio Cesare (Cleopatra)
Radamisto (Tigrane)
Semele (Semele)
Xerxes (Atlanta)
HUMPERDINCK
Hänsel und Gretel (Gretel)
KERN
Showboat (Magnolia)
LEHÁR
The Merry Widow (Valencienne)
MASSENET
Werther (Sophie)
MENOTTI
The Old Maid & The Thief (Laetitia)
MONTEVERDI
L'Incoronazione di Poppea (Drusilla)
MORRISON
Oscar (Ada Leverson)
MOZART
Le nozze di Figaro (Susannah, Countess)
Die Zauberflöte (Pamina)
La finta giardiniera (Sandrina)
Don Giovanni (Donna Elvira)
Il re pastore (Aminta)
Cosi fan tutte (Despina)
PROKOFIEV
L'amour des trois oranges (Ninette)
PUCCINI
La bohème (Musetta)
RAMEAU
Platée (La Folie/Thalie)
ROSSINI
Le comte Ory (Comtesse Adele)
SONDHEIM
Sweeney Todd (Johanna)
STRAVINSKY
The Rake's Progress (Anne Trulove)
STRAUSS
Arabella (Zdenka)
VERDI
Falstaff (Nannetta)
Un ballo in Maschera (Oscar)
Don Carlo (Voce dal cielo)
Press
bizet CARMEN / houston grand Opera
“Soprano Heidi Stober, another former HGO Studio artist, has the most difficult job of all, portraying wimpy Micaela, whose character was added to Meilhac and Halevy's libretto as a sop to French family values. Virginal and skittish, she carries a torch for Jose, as well as a not-so-subtle kiss from mom to be given to her son. She's a throwback to grand opera days long past and can be portrayed as a dishrag when chirpy soubrettes take on the role, but Stober's burnished and powerful soprano gives her surprising depth and solemnity. Stober's Act I duet with Jose is a classic as is her final aria. These numbers are Bizet at his most radiantly old-fashioned, they're real crowd pleasers in emotion and sweeping French melody. Stober stops the show each time with her dramatic interpretation and golden pipes.”
D L Groover, Houston Press (October 2021)
"In a role that depends even more on sheer vocal attractiveness, soprano Heidi Stober brought warmth and lyrical glow to Micaela’s brief time onstage. In Micaela’s duet with José in Act 1 and aria in Act 3, Stober enabled Bizet’s big melodies to well up richly, but she also gave each number a flavor its own. In the duet, her touches of delicacy conveyed Micaela’s innocence and her love for José."
Steve Brown, Texas Classical Review (October 2021)
"Elsewhere, soprano Heidi Stober makes the most of a rather thankless role as Micaela, the pious woman Jose throws over for Carmen. She shares a thrilling act one duet with Smagur that would be more romantic if the characters weren’t passing messages to and from Jose’s mother, but it’s still a beautiful scene. Her act three aria “Je dis que rien m’epouvante,” a plea for God to protect her after following Jose into the mountains, is likewise gorgeous."
Chris Gray, Houston Chronicle (October 2021)
mozart COSI FAN TUTTE / Metropolitan Opera
“The soprano Heidi Stober has been away from the Met for a few seasons, but returns with a cheerfully bright, natural, unexaggerated Despina.”
Zachary Woolfe, New York Times (February 2020)
“As Despina, Heidi Stober carried herself with a fiery, magnetic energy that shone through the character’s many desires and disguises.”
Logan Martell, OperaWire (February 2020)
“Heidi Stober’s serviceable soprano put across Despina’s “Una donna a quindici anni,” with flair, and she brought conspiratorial glee and a randy elbow in the ribs to the role.”
David Wright, New York Classical Review, (February 2020)
