Classical Biography
Soprano Julie Ziavras has won critical acclaim for her vocal beauty, musicianship, and dramatic
stage persona in the US and abroad where she has performed in concert,
on radio and television. Her diverse
repertory includes opera, art song, contemporary music, folk and international
ballads and Greek music. Described as "an estimable vocalist” by The New York Times, Dr. James Cotter in
a review in The Times Herald Record
said, "Soprano Julie Ziavras masters the most difficult instrument, wowing
her Montgomery listeners with her warm and compelling voice, appealing presence
and wide range of repertoire… pour(ing) her full energy into each number with
virtuosity and verve." Her
portrayal of Offenbach’s La Perichole
was heralded in The River Reporter as
a “tour-de-force performance…(with) the
required coquettishness of a soprano in a buffo production like this one, the
figure, the beauty, the charm and the panache, but she had more than that. She
had a commanding voice and an energetic presence on stage.” A review of her portrayal of Donna Anna in Don Giovanni states that she "wow(ed) us again in this flamboyant portrayal
of the wronged woman, resonating with piercing soprano anger that made the
audience visibly shiver” and most recently as Mimi, that she displayed “incredible range and deliver(ed) a strong, powerful rendition of Puccini’s
lush and romantic score.”
.
Ms. Ziavras has been most recently heard as Mimi in La Bohème, Donna
Anna in Don Giovanni and in the title role in Offenbach’s La Perichole with the Delaware Valley
Opera, in the roles of Rosalinda in Die
Fledermaus, the Countess in The
Marriage of Figaro, the Mother in Hänsel
& Gretel and Julie in Show Boat
with the Opera Company of the Highlands. She made a recent guest appearance as
a soloist singing arias with the Greater Newburgh Symphony Orchestra and in
early and contemporary music with the Manhattan Camerata Orchestra. Active as a
versatile chamber musician, interpreter of sacred music and as a recitalist,
she has appeared in the New York area at numerous venues including Carnegie’s
Weill Recital Hall, Lincoln Center's Bruno Walter Hall, Symphony Space Theater,
World Music Institute, Guggenheim Museum in Soho, Alternative Museum, Grand
Montgomery Chamber Music Series, Queens Opera, Regina Opera, Greek Cathedral
Concert Series, as well as radio broadcasts on WBAI, WNYC, and WJFF. She has premiered many original works and
compositions written expressly for her voice, including a contemporary song
cycle written to the poetry of Walt Whitman, an off-Broadway musical of
Aristophanes’ The Birds and an opera
based on F. Scott Fitzgerald's play Babylon
Revisited. She is currently on mp3 in a vocalize written for her by Greek composer
Spiros Cardamis, which remained in the number one spot in the opera category
for nearly three months and is now featured in their Hall of Fame.
Among numerous appearances abroad, she was invited to Greece by renowned
composer/music director Manos Hadjidakis to appear on Greek National Radio
(ERT).
During her extended stay in Greece, she was featured in numerous
concerts and live broadcasts of opera, lieder, Renaissance song
and contemporary music, including
a world premiere at the Piraeus National Theatre, simulcast on
National Radio. Her acclaimed tour of Greece and Serbia was
the first time a western artist performed there after the collapse of the
Soviet Union. The National Museum in Belgrade was opened for the concert, which
was simulcast on national radio and television. She has been featured artist at
numerous international festivals, including the Fiesta Internacional de las
Naciones in Venezuela, the Festival Internacional Cervantino in Mexico,
International Festival of Daphnis in Greece, and in Montreal premiering a
cantata written for her voice. With Broadway
Concerts Direct, she sang a concert tour of six cities in Nova Scotia, in a
repertory including opera arias, art song, Broadway, international and folk
music.
Ms. Ziavras received her
Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from the Manhattan School of Music and has
coached with renowned conductors including George Schick, Alberta Masiello,
Vincent La Selva and Jane Klaviter.
Julie's classical reviews
Link to Julie's complete folk bio and reviews.
Link to Julie's Greek bio
Link to Julie's Greek reviews
