Kathleen O´MaraOperalia Winner

Kathleen O´Mara – soprano
Ahmad Hedar – piano

The Association of Friends of Musical Talents brings you another rising star of the opera world – the American soprano Kathleen O’Mara. It has become our tradition to introduce in Prague artists at the beginning of their careers in whom we sense great promise. The American soprano Kathleen O’Mara, an extraordinary young talent, continues this tradition with distinction. Last year she won the prestigious Operalia competition founded by Plácido Domingo, where she also received the Birgit Nilsson Prize, and this year she added another major triumph – victory at the Queen Sonja Singing Competition in Oslo.

In the opera world, however, she is no newcomer — her engagements with prestigious opera houses and her commitments for this season speak for themselves. In the 2025–2026 season, Kathleen O’Mara will return to the Metropolitan Opera in New York to sing Donna Anna in Don Giovanni under Yannick Nézet-Séguin, as well as the First Lady in The Magic Flute. She will also return to Teatro alla Scala as Helmwige in Die Walküre and make her Seattle Opera debut as Micaëla in Carmen, conducted by Ludovic Morlot. Future engagements include debuts with The Santa Fe Opera, Dallas Opera, and the Barcelona Symphony Orchestra, along with a return to LA Opera.

At the New Town Hall in Prague, she will perform arias and songs by Giuseppe Verdi, as well as Richard Strauss’s Four Last Songs, and works by the lesser-known American composer Amy Beach. At the piano will be the brilliant Ahmad Hedar, our long-time collaborator, who will also be featured in solo performances.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=anfp7KNtSsI
www.youtube.com/watch?v=owDpPa9kmhA
www.kathleenomarasoprano.com

GIUSEPPE VERDI (1813–1901)
Surta è la notte… Ernani, involami (Elvira)
Ernani, Act I

GIUSEPPE VERDI
Non t’accostare all’urna
Ad una stella
Stornello

AMY BEACH (1867–1944)
Three Browning Songs, Op. 44
The Years at the Spring
Ah, Love but a day
I send my heart up to thee

RICHARD STRAUSS (1864–1949)
Vier letzte Lieder | Four last Songs
1. Frühling | Spring
2. September
3. Beim Schlafengehen | Going to sleep
Text: Hermann Hesse (1877–1962)
4. Im Abendrot | At sunset
Text: Josef von Eichendorff (1788–1857)

FRANCESCO CILEA (1866–1950)
Io son l’umile ancella (Adriana Lecouvreur)
Adriana Lecouvreur, Act I

Program is subject to change