Joanna Latini

Ms. Latini joined the Academy of Vocal arts in the fall of 2020 as a Resident Artist. She was featured on the beloved Jubilate! program where she sang Domine Deus from Mozart’s Great Mass in C minor. Unfortunately due to Covid-19 Ms. Latini’s most notable company debut to date was cancelled. She was scheduled to sing Servant 2 in Strauss’ Die Frau ohne Schatten at the Metropolitan Opera.

For Ms. Latini, the 2019-2020 season brought numerous company and role debuts, beginning with her Canadian debut as Musetta in Puccini’s La bohème with Calgary Opera. She returned to the concert stage in her debut with Ars Lyrica Houston for their “Handel in Love” program, and then reprised the role of Rosina in Corigliano’s The Ghosts of Versailles for her European debut at the Chateau de Versailles Spectacles in France. In the spring of 2020, Ms. Latini made her role and company debut as Adina in Donizetti’s L’elisir d’amore with Permian Basin Opera. Unfortunately, due to Covid-19, many engagements were cancelled including the Soprano Soloist in Mozart’s Requiem with Rapides Symphony, role debut of Gilda in Verdi’s Rigoletto with Resonance Works Pittsburgh, role and company debut with the Berkshire Opera Festival as Donna Elvira in Mozart’s Don Giovanni.

The 2018-2019 season for Ms. Latini included appearances with Lyric Opera of Kansas City and Atlanta Opera as Teresita in Francesca Zambello’s production of West Side Story. She then joined the Benenson Young Artist Program at Palm Beach Opera where she covered Violetta in La Traviata and Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni and sang Sally and covered Adele in Die Fledermaus. In the summer of 2019, she returned to the Glimmerglass Festival as Rosina in The Ghosts of Versailles and covered Magnolia in Show Boat and Violetta in La Traviata.

In the 2017-2018 season, Ms. Latini joined Kentucky Opera as an artist in their Barbara and Halsey Sandford Studio Artist Program. During residency there, she performed Naiad in Strauss’ Ariadne auf Naxos, covered Kitty Hart in Heggie’s Dead Man Walking, and sang Gretel in Humperdinck’s Hansel and Gretel with the Lexington Philharmonic. She then covered the role of Adelaide, Helen, and Miss Thompson in Ricky Ian Gordon’s world premiere The House without a Christmas Tree with Houston Grand Opera, returned to Resonance Works Pittsburgh as the Kitchen Boy in Dvořák’s Rusalka, and joined the Glimmerglass Festival as the title role in Janacek’s The Cunning Little Vixen and Velma in West Side Story.

In the summer of 2017, Ms. Latini was a member of the Apprentice Singer Program at The Santa Fe Opera where she covered Morgana in Handel’s Alcina. She was one of fourteen singers featured in Justice at the Opera with Ruth Bader Ginsburg. In the summer of 2016, Ms. Latini was a member of the Wolf Trap Opera Studio, where she covered Lucia in Britten’s The Rape of Lucretia, Musetta in Puccini’s La bohème and was a featured soloist in the Liebeslieder from A Little Night Music with the National Symphony Orchestra in the Filene Center.

During the summers of 2015 and 2014, Ms. Latini was an Apprentice Artist at the Miami Music Festival, where she sang Gretel in Humperdinck’s Hansel and Gretel and Erste Dame in Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte. Under the baton of Maestro Richard Bado, Ms. Latini performed as Cleopatra in Handel’s Giulio Cesare in Egitto, Helena in Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and in the Jazz Trio in Bernstein’s Trouble in Tahiti. At Carnegie Mellon, she was seen as Clarice in Haydn’s Il mondo della luna and as Princesse Laoula in Chabrier’s L’étoile. As part of a special collaboration between Carnegie Mellon University and Pittsburgh Opera, Ms. Latini premiered the role of Amara in Arnaldos’ For the Time Being.

On the concert stage, Ms. Latini has been the featured soloist in numerous oratorio works, including Bach’s St. Matthew Passion, Mozart’s Requiem, Honegger’s Le Roi David, Vivaldi’s Gloria, Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9, Faure’s Requiem, and Handel’s Messiah. She has been a member of several prestigious training programs including those at Palm Beach Opera, The Glimmerglass Festival, Kentucky Opera, Santa Fe Opera, and Wolf Trap Opera. Ms. Latini received her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Carnegie Mellon University and her Master of Music degree from Rice University.