Ainhoa Arteta
Who is Ainhoa Arteta?
Ainhoa Arteta Ibarrolaburu (Tolosa, Guipúzcoa, September 24, 1964) is a Spanish soprano with an international reputation. She trained at the San Sebastián Conservatory of Music and studied drama at the Actors Studio in New York. She made her debut in 1990 at Palm Beach Opera (Florida) in the title role of Rossini’s “La Cenerentola.”
Career
Since then she has performed roles including Violetta (“La Traviata”) in Graz, Oscar (“Un ballo in maschera”), Micaela (“Carmen”) with Scottish Opera, Doña Elvira (“La canción del olvido”) and Gilda (“Rigoletto”) in Madrid, Violetta in San Sebastián, Gilda in New Jersey, and Violetta in Monterrey, Mexico. In 1993 she won the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions in New York and the Operalia international competition organized by Plácido Domingo in Paris. She has also debuted in Bonn as Magda (“La Rondine”), in Naples and Amsterdam as Mimì, and in Detroit as Violetta, besides appearing in Metropolitan Opera seasons as Olga (“Fedora”) and performing in Washington, Hamburg, Bordeaux, Japan and Riga.
She has performed on stages such as Barcelona’s Liceu, the Palau de les Arts in Valencia and Madrid’s Teatro Real, and gave a recital at the White House during Bill Clinton’s presidency for the official visit of Colombia’s president. In 1999 she made her London debut alongside Plácido Domingo in a concert at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, and played Juliet in “Romeo and Juliet” at the Opera de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. She has also recorded an album with the RTVE Orchestra devoted to zarzuela and Renaissance music, and premiered José María Cano’s opera “Luna” at the Palau de la Música in Valencia.
Awards and personal life
She has received the Hispanic Society of America Award for her contribution to the arts, and Best Classical Music Artist at the Music Awards. In 1998 she was named honorary president of the Andrés Segovia Foundation in Linares. She has married and divorced twice, and has a daughter from her second marriage, to American baritone Dwayne Croft.