Carla Thelen Hanson, Soprano

Biography

Carla Thelen Hanson is garnering attention for exciting and vocally thrilling performances of opera's leading heroines throughout the country of her recent debut of Cio-Cio San in Puccini's Madama Butterfly the InForum declared: "the singer's star is shining bright...". Her debut in the role of Desdemona in Verdi's Otello at the Utah Festival Opera the Salt Lake City Tribune exclaimed "Hanson’s vocal range, exquisite control and emotional depth culminated in "Willow Song"; the sublime "Ave Maria" that followed was a masterpiece of tenderness and vulnerability. She also showed indomitable strength, defying Otello’s brutal efforts to make her confess a nonexistent sin in the final duet." Of her New York City Opera debut as Puccini's Tosca, The New York Times noted, "Ms. Hanson made a strong debut as Tosca, by turns fiery and vulnerable, her voice agreeably dark in its middle range and sufficiently full on top" and the New Yorker exclaims "her dark-grained, strongly felt "Vissi d'arte" sailed right up to the uppermost balcony." Of her Tosca at Utah Festival Opera the Desert News proclaimed her “outstanding” and her “Vissi d’arte” “heart piercing”. Of her recent Fidelio the weekly InForum noted “Hers is a voice of great power and beauty and she essayed the difficult music with aplomb. Her first act aria was so beautifully done that it received a sustained three-minute ovation at the Friday performance." She received equal praise for portrayals of Maddalena de Coigny in Andrea Chenier for Mobile Opera, as well as the title roles of Ariadne auf Naxos and Norma, both with Union Ave Opera Theatre. For Seattle Opera’s 2009 Ring Cycles, she covered the 3 soprano Valkyries in Die Walkuere.

On the concert stage, Ms. Hanson performs with noted symphony orchestras across the country including acclaimed performances of Barber’s Hermit Songs, Beethoven's 9th Symphony, Mass in C, Missa Solemnis, Handel’s Messiah and Ode to Queen Anne, Harbison’s Mirabai Songs, Libby Larsen's Try Me, Good King Mozart’s Exultate Jubilate, Orff’s Carmina Burana, Rutter's Feel the Spirit, Strauss’s Vier Letzte Lieder, Verdi’s Requiem, Vivaldi’s Gloria and Motet, and Wagner's Wesendonck Lieder.

Upcoming she sings Rosalinda in J. Strauss's Die Fledermaus with Nashville Opera, a German Art Song recital series throughout the Mid-West, and will debut a recording Chanson d'amour, a CD of song of love through out the world with her long time collaborator, Ainhoa Urkijo

Repertoire

Composer	Opera	Role
Beethoven	Fidelio	Leonora
Bellini	Norma	Norma
Britten	Albert Herring	Mrs. Herring
Floyd	Susannah	Susannah Polk
Giordani	Andrea Chenier	Maddelena
Mozart	Le nozze di Figaro	Contessa
Puccini	La Boheme	Mimi and Musetta
Puccini	La fanciulla del West	Minnie
Puccini	La Rondine	Magda
Puccini	Tosca	Floria Tosca
Puccini	Turandot	Turandot
Puccini	Madama Butterfly	Cio-Cio San
Strauss, J	Die Fledermaus	Rosalinde
Strauss, R	Ariadne auf Naxos	Ariadne/Prima Donna
Strauss, R	Salome	Salome
Verdi	Un ballo in Maschera	Amelia
Verdi	Ernani	Elvira
Verdi	Otello	Desdemona
Verdi	Il Trovatore	Leonora
Verdi	La Traviata	Violetta
Verdi	Simon Boccanegra	Amelia
Wagner	Der fliegende Holländer	Senta
Wagner	Der Ring des Nibelungen
	Götterdammerung	Brünnhilde, Woglinde
	Das Rheingold	Woglinde
	Siegfried	Brünnhilde
	Die Walküre	Brünnhilde, Sieglinde, Gerhilde
Wagner	Tannhäuser	Elisabeth
Wagner	Tristan und Isolde	Isolde

Oratorio/Orchestral

Barber	Hermit Songs
Beethoven	Ah Perfido!, Choral Fantasia, Mass in C, Symphony No. 9
Handel	Ode to Queen Anne, Messiah
Harbison	Mirabai Songs
Mahler	Symphony No. 4
Mendelssohn	Elijah, Midsummer Night’s Dream
Mozart	Exsultate Jubilate
Orff	Carmina Burana
Rutter	Feel the Spirit
Strauss	Vier letzte Lieder
Verdi	Requiem
Vivaldi	Gloria, Motetto, RV 157
Wagner	Wesendonck Lieder

Engagements

2015-2016 Schedule

Cio Cio San	Madame Butterfly	Fargo Moorhead Opera, 2015
Rosalinde	Die Fledermaus	Nashville Opera, 2016

2014-2015 Schedule

Mendelssohn	Elijah	Kalamazoo Symphony, 2015
Spanish Art Song Recital with Ainhoa Urkijo,		Piano Upper-Midwest Tour, 2014
German Composers Recital		Rochester Chamber Music, 2014

2013-2014 Schedule

Libby Larsen	Try Me, Good King	Luther College Recital, 2014
Wagner	Wesendonck Lieder	Rochester Chamber Music, 2013
Desdemona	Otello	Utah Festival Opera, 2013
Beethoven	Missa Solemnis	Utah Festival Opera, 2013
Barber and Bolcom Concert with Belle James		Piano University of Tennessee, 2013
Bach	Coffee Cantata	Rochester Chamber Music, 2013

Press Acclaim

As Cio-Cio San in Madama Butterfly

From InForum

“The singer's star is shining bright...The soprano turned in an impressive performance in Festival Concert Hall at North Dakota State University, flexing a powerhouse voice and demonstrating great physical acting. While some opera characters employ a "park-and-bark" approach, Cio-Cio-san (Japanese for butterfly), is on stage most of the show, exhibiting not only a range of emotions, but also expressing herself with deliberate, graceful movements. singing of his eventual return in the beautiful aria, "Un Bel Di." Thelen Hanson's voice is so stunningly persuasive, she almost had the crowd willing to give Pinkerton another chance. Instead, they gave her a well-deserved round of applause following the number...Thelen Hanson shows great comic chops—a welcome surprise—as Cio-Cio-san mocks the all-too-easily disposable marriage bond....brought the crowd to its feet in applause.”

As Desdemona in Verdi’s Otello

From the Salt Lake Tribune:

“Dramatic soprano Carla Thelen Hanson, who sang the title role last year in UFOMT's "Tosca," was Otello's wife, Desdemona. Hanson's vocal range, exquisite control and emotional depth culminated in "Willow Song"; the sublime "Ave Maria" that followed was a masterpiece of tenderness and vulnerability. She also showed indomitable strength, defying Otello's brutal efforts to make her confess a nonexistent sin in the final duet.”

From the Deseret News:

“Joining Bannister in lead roles were Carla Thelen Hanson as Desdemona and Jason Stearns as Iago, and both proved worthy of Verdi’s intentions. Hanson follows up her outstanding performance in last season’s “Tosca” with a memorable, flawless Desdemona. Hanson elevated her performance to a higher level with her first note. She has sterling dynamics, falling to a soft whisper that still manages to pierce the cockles of the audience members’ hearts, then powerfully rising to easily fill the entire theater. Hanson’s passion is constant, though seemingly effortless. Case in point: Desdemona’s prayer in Act 4 could not have been executed better.”

Beethoven Missa Solemnis:

From Salt Lake City Tribune:

“Soloists included soprano Carla Thelen Hanson (Desdemona in UFOMT's "Otello"), whose voice bloomed from a nearly imperceptible pianissimo to piercing strength...”

Tosca:

reichelrecommends.com

“Soprano Carla Thelen Hanson (Tosca) and tenor Jonathan Burton (Cavaradossi) own their roles. They brought depth, understanding, passion and expression to their portrayals. They were utterly credible, and as such they infused their characters with deep insight and great emotional power, but without falling into caricature. They are naturals for these roles. As wonderful as they are as actors, they are equally as stunning as singers. They brought emotion and feeling to their music. Hanson’s Act II “Vissi d’arte” and Burton’s Act III “E lucevan le stelle” are the vocal highpoints of this production.”

HJNews:

“UFOMT newcomers Carla Thelen Hanson and Jonathan Burton portray the ill-fated lovers Floria Tosca and Mario Cavaradossi with consummate artistry. They are both gifted actors and each is splendid when performing solo, especially in their respective famous arias “Vissi d’arte” and “E lucevan le stele.” But when Hanson and Burton combine their soaring soprano and tenor voices in any of the opera’s duets, the result is literally spellbinding.”

Deseret News:

“Carla Thelen Hanson is an outstanding choice as Floria Tosca, a famous singer in the court. She interacts with painter Mario Cavaradossi (Johnathan Burton) as they tease and sing of their love. Their facial expressions and movements — particularly those of Hanson, playing the jealous diva — are wonderful accompaniments to their strong voices... Burton and Hanson could both give lessons on singing with passion and heart and not just to hit the right notes. Hanson’s Act II lamentation of love to Mario, as he is taken away for possible execution, was heart-piercing and reinforced how nearly flawless this third UFOMT production was.”

Salt Lake Tribune:

“The eponymous heroine, sung brilliantly by soprano Carla Thelen Hanson, performed the famous aria "Vissi d'arte" (I lived for art) passionately, soaring thrillingly to the melody's lofty heights.”

New York Times:

“Ms. Hanson made a strong debut as Tosca, by turns fiery and vulnerable, her voice agreeably dark in its middle range and sufficiently full on top. ”The New Yorker: Alex Ross, The Rest is Noise:“However the productions turn out, it’s satisfying to watch the progress of City Opera’s singers, some of whom are still making their way through the early stages of an opera career. One is Carla Thelen Hanson, who had taken several years off to start a family. She came to the house last year as a cover singer, and got a quick promotion to Tosca: her dark-grained, strongly felt “Vissi d’arte” sailed right up to the uppermost balcony, where I was sitting.”