Maria Agresta, a soprano, graduated with top honors from the Conservatorio di Salerno and furthered her studies under the guidance of Raina Kabaivanska at the Istituto Vecchi-Tonelli in Modena. She has won numerous international competitions, including the “ComunitĂ Europea” Competition at the Teatro Lirico Sperimentale “A. Belli” in Spoleto, where she debuted in 2007 in the leading roles of La Bohème and Il Trovatore. Over the years, she has participated in various productions in Messina (as MicaĂ«la), at the Opera Nationale de Lorraine (as Desdemona), and at festivals such as the Incheon Opera Festival (as Mimì), the Sferisterio Opera Festival in Macerata (as Odabella), the Festival dei Due Mondi in Spoleto, Carnegie Hall in New York, the Barokkimusiikkia Festival in Helsinki, the National Philharmonic in Doha (Qatar), and the Hermitage Theater in St. Petersburg.
In 2011, during the celebrations for the 150th anniversary of the Unification of Italy, she made her debut in I Vespri Siciliani at the Teatro Regio di Torino under the direction of Gianandrea Noseda, achieving both public and critical acclaim. Since then, her international career has flourished with significant debuts at prestigious venues such as Teatro alla Scala in Milan (in Don Giovanni, conducted by Daniel Barenboim), Israeli Opera in Tel Aviv (in Norma, conducted by Daniel Oren), Arena di Verona (in La Bohème, Don Giovanni, Turandot), Bayerische Staatsoper (in La Bohème, La Traviata), Staatsoper unter den Linden (in La Traviata), Palau des Arts in Valencia (in Il Trovatore, conducted by Zubin Mehta), Festival Puccini in Torre del Lago (in La Bohème), and appearances in Bergamo (in Gemma di Vergy) and Salerno (in Il Trovatore, La Traviata, and Norma).
She also inaugurated the 2012-13 season at the Teatro dell’Opera di Roma under the direction of Maestro Riccardo Muti in Giuseppe Verdi’s Simon Boccanegra. Notable performances include Giovanna D’Arco at the Musikverein in Graz, La Bohème and Oberto, Conte di San Bonifacio (new production) at Teatro alla Scala, I Masnadieri and La Bohème at Teatro alla Fenice in Venice, La Vestale in Dresden, and upcoming engagements such as La Bohème at Opera Bastille in Paris, Il Trovatore (new production) at Wiener Festwochen, I due Foscari at the Royal Opera House in London and Vienna, Simon Boccanegra in Frankfurt, and I Puritani at Opera Bastille.
