At a Prague concert, Jessica Pratt will sing arias of Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor, Emilia di Liverpool and Linda di Chamounix, and Bellini’s Amina (La sonnambula) and Elvira (I Puritani). The programme features scenes in which the heroines face crises, lose their sanity (or sleepwalk) and reveal their innermost feelings. These highly virtuoso arias were created by bel canto composers for celebrated prima donnas, thus affording them the unique opportunity to showcase their vocal mastery. The star of the evening, Jessica Pratt, is a worthy 21st-century successor to such divas.
Since her European debut, in 2007 at the Teatro Sociale di Como, performing in the title role of Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor, Jessica Pratt has been invited to major festivals and opera houses worldwide, including the Met in New York, La Scala in Milan, the Wiener Staatsoper, the Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich, the Royal Opera House Covent Garden in London, the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona, the Opernhaus Zürich and the Deutsche Oper Berlin.
Over the past 17 years, she has appeared in 143 productions at 93 venues, in 80 cities in 13 countries. Her repertoire encompasses 48 roles, primarily in works by Gaetano Donizetti, Gioachino Rossini and Vincenzo Bellini. Born in Bristol, UK, Jessica Pratt grew up in Australia. After completing her vocal studies in Italy with Renata Scotto and Gianluigi Gelmetti at the Opera di Roma, she now prepares her roles with Lella Cuberli. Her most recent album, Delirio (Tancredi Records, 2023) features famous virtuoso scenes of mad or sleepwalking Bellini and Donizetti heroines.