Biography
Soprano Chen Reiss has established a strongly-acclaimed and distinctive career, enchanting audiences with “one of the most perfect Strauss voices one could wish for” (Classical Source), “a voice of silver brightness and clarity” (Bachtrack) with “immaculately produced and enticing tone matched by superb musicianship” (Opera News, USA).
Born in Israel, she came to prominence as a member of the ensemble of the Bavarian State Opera under the music directorship of Zubin Mehta, and has for a number of years been a resident artist at the Vienna State Opera. She has also performed leading parts at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, Teatro alla Scala, Semperoper Dresden, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Netherlands Opera, Wiener Festwochen, Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, Opera Company of Philadelphia and the Israeli Opera.
Recent highlights include the title role in Cavalli’s La Calisto at Teatro alla Scala, Milan, Ginevra (Ariodante) at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, her role debut in the title role of Mozart’s Zaide in her debut at the Teatro dell’Opera di Roma, and her role debut as Liu (Turandot) with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra. She gave her first performances of Strauss’s Four last Songs, Schumann’s ‘Das Paradies und die Peri’, Bruckner’s Mass in F minor and Dvorak’s Stabat Mater, and appeared in concert with signature repertoire including performances of Mahler’s Second and Fourth symphonies with the Munich Philharmonic and Gustavo Dudamel, the Los Angeles Philharmonic and Zubin Mehta, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra and Daniele Gatti, and the Vienna Symphony Orchestra under Lahav Shani, as well as at an Israel Philharmonic gala performance to mark Zubin Mehta’s farewell after 50 years as the orchestra’s Music Director. She debuted with the Berlin Radio Symphony under Vladimir Jurowski (Haydn Die Jahreszeiten), the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia under Antonio Pappano (Brahms Ein Deutsches Requiem), the Berlin and Czech Philharmonics under Semyon Bychkov (Mahler Symphony No.4) and the Filarmonica della Scala (Mozart arias with Zubin Mehta).
Read moreRecent News
Chen Reiss and Christophe Dumaux Open La Scala’s First Ever Cavalli “La Calisto”
Soprano Chen Reiss and countertenor Christophe Dumaux take to the legendary stage of Milan’s Teatro alla Scala on 30 October for the premiere of La Scala’s first ever production of Francesco Cavalli’s exuberant baroque masterpiece La Calisto, in a new staging by...
Chen Reiss makes acclaimed debut at Rome Opera, and returns to Covent Garden
Soprano Chen Reiss managed to complete five of the planned six performances as Mozart’s Zaide at the Teatro dell’Opera di Roma before new regulations forced theatres across Italy to close again last weekend. Earlier in the year it looked as if her scheduled debut with...
Pappano, Finley & Reiss Return The Royal Opera House Autumn 2020!
The Royal Opera House has announced a thrilling an wide-ranging new line-up for its autumn programme. The performances will be performed in front of a live, socially-distanced Covent Garden audience and live streamed to audiences at home. Soprano Chen Reiss and...
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Thomas Walton - General Management
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Reviews
“In the first movement of the motet Exsultate, jubilate Reiss displayed flawless runs and trills, brilliant virtuosity capped by an extravagant cadenza flowing up to a bell-like high note. At the end of the “Alleluia” finale, lithe and vivacious, Reiss interpolated a shimmering high C. In two opera arias, Reiss showed great dignity in her stage presence […] In “Dove sono,” from Le Nozze di Figaro, her Countess sighed with almost fragile delicacy, especially in the very soft repeat of the main melody. More sparkling runs proved the highlight of “Non mi dir,” from Don Giovanni…”
“The Last four Lieder by Richard Strauss were premiered in Valencia in 1960, only 12 years after its creation, by the Afro-American soprano Theresa Coleman and the Valencian José Ferriz. On Thursday they were recreated again by Chen Reiss, an Israeli lyric soprano already heard at the Real and the Liceu. Hers was a highly emotional, generous and even moving delivery, accompanied by the chief and artistic director Alexander Liebreich.
The wide vocal range of these pieces was presented by the invited soprano, with an absolute respect for the intensity of the text. She effortlessly added endless nuances, managing to create a magnetic connection with the audience that was on board with her from the very first bars.
It was a splendid debut.”
“Both eyes and ears are captured by soprano Chen Reiss. With her luscious voice and warm spirit she brings a firm clarity to the songs, sensitively orchestrated by Tal-Haim Samnon, and displays her delicious timbre in piece after piece with a conviction and a sense of drama that find their peak in a superb “Die frühen Gräber” and especially in “Hero und Leander”. This dramatic scene opens a window onto what an opera composed by Fanny could have been. History decided otherwise, alas!”
“In the keystone finale, Chen Reiss brings to the child’s vision of heaven a reading as searchingly poignant as it is sweetly pretty with an appreciable lightness of touch and due sense of wonder.”
“Soprano Chen Reiss brings vocal radiance, elegance, compelling emotional commitment, and stunning technique to Stravinsky’s magical (but also fiendish) vocal writing.”
“Chen Reiss brought us all the accuracy and purity of her singing. Very flexible and lyrical throughout the range, she showcases her colours at the highest end of the vocal spectrum, always with excellent command of the text, impeccably pronounced, traced perfectly towards the final phrases of the song.”
The Israeli soprano Chen Reiss takes on the role of the protagonist with sensuality and grace. Her light soprano voice resounds exquisitely and with a beautiful clear and luminous timbre, silvery and bright in the high notes; her interpretation is sympathetic and sensitive, credibly outlining a heartfelt nymph and, when necessary, in love.
More Reviews
“Chen Reiss declaims Mahler 4 with all the poetry and irony necessary. The voice has a communicative warmth. The timbre, like a ripe vintage, blessed with a perfect balance of sweet and sharp. Her technique and breath control allows her detailed attack and phrasing, and high-lying pianos with the most beautiful effect.”
“Despite the complexity of the expanded harmonic language and their technical difficulty, Chen Reiss’s performance [of Berg’s Sieben fruhe lieder] was sublime from the first to the last piece. With a timbre both powerful yet soft at the same time, her voice was full of liveliness and a nuanced pliancy ideal for the repertoire, perfect German diction and a magnificent expressive articulation of the text. Chen Reiss’s voice shone on stage and enhanced the beauty of these songs even more. Particularly beautiful were ‘The Nightingale’ and ‘The Loving Ode’, in which she demonstrated a great melodic sense put at the service of the poet’s lyrics.”
“Chen Reiss was a Calisto of lyrical voice with airiness at the top, singing with intelligence and a richness of inflection and accent, giving full characterization of the character in the arias.”
“Soprano Chen Reiss pleased us with a middle register characterized by a beautiful lyrical colour, which expands with softness and naturalness in the high register, well supported and ringing. The voice is expressive and bends well to the interpretative needs of the character of Calisto, a role that passes from the initial imperturbability of the nymph, to the joys of the discovery of love, to then arrive at the sad and dignified resignation in accepting her celestial destiny.”
“The performance of Israeli soprano Chen Reiss, whose interpretation of Bernstein’s Chichester Psalms, conducted by John Axelrod, rates as the best I have ever heard. […] Chen Reiss’s voice exactly met Bernstein’s demands – she sounded innocent, heavenly, pure, and very youthful. Chen Reiss acted as if praying while singing, and phrased beautifully with her beautiful voice.”
“Chen Reiss, making her Royal Opera debut at this performance, made Zerlina a character of both charm and guile, matched by a voice of silver brightness and clarity.”
“Here it was the Israeli soprano Chen Reiss, making her house debut in this role (she is a regular with the Vienna State Opera). Here is a Zerlina that is no innocent, stripping for the Don and realizing the power she has over the male libido. The duet ‘La ci darem’ was all the more delicious for Reiss’ slight depth to her voice: this is no soubrette Zerlina.”
“Chen Reiss fields a supple, vernal lyric-coloratura that soars without strain or hardness into the stratosphere. […] she can spin a pure legato and always phrases musically, with rubato growing naturally from the curve of the line and the flux of the harmony. The florid melismas and high tessitura of Krenek’s ‘Die Nachtigall’ – and the tricky, vaulting leaps of the Berg songs are negotiated with effortless grace.”
