SARAH MARIA PUNGA mezzosoprano�

Sarah Maria Punga graduated with the highest honors from the Conser-vatory of Verone where along with voice (with an emphasis on art songs), she studied piano and classical dance. She continued her vocal studies at The Europe’s Accademy under the di-rection of Carlo Bergonzi, with particular attention to the Verdian re-pertory, later continuing her studies in New York and Milan. Her powerful and wide-ranging voice, united with uncommon stage pre-sence, has brought her to the most important theaters in the world where she has collaborated with directors such as Liliana Cavani, Franco Zeffirelli, Hugo De Ana, Lorenzo Mariani, and Pierluigi Pizzi as well as conductors such as Alain Lombard, Daniel Oren, Marcello Viotti, Steven Mercurio, Gianandrea Noseda. After debuting at a very early age on the stage of Verdi’s theater in Sassari. Ms. Punga won and was a finalist in many international compe-titions: like the television competition conducted by Pippo Baudo with the big guests like Renato Bruson and Katia Ricciarelli or the first prize at the international Puccini’s Voice competition in Milan, which brought her to the attention of the critics and public, opening important doors inter-nationally. She is an ideal interpreter of Carmen; in fact, the morning after her debut, the newspapers commented: "Never was Carmen so sensual and seductive". She has performed Carmen with great success in numerous productions, at theaters including: The Arena of Verone (directed by Zeffirelli and conducted by A. Lombard), the Perelada Festival (directed by Calisto Bieto and conducted by Gianandrea Noseda), Antwerp (televised), Rome (in a recording for Radio3), in Sofia for the inauguration of the Music Festival Palace of Culture (also televised), Mexico City, in Bellinzona Fe-

stival, in Russia,in Graz Austria in Avenches Festival (Swiss) and in China Shanghai for the televised opening of The Arts Festival, directed by the celebrated Zhang Yimou of the Raise The Red Lantern. Ms. Punga's repertory includes many of the great mezzo soprano roles. In response to her Amneris (very important role in Verdi’s Aida), a role she has interpreted several times, some critics described "A golden voi-ce of Amneris " "a lesson in art," and "monumental singing."Productions of particular interest have been: The Arena of Verone di-rected by Pier Luigi Pizzi and conducted by Daniel Oren, The Avenches Festival, the Verdi’s Festival directed by Franco Zeffirelli, Theater Co-munale of Florence directed by Lorenzo Mariani, Amsterdam directed by Ionesco, Geneve and The Cairo Festival at The Pyramids. She has also interpreted the role of the gipsy Azucena to public and critical acclaim. The critics described a "sublime interpreter of Azucena" and "a great success for Sarah M. Punga, splendid in the role of Azuce-na." Other productions were at the Theater Massimo Bellini of Catania and at the Festival of Avenches which was recorded for Radio Suisse. Fur-ther roles in her repertory are: Fenena, which she performed at the Arena of Verone, directed by Hugo De Ana and conducted by Daniel Oren, at the Festival of Avenches, and in Spain;as well as the role of Maddalena, which she performed at the Arena of Verone (DVD RAITRADE cast Nucci, Mula,Machado directed by Roubau and conducted by Viotti) and in three more productions at the Theater Carlo Felice in Genoa; As Olga in Evgeni Onegin, she performed at Ver-di’s Theater in Trieste where she won an award for artist of the year. In Cavalleria Rusticana, she performed at the Liric Theater of Cagliari, The Theater Massimo of Palermo, the Theater Comunale of Bologna and toured in Japan with the director Liliana Cavani. In Cavalleria, she also toured Finland in Savonlinna Festival (directed by Lorenzo Mariani and conducted by Donato Renzetti); Other roles include the Princess Aunt in Suor Angelica, Verdi's Requiem, Princess Eboli, Dalila, Bouillon’s Princess of Adriana Lecouvreur, Laura and La Cieca of Ponchielli’s Gioconda, Ulri-ca of Ballo in Maschera, Charlotte of Werther and Federica of Luisa Miller (DVD Bongiovanni). Upcoming roles include Carmen in Mexico and

Cavalleria in Peru, Ulrica of Ballo in Maschera at Grange Park London, Cavalleria Rusticana and Rigoletto at theater of Salerno and Giocaste at theater Comunale of Firenze.Upcoming soon her first CD solo.