Melba Ramos
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Soprano Melba Ramos was born in Aguadilla, Puerto Rico. She received her vocal education at the Pablo Casals Conservatory of Music in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
In 1987 she was awarded the first prize of the District metropolitan Opera Auditions and that same year made her official stage debut as Despina in Mozart's Cosi fan tutte. She won again the first prize in the 1988 and 1990 District Metropolitan Opera Auditions.
From 1989 to 1992 she was a member of the Opera Studio of the Opera of Cologne and worked there with renowned conductors and stage directors such as James Colon, Michael Hampe and Jurgen Rose.
Her first engagement brought Melba Ramos to the Opera of Wuppertal, where she excelled in roles such as Titania in Brithen's A Midsummernight's Dream, as Gilda in Verdi's Rigoletto, as Lucia in Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermour and as Pamina in Mozart's The Magic Flute. This latter role also marked her debut with the Komische Oper Berlin and brought her to Spain, singing in Gran Teatro Liceu Barcelona, Teatro Principal en Valencia and Teatro de Santiago de Compostella.
At the Komische Oper in Berlin she guested as Pamina in The Magic Flute and as Liù in Turnandot. With the State Opera Berlin and with Westchester Hudson Opera Company New York she appeared as Gilda.
Another important debut was the role of the Queen of the Night in Mozart's The Magic Flute with the Volksoper of Vienna and with the Bonn Opera both in the season of 1996/97. In spring 2001 she made her highly acclaimed debut as Genio in the premiere of Haydn's L'Anima del Filosofo with the Scwetzingen Festival, staged by Achim Freyer and conducted by Thomas Hengelbrock. In autumn, the same year, she covered Cecilia Bartoli in the Royal Opera House of Covent Garden Production of this piece conducted by Hogwood.
Ms. Ramos' repertoire furthermore includes roles such as Donna Anna/Don Giovanni, Konstanze/Die Entfuhrung aus dem Serail, Olympia/Les Contes D’Hoffmann, Norina/ [[Don Pasquale, Liù/Turandot and of course Violetta/La Traviata, a role she sang critically acclaimed with the Opera Company of Mannheim, Festival Gars am Kamp, Bremer Theater, am Osnabrücker Stadttheater, Bühnen der Stadt Bielefeld and in Kassel.
Her equally impressive concert appearances include the Cologne Philharmonic, Oper Lesna Sopot (Polen), Sala Palau de la Música, Valencia and Auditorio Nacional de Música de Madrid (Spain), interpreting oratorio, lieder and opera repertoire.
In January 2002 she gave her debut as Donna Eleonora/Prima La Musica; Poi le Parole in a concert performance conducted by Nikolaus Harnoncourt during the Salzburg Winter Festspiel.
In the same season Ramos also sang the title role from Graun’s Cleopatra e Cesare and Donna Anna/Don Giovanni having a big success.
The same year she made her debut with the Salzburg Pentecostal Festival singing the role of Tigrane/Radamisto, further on she sang the role of Faustina in the world premiere of Joachim Raff’s opera Benedetto Marcello during the Bad Urach’s Festival.
Season 2002/2003 marked her role debut as Fiordiligi/Cosi Fan Tutte, a role she interpreted in Wuppertal, and in Salzburg in the Mozart-Woche, staged by Christine Miellitz.
At the present time she sings at the Volksoper Wien the roles of Contessa/Le Nozze di Figaro, Violetta/La Traviata, Micaela/Carmen, Vittelia/La Clemenza di Tito and Pamina/Zauebrflote.
Latterly Ms. Ramos added new roles to her repertoire such as Elvira's in Holzbauer's Il Figlio delle Selve at the Opéra Comédie in Montpellier, Wanda in Maw's Sophie's Choice at the Deutsche Oper Berlin and the Volksoper Wien and all the heroines in Les Contes D’Hoffmann at the Wuppertaler Bühnen and many concerts in different European cities.
