Cretan soprano Theano Papadaki is rapidly coming to attention for her eye-catching performances, visceral physicality and vocal versatility.

In summer 2023, she performed at the BBC Proms, the Berlin Philharmonic, the Chateau de Versailles Royal Opera, and the Salzburg Festival, as one of the Trojan women in Berlioz's Les Troyens under Dinis Souza (★★★★★ Times, Telegraph, Observer, Evening Standard, Financial Times, Arts Desk).
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This year, Theano was selected as a soloist alongside Miriam Allan, Anna Dennis and Mariana Flores for John Eliot Gardiner's upcoming documentary on Monteverdi and his contemporaries, performing and filming in the Galleria Borghese and at other venues in Rome, Cremona, Mantua and Venice.

A magnetising and imaginative recitalist, recent successes include a programme around Ophelia and Hamlet, performed at Milton Court Concert Hall with pianist JongSun Woo. Drawing from four centuries of musical responses to Shakespeare, Theano's Ophelia programme fuses works by Purcell, Schubert, Strauss and Castelnuovo-Tedesco with Christian Jost's Hamlet Echoes (2010) for voice, viola and piano.

Other recital highlights at Milton Court include Respighi's Il tramonto, Ravel's Shéhérazade in a programme curated by Julius Drake, songs by Wolf, Brahms and Schubert curated by Graham Johnson, and music by Mozart, Beethoven, Schoenberg and Schumann curated by Eugene Asti.

A keen performer of new music, Theano has worked closely with Georges Aperghis, performing his Récitations (1978) and Énumerations (1988), and with Cheryl Frances-Hoad, Nicolas Tzortzis and Christian Jost.

In January 2023, Theano was chosen to participate in Barbara Hannigan's masterclass at the Musikkollegium Winterthur, where she performed Shéhérazade. She has also been fortunate enough to sing in masterclasses with Richard Hetherington, Jack LiVigni, Adrian Kelly, Tobias Truniger, Kamal Khan and Julia Bullock.

Theano's operatic repertoire includes: Gretel Hansel und Gretel, Blanche A Streetcar Named Desire (Previn), Countess The Voice of Ariadne (Musgrave), Phèdre Hippolyte et Aricie (Rameau), Calisto La Calisto (Cavalli), Fedra L'Egisto, Polissena Radamisto, Romilda Serse, Adina L’elisir d’amore, Norina Don Pasquale, Giulietta I Capuleti e i Montecchi, Ilia Idomeneo, Susanna Le Nozze di Figaro, and Despina Così fan tutte. In 2023, she joined the chorus for Cavalleria Rusticana & Pagliacci at West Green House Opera, under the direction of John Ramster and John Andrews.

Theano is a graduate of the Guildhall School of Music and Drama with a Masters in Vocal Performance (Distinction). As an undergraduate, she won First Prize at Athens Conservatoire (Vocal Performance).

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