“It’s not often that a fortunate operagoer witnesses the birth of a star!,” critics hailed for Danielle Talamantes’ recent role début as Violetta in La traviata, a role she performed again in her Hawaii Opera Theatre début.
This season’s engagements include Mahler’s Symphony No. 4 and Carmina Burana with the National Philharmonic, Verdi’s Requiem with both the Pensacola Symphony and North Carolina Master Chorale, the soprano soloist in Britten’s War Requiem with Opera Roanoke, as well as concerts with Lyric Fest, The United States Naval Academy, Choralis, the Artist Series of Sarasota (with husband Kerry Wilkerson), the Washington Arts Ensemble, and the Music Center at Strathmore. Last season, Talamantes made her Washington National Opera début as Maria Hernández in Kamala Sankaram’s Rise as part of their production Written in Stone, and recorded Mosaic for Earth at Virginia Tech. She performed Henry Dehlinger’s Kohelet for the Washington Master Chorale and the Santa Clara Chorale, Mimi in La bohéme for Jackson Symphony, Beethoven’s 9th Symphony for Fairfax Symphony, and the Artpark concert series with the Buffalo Philharmonic.

2020 engagements were to include a return to the Metropolitan Opera for Carmen along with over 10 concert engagements, including two world premiere pieces. In 2021, she appeared in the World Premiere of Henry Dehlinger’s The Love Song of Alfred Prufrock for the National Philharmonic, as a soloist in Washington Concert Opera’s Women’s Suffrage Virtual Concert, St. Petersburg Opera’s Virtual Concert Recital Series, in Close Encounters with Music’s Virtual Opera Gala, and in recital with Kerry Wilkerson for Opera Roanoke.

Other recent engagements for Ms. Talamanates include the role of Mimì in La bohéme with Fairfax Symphony, her Hawaii Opera Theater début as Violetta in La traviata, Beatrice in Il Postino with Virginia Opera, and with The Metropolitan Opera for their production of Carmen. In addition, she appeared as a soloist in multiple classical masterworks including Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with DCINY, Verdi’s Requiem with the National Philharmonic, Fauré’s Requiem and Vaughan Williams’ Serenade to Music with Eugene Concert Choir, Brahms’ Requiem with Riverside Choral Society at Lincoln Center, Fauré’s Requiem and Mozart’s Missa brevis in C Major with MidAmerica Productions at Carnegie Hall, Mendelssohn’s Elijah with Choralis, Händel’s Messiah with La Jolla Symphony, and in the National Philharmonic’s Bernstein Choral Celebration concert.

Danielle first earned a spot on the Metropolitan Opera roster in the spring of 2011, covering the role of Najade in Ariadne auf Naxos, and was subsequently reengaged to cover the role of the Flower Maiden in Wagner’s Parsifal, joined the house for their production of The Exterminating Angel, the soprano in the quartet of lovers in the Baroque pastiche The Enchanted Island, and in Strauss’ Die Frau ohne Schatten. This rising star made her exciting stage début as Frasquita in Bizet’s Carmen in a return to The Metropolitan Opera and has since returned to perform the role of Anna in Nabucco. Other notable operatic engagements include the role of Marzelline in Fidelio with the Princeton Festival; Mimì in La boheme with the Symphony of Northwest Arkansas; the title role of Susannah with Opera Roanoke; Violetta in La traviata with Finger Lakes Opera; Donna Anna in Don Giovanni at Cedar Rapids Opera; the role of Sergente in Veremonda at Spoleto Festival USA; and Act I of La bohéme with the Symphony of Northwest Arkansas at Walton Arts Center.

As a distinguished concert artist, Ms. Talamantes has sang the soprano solo in Händel’s Messiah with National Philharmonic, The New Choral Society, United States Naval Academy, and Austin Symphony & Chorus Austin; Brahms’ Requiem with National Philharmonic, and St. Mary’s College; Mozart’s Requiem with Phoenix Symphony Orchestra, National Philharmonic, Washington National Cathedral, and Fairfax Symphony; Verdi’s Requiem with Gloria Musicae; Barber’s Knoxville: Summer of 1915 with Manchester Symphony Orchestra; Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with National Philharmonic, and Fairfax Symphony; Poulenc’s Gloria with Arizona State University’s Symphony Orchestra; Exsultate, jubilate with the National Philharmonic and the City Choir of Washington; and Dvořák’s Stabat Mater at North Carolina Master Chorale. Other concert engagements include Lobos’s Bachianas brasileiras No. 5, Bach’s Magnificat, and Fiordiligi in Così fan tutte with the National Philharmonic; the world première of Bartoldus’s Magnificat, Handel’s Laudate pueri dominum, and Charpentier’s Te Deum with The City Choir of Washington; a concert entitled “Fanfare for the Uncommon Woman!” with Close Encounters with Music at the Manchester Music Festival and Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts; “Mozart on a Summer’s Eve” with Spokane Symphony; the soprano solo in an all Bach concert with Gamut Bach Ensemble and Philadelphia Chamber Music Society;, two solo performances in Spokane’s Northwest Bach Festival and Series; a Canciones Españolas concert at The Cosmos Club in Washington, DC; Fairfax Symphony Orchestra’s 60th anniversary gala concert; a concert celebrating the Bernstein Centennial at the Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center; and recitals and masterclasses with El Paso Pro-Musica and Catawba College.

She débuted at Alice Tully Hall as the soprano soloist in Bob Chilcott’s Requiem, the soprano lead in a world première production of Janice Hamer’s Lost Childhood with the National Philharmonic in Washington D.C., Elijah with the Blacksburg Master Chorale, Mozart’s Mass in C minor with the City Choir of Washington, and a début of the role of Mimì in Puccini’s La bohème with Capital City Symphony.

Ms. Talamantes and Henry Dehlinger perform Heaven and Earth: A Duke Ellington Songbook, a luscious collection of brand-new arrangements of Duke Ellington standards and irreplaceable gems of the American Songbook – written especially for Ms. Talamantes, in recital at multiple venues across the country, with an album available. She and pianist Henry Dehlinger also perform, in recital, a concert of gorgeous Spanish songs featured in their critically-acclaimed MSR Classics album: Canciones españolas. Talamantes and Dehlinger captivate audiences with tales of amorous longing, joy and despair as they bring the lush music and poetry of Spain to life. More information on both of these concerts is available here and here or at UIAPresents’ website.

An accomplished recitalist, Danielle Talamantes was a featured soloist with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, National Philharmonic Chorale & Orchestra, United States Army Band, Oratorio Society of Virginia, Nashville Symphony, Choralis, and the Baltimore Choral Arts Society. A native of Northern Virginia, Talamantes made her Carnegie Hall début in a sold-out solo recital in 2007, and was the Soprano in Residence for the Summer 2012 at the Marlboro Music Festival in Marlboro, Vermont.

Ms. Talamantes was awarded first-prize in several prestigious opera competitions, including: the Irene Dalis Opera San Jose Competition; Irma M. Cooper Opera Columbus Competition; XII Concurso de Trujillo; International Lotte Lehmann Cybersing Competition; NATS Artist Award; and the Vocal Arts Society Discovery Series competition. In addition, she garnered honors and awards in vocal competitions with the National Opera Association, Liederkranz Foundation, Seoul International Music Competition, Licia Albanese-Puccini Foundation, Giulio Gari Foundation, Gerda Lissner Foundation, Plácido Domingo's Operalia, and Thomas Quasthoff’s Das Lied.