Soprano Laura Claycomb has firmly established herself as one of the finest operatic coloratura sopranos
of her generation, best known for her ethereal high notes, impeccable musicianship and dramatic stage
presence. Ms. Claycomb has appeared repeatedly with the Paris Opera, San Francisco Opera, Houston
Grand Opera, Los Angeles Opera, the London Symphony Orchestra, the San Francisco Symphony, Le
Concert d'Astrée, and the Cleveland Orchestra. Further highlights of her varied career range from
engagements at the Salzburg Festival in Austria and the Lucerne Festival in Switzerland, to the BBC
Proms in London and the Teatro alla Scala in Milan.
Laura Claycomb's 2010 schedule includes her return to two of her signature roles, Gilda in Rigoletto (at
Dallas Opera) and Zerbinetta in Ariadne auf Naxos (with the Houston Grand Opera); a performance as
Romilda in Handel's Serse, also with Houston Grand Opera; an appearance in the title role of Lucia di
Lammermoor at Pittsburgh Opera; and a nationwide slate of Mahler symphonic performances with the
San Francisco Symphony. She also takes on the combination of all the heroines in Offenbach’s Les Contes
d’Hoffmann in Moscow, for which she draws on her experience in the role of Olympia in David McVicar's
2000 production. She will also perform an ambitious chamber music concert and Glière's challenging
"Concerto for Coloratura soprano" with the Russian National Orchestra and Mikhail Pletnev, as well as
taking part in Sting and Trudy Styler’s benefit “Twin Spirits” about Clara and Robert Schumann at the
Cortona Festival in Italy.
Looking forward to some highlights of the next several seasons, Laura Claycomb plans to expand her
already formidable repertoire while reviving several of her career mainstays. She is scheduled to add the
role of Dircé, in Charpentier’s Medée, to her résumé in performances at the Théâtre de la Monnaie in
Brussels in 2011 and Paris’s Théâtre du Champs-Élysées in 2012. She continues her longstanding
collaboration with the San Francisco Symphony into 2011, joining conductor Michael Tilson Thomas for
an extensive European tour of Mahler’s Second and Fourth Symphonies. Ms. Claycomb will also play
Konstanze in Mozart’s Die Entführung aus dem Serail at the Grand Théâtre de Genève; she last sang that
role in 2003, under the baton of Sebastian Weigle at Berlin’s Staatsoper Unter den Linden.
Laura Claycomb has emerged as a concert repertoire powerhouse, having performed with the Philadelphia
Orchestra, Rotterdam Philharmonic and Les Arts Florissants. She recently tackled soloist roles in Orff's
Carmina burana, Brahms’ Deutsches Requiem, Handel’s Messiah, Faure’s Requiem, Beethoven’s Missa
Solemnis and oratorio Christus am Ölberge, the latter with the Accademia di Santa Cecilia in Rome. Ms.
Claycomb is among today’s foremost Mahler sopranos, having sung solos in the composer’s Symphonies
Nos. 2, 4, and 8 with the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra, London Symphony Orchestra, and Simón
Bolívar Youth Orchestra of Venezuela. She recently appeared to great acclaim in Mahler’s Second
Symphony at Carnegie Hall (with Michael Tilson Thomas and the SFSO). She has been featured on San
Francisco Symphony/Michael Tilson Thomas albums of Mahler’s Fourth and Eighth Symphonies; the
latter won three Grammy® awards in 2009. She also recorded Mahler's Fourth Symphony with Valery
Gergiev and the London Symphony Orchestra.
In recent seasons, Laura Claycomb has appeared in several high-profile productions that led to live
recordings. In 2008, she took part in the daring creation and year-long tournée of Pitié, Alan Platel and
Fabrizio Cassol’s dance theater piece based on Bach’s St. Matthew Passion with Les Ballets C de la B,
recorded for Cypres Records. She appeared at London’s Barbican Theatre, playing the role of Teresa in
Berlioz’s Benvenuto Cellini. That performance, with the London Symphony Orchestra under the baton of
Sir Colin Davis, was released on the LSO Live label in 2008. (Ms. Claycomb had previously played—and
recorded—Teresa on a 2003 European tour with Sir Roger Norrington and the Radio-Sinfonieorchester
Stuttgart des SWR.) Also in 2007, Ms. Claycomb portrayed Anne Trulove in Robert LePage's production
of Stravinsky's The Rake's Progress in performances in Lyon and Brussels; she solidified this part as one
of her signature roles in Olivier Py's 2008 production of the opera at the Garnier Opera in Paris. The
Brussels performances were released on DVD in 2008.
Laura Claycomb's extensive recording catalog includes numerous albums of bel canto operas and chamber
music with Britain’s Opera Rara label, Handel's Arcadian Duets with Emmanuelle Haïm and Le Concert
D'Astrée, and Ligeti's Le Grand Macabre with Esa-Pekka Salonen and the London Sinfonietta. Other
recordings include a 2007 Carmina burana with the London Symphony Orchestra and Richard Hickox
(Chandos).
Laura Claycomb began her career as an Adler Fellow at San Francisco Opera, where she has played over a
dozen roles, including Papagena in Die Zauberflöte, Zerbinetta in Ariadne auf Naxos, and Marie in La
fille du régiment. She first captured international attention at the age of 24, when, on short notice, she
assumed the role of Giulietta in Bellini's I Capuleti e i Montecchi at Geneva Opera; Ms. Claycomb has
since sung that part with the Bastille Opera, the Los Angeles Opera, Pittsburgh Opera and the Bayerischer
Rundfunk Orchester in Munich. Since her meteoric rise to prominence, Ms. Claycomb has proven herself
to be an exceptionally versatile soprano, performing more than 75 roles in dozens of works by composers
from Monteverdi to Messiaen.
Laura Claycomb has collaborated with renowned conductors such as Pierre Boulez, Patrick Summers,
Richard Hickox, Yannick Nezet-Seguin, Pinchas Steinberg, Paavo Järvi, and Sir Andrew Davis; and has
originated many new productions with high-profile stage directors including Peter Sellars, Julie Taymor,
James Robinson and David Alden. Earlier in her career, she earned the Silver Medal at the International
Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow, the Pegasus Prize at Spoleto Festival in Italy, the Operetta Prize at
the Belvedere Competition in Vienna, and First Prize in the National Opera Association Competition in
the U.S. Laura Claycomb has developed a strong interest in the training and nurturing of the next
generation of operatic artists and currently serves as consultant for the Bolshoi Young Artist Program. A
native of Texas and a frequent performer across four continents, Ms. Claycomb lives with her husband in
Italy.