Biography

Possessing an exciting versatility that is equally at home on opera, concert and recital stages, Serena Benedetti's voice has been heralded by Opera News as "a pure-toned soprano that soared radiantly in the high climaxes."

Recent highlights include Mozart’s Requiem and Forrest’s Requiem at Carnegie Hall, Dvorák’s Stabat Mater with Greenwich Choral Society and Beethoven Symphony No. 9 with The York Symphony. Haydn’s Lord Nelson Mass at Carnegie Hall, Orff’s Carmina Burana with the Illinois Symphony, and Beethoven Symphony No. 9 with The Glacier Symphony postponed/canceled due to COVID-19.

Ms. Benedetti starred as La Sua Compagna in Luigi Nono’s Intolleranza with the American Symphony Orchestra at Carnegie Hall led by Leon Botstein in 2019. “Serena Benedetti, who drew the (Beverly) Sills role of the Emigrant’s Companion, tossed the crazy music off like some amiable cabaletta, her lovely, deep soprano mastering the dramatic phrases lyrically, the lyric phrases dramatically. This is a voice one is very eager to hear take on more wide-ranging assignments. Apparently, she can do anything beautifully.”  (Parterrebox.com)

In demand as a concert artist, Benedetti made back-to-back appearances in Bach’s Magnificat and Mozart’s Grand Mass In C Minor with the Greenwich Chor Society.  She performed By Homer, an oratorio by Rimsky-Korsakov, with the Bard Festival in 2018. Previous concert highlights include Handel’s Messiah at Carnegie Hall under the baton of John Rutter. Other Carnegie Hall performances include the New York Oratorio Society in repertoire ranging from Vivaldi to Mendelssohn. She has performed Brahms’ Requiem and Orff’s Carmina Burana with Southwest Florida Symphony, Handel’s Messiah with the Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra and Barber’s Knoxville: Summer Of 1915 and Mahler’s Symphony no. 4 with the Eroica Ensemble. With New York's Chelsea Symphony at Bargemusic the New York Times praised her “warmly lyrical performance of Barber's ‘Knoxville: Summer of 1915', a lissome, sweetly sung account." She is a repeat favorite of the Sacred Music in a Sacred Space Series in New York with Maestro Kent Tritle, performing Bach’s Magnificat and St. John Passion, Massenet’s La Terre Promise and Gounod’s Tobie. She has appeared with the National Symphony, Danish Radio Symphony, Atlanta Symphony, Eugene Symphony, the National Cathedral Choir, Greater Palm Beach Symphony Society, Lancaster Symphony, Garden State Philharmonic, the Princeton Symphony, and others. She also collaborated with legendary artist Dave Brubeck in his oratorio, La Fiesta De La Posada.

Winner of a Marian Anderson Career Grant for Emerging Classical Artists, highlights of her operatic appearances include the role of Frantik in The New York Philharmonic's production of Janacek's The Cunning Little Vixen conducted by Alan Gilbert, Susanna in Le nozze di Figaro with the Sarasota Opera, Musetta in La bohème with the Palm Beach Opera, Fiordiligi in Così fan tutte with the Utah Symphony and Opera, Marzelline in Fidelio with Virginia Opera, and many others.

Ms. Benedetti has been heard extensively in both recital and chamber performances with the Ludwig van Beethoven Festival in Warsaw, Poland, where she presented a recital of Richard Strauss lieder, the Lyric Chamber Music Festival at the Guggenheim Museum in New York, Maverick Music Festival, the Songfest Series (Princeton, NJ), and in venues including The National Cathedral in Washington, DC, Alice Tully Hall, Merkin Concert Hall, the Kosciuszko Foundation in New York, and Detroit Symphony Hall. She has collaborated with members of the New York Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, the New Jersey Symphony, and with pianists JJ Penna and Brian Zeger. Recital/chamber works include Villa-Lobos’ Bachiana Brasileiras no. 5, the Simple Songs of Aaron Jay Kernis, the Brentano Lieder (Op. 68) of Richard Strauss, Schubert’s Shepherd On The Rock, and works by 20th Century composers, including David Del Tredici, William Bolcom, Ricky Ian Gordon, Lee Hoiby and Stephen Sondheim.

Using her voice on behalf of the next generation of artists, Serena is becoming a leader in the field of classical music education as Founder and Executive Director of Valissima, a conducting institute for young women. In collaboration with conductors Christian Capocaccia and Michael Gilbert, and guest faculty Alan Gilbert and Karina Canellakis, Serena has successfully created a new vision for breaking ground in putting young women onto the conductor’s podium in an effort to inspire the artistic leaders of tomorrow.