BIOGRAPHY
Praised by The Boston Globe for her “winsome” voice and hailed a “vision” and “incredible” by The Theatre Times, Italian-American Soprano, Carina DiGianfilippo, enjoys bringing opera to new audiences in ways that are both fun and accessible. She recently performed in the sci-fi opera Cosmic Cowboy with White Snake Projects, made her operatic film debut as Charlene in Service Provider with Helios Opera, and was featured on Vermont Public Radio while performing as Cupidon in the Opera Company of Middlebury’s Orphée aux enfers. She has performed globally, winning First Place in the Concorso Internazionale Rolando Nicolosi Competition in Formello, Italy. She has travelled to China multiple times as part of both the iSING! International Young Artists Festival, where she performed concerts in Mandarin throughout China at venues including the Beijing National Opera, Shanghai Symphony Orchestra, and Suzhou Arts and Culture Center, and as a guest artist with the Xi’an Symphony Orchestra, where she performed Mendelssohn’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream with conductor Dane Lam and soprano Cathy-Di Zhang.
Carina enjoys site specific performing and had the opportunity to perform as Violetta in MassOpera’s La Traviata, which was set in an estate house, and where the audience traveled from room to room with the characters. She also performed as Musetta in Boston Opera Collaborative’s La Bohème, conducted by Beatrice Affron, which was set in a Brewery, and included interactive moments with the audience. She earned great acclaim for this role and was praised for how she “commanded the stage” (The Theatre Times) and for “a voice as playful and sharp as her mannerisms” (Schmopera).
Carina has performed many Mozart roles as well, most recently portraying Susanna in Le Nozze di Figaro with Boston Opera Collaborative, conducted by Tian Hui Ng. She has portrayed Zerlina with Nempac Opera, staged at Faneuil Hall in Boston, MA, and also at the Estates Theatre in Prague under the direction of Sherrill Mines as part of the Prague Summer Night’s Young Artist Festival. She has performed in Die Zauberflöte multiple times, portraying Papagena at Manhattan School of Music, Second lady and Second Knabe with the Lyric Opera Studio Weimar in Germany, and Pamina with the International Lyric Academy in Viterbo, Italy, under the baton of Stefano Vignati. She has also portrayed Despina in Cosi fan tutte, singing the whole role with the Lyric Opera Studio Weimar in Germany, and singing arias in concert with the Nova Amadeus Orchestra as part of the Tuscia Opera Festival in Italy, singing alongside soprano Kristin Sampson, mezzo-soprano Leyla Martinucci and tenor Giuseppe Valentino Buzza. While studying abroad in Europe, she was an active participant at the Mozarteum Masterclass Series in Salzburg, Austria, where she studied with soprano Janet Perry.
Along with the classics, Carina also enjoys singing and collaborating with current composers. She performed as Donna in Jonathan Bailey Holland’s The Battle of Bull Run, a performance that The Boston Globe deemed “the evening’s most fleshed out character, portrayed with care and nuance.” She sang soprano in a National Opera Center (Opera America) workshop of Tashi Tibet, written by Edgar Grana, workshopped the younger woman in A Long Trip by Jordan Kuspa, and performed arias by Avik Sarkar with White Snake Projects. As a student, Carina studied abroad at the Conservatoire de Strasbourg under contemporary specialist Françoise Kubler.
As a young artist, Carina sang with companies including Opera Maine (Port Opera), The Natchez Festival of Music, the American Institute of Musical Studies, Opera in Concert, Opera Viva, Toronto Summer Workshop, New York Lyric Opera, and the Manhattan School of Music Sumer Voice Festival.
Originally from Hinsdale, Illinois, Carina earned her Master of Music from Manhattan School of Music, where she acted as a teaching assistant for Frances Patrelle’s Movement for Singer classes and as co-choreographer for their Undergraduate Senior Opera Theatre. She received her Bachelor of Music at Syracuse University, where she was the recipient of the Anna Freeland Berry Prize, the Music Faculty Award, and the Award for Vocal Excellence.
During the pandemic, Carina eared a Certificate in Effective Grant Proposal Writing from the University of Notre Dame Mendoza College of Business. She uses these skills frequently as the Board of Directors Secretary for the Voices Boston Children’s Choir, based out of Brookline, MA.