Vassiliki Karayanni

soprano – opera singer

Vassiliki Karayanni was born in Patras (Greece) and started her studies in piano, accordion and music theory at a conservatory in her hometown. She received the diploma of Monody as an opera singer with distinction and an award from the National Conservatory and she afterwards continued her studies next to Joseph Metternich in Munich.

From an early age she started her collaboration with the Greek National Opera (GNO), where she continues ceaselessly until the present to perform the most representative and demanding roles of the coloratura soprano repertoire.

In 2012, she made her debut at the Teatro alla Scala singing the role of Olympia in Jacques Offenbach’s “The Tales of Hoffmann”, directed by Robert Carsen.

She has performed in some of the world’s most famous and leading lyric theaters and concert halls, such as the Teatro alla Scala, the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, the Royal Opera House Copenhagen, the Bunkamura Orchard Hall (Tokyo), the Tokyo Opera House, Biwako Hall Center (Japan), the Komische Oper Berlin, the Teatro di San Carlo a Napoli, the Opera di Firenze, the Teatro Nacional de São Carlos (Lisbon), Deutsche Oper am Rhein (Dusseldorf), Sony Concert Hall in Tokyo, the Carnegie Hall, the Queen Elizabeth Hall, the Cadogan Hall (London), ant the Musashino Concert Hall (Tokyo) and many others.

Her impressively extensive repertoire includes many of the most emblematic roles of the lyric coloratura soprano, such the Queen of the Night (The Magic Flute – Mozart), Olympia, Antonia, Giulietta and Stella (The Tales of Hoffmann – Offenbach), Amina (La Sonnambula – Bellini), Marguerite (Faust – Gounod), Gilda (Rigoletto – Verdi), Violetta (La Traviata – Verdi), Lucia (Lucia di Lammermoor – Donizetti), Constanze and Blonde (Abduction from the Seraglio – Mozart), Adina (L’Elisir d’Amore – Donizetti), Norina (Don Pasquale – Donizetti), Zerbinetta (Ariadne auf Naxos – R. Strauss), Rosina (The Barber of Seville – Rossini), Countess Adele (Count Ory – Rossini), Mimi (La Bohème – Puccini) to name just a few.

She has received the Young Artist Award the Greek Drama and Music Association, for her performance as Zerbinetta in Ariadne auf Naxos of R. Strauss, in the production of the Greek National Opera, and the Ilva Ligabue Special Award in Italy.

Her discography includes releases such as The Barber of Seville by Giovanni Paisiello, “Prayer” by Athanasios Simoglou based on the poetry of Constantine P. Cavafy and “Monogram” by Giorgios Kouroupos on the poem of Odysseas Elytis.

In 2006, she received the honorary invitation to give a recital at the Embassy of Greece in Brussels for the President of the Hellenic Republic H.E. Mr. Konstantinos Stefanopoulos and H.R.H. King Albert II of Belgium.

In October of 2021, she sang the Olympic Anthem at the Ancient Stadium of Olympia, during Olympic Flame Lighting Ceremony for the Olympic Games in Beijing 2022.