Juliana Gondek studied at the University of Southern California. Her singing teachers have included Kathleen Darragh and William Eddy in Los Angeles, and Sir Peter Pears in Aldeburgh. She has become noted as a soprano of unusual versatility, equally at home in Handel, Mozart, bel canto, and contemporary repertoire, with prominent worldwide appearances at the Metropolitan Opera, the Netherlands Opera, the Scottish Opera, and the opera companies of San Francisco, New York City, Seattle, Dallas, and Houston, under conductors including James Levine, Carlos Kleiber, and Donald Runnicles. She has also sung and recorded several operas conducted by Nicholas McGegan at Germany's major Handel festivals, and she created the part of Ela in David Carlson's Dreamkeepers (Utah Opera); the title role in Stewart Wallace and Michael Korie's Hopper's Wife (Long Beach Opera); and the triple role of Dianne Feinstein/Harvey's Mama/Hooker in Wallace and Korie's Harvey Milk (San Francisco, New York City, and Houston Grand Opera). In concert, Gondek has appeared with the San Francisco Symphony under Herbert Blomstedt, the New York Philharmonic under André Previn, and the Minnesota Orchestra under David Zinman. She also sang Bright Sheng's Songs from the Sung Dynasty in its Far East premiere with the Hong Kong Philharmonic, and later in Seattle and Toronto. Notable in her long list of recitals is a collaboration with pianist Roger Vignoles that included appearances in halls and broadcasting studios in France, Switzerland, and Italy. Her discography contains recordings of Harvey Milk; Mozart's Exsultate jubilate; the Metropolitan Opera production of Die Zauberflöte (video); Handel's Ottone, Radamisto, Giustino, and Ariodante (1996 Gramophone award); a disc of vocal chamber music (Yehudi Menuhin Foundation Prize); and a projected complete recording of the songs of Szymanowski. Ms. Gondek has been a member of the Voice faculty of the UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music since 1997, judges international vocal competitions, and regularly donates her time to work with the vocal groups at Hollywood High School, a Los Angeles Unified School District arts high school.
(Updated: 3/14/2019)
