The soprano Elisabete Matos (1964), born in Caldas das Taipas, is a Portuguese singer internationally recognized. She studied violin and voice at the Calouste Gulbenkian Music Conservatory in Braga, later moving to Madrid on a scholarship from the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation to further her training with Ángeles Chamorro, Marimí del Pozo, Féliz Lavilla, and Miguel Zanetti (1986–1991).¹
Her debut in a leading role took place in 1997 as Donna Elvira (Don Giovanni) at the Hamburg Opera, and from that point forward she performed in productions at some of the world’s leading opera houses. Highlights include her participation in the world premiere of Divinas palabras by Antonio García Abril, alongside Plácido Domingo, at the Teatro Real in Madrid (1997); her debut in Washington as Dolly in Sly by Wolf-Ferrari, with José Carreras (1999); and her appearance in Seville as Chimène in Le Cid by Massenet, again with Plácido Domingo (1999). She has also appeared at major venues such as the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona, the Palau de la Música in Valencia, the Teatro Regio in Turin, the Rome Opera, La Fenice in Venice, Teatro alla Scala in Milan, the Opéra de Nice, the Vienna State Opera, and the Metropolitan Opera in New York, among many others.²
Alongside her operatic career, Elisabete Matos has frequently appeared in Lied recitals and as a soloist in the choral-symphonic repertoire. Her work has been recorded (on CD and DVD) with institutions such as the Gulbenkian Choir and Orchestra, RTVE, Washington Opera, and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Owing to the breadth of her repertoire—which includes works by composers such as Manuel de Falla, Albéniz, Mozart, Leoncavallo, Verdi, Massenet, Wagner, Poulenc, Antonio García Abril, and Wolf-Ferrari—she is regarded by critics as one of the most versatile lyric sopranos of her time.³
Throughout her career, she has received numerous national and international awards, including the VII City of Logroño Competition (1989), the Luísa Todi Competition (1991), the Arts et Culture Prize at the International Singing Competition in Paris (1991), the V International Singing Competition Jacinto and Inocêncio Guerreiro (1992), the Lola Rodríguez Aragón Prize (1992), third prize at the Julián Gayarre International Singing Competition (1992), and first prize in the Spanish national selection of the Plácido Domingo Competition. In 2000, her recording of the title role in La Dolores by Bretón, for Decca alongside Plácido Domingo, earned her a Grammy Award. Among other distinctions, she was awarded the Order of Prince Henry in 1999.⁴
