Reginal Zona
Soprano
New England Finalist 2003

Soprano Regina Zona is making a name for herself as one of the up and coming bel canto singers of our generation. Whether it is the demanding music of Mozart and Handel or the artistry and character of Donizetti and Bellini, Ms. Zona finds her way comfortably in all styles. This past spring she worked with the Opera Orchestra of New York covering the role of Elena in Donizetti's Marino Faliero and the year before that was seen in Toluca, Mexico where she sang the role of Margeurite in Meyerbeer's Les Huguenots with the Orquesta Sinfonica del Estado de Mexico under the baton of Eve Queler. She also covered that role with the Opera Orchestra of New York.

April of 2001 marked Ms. Zona's New York debut as the soprano soloist in an Evening of Mozart at Lincoln Center with the National Chorale. Perhaps her most critically acclaimed role is Queen of the Night in Die Zauberflöte. She has sung the Queen in St. Louis, Toledo, Sarasota, Tulsa, and Philadelphia where she has been praised for her "brilliantly ringing sound" and "commanding presence." In the spring of 1999, Ms. Zona performed in Yokosuka, Japan at a Gala Concert with the Tokyo Symphony under the baton of Austrian conductor, Gustav Kuhn. A few months prior to that, she sang Donna Anna in Don Giovanni with the Hawaii Opera Theatre. Ms. Zona triumphed in her second season with the Sarasota Opera in 1997 as the flirtatious Musetta in La Bohéme where she "stole the show…with her brilliant soprano and outrageously seductive characterization." In June of 1997, she was a winner of the highly distinguished Neue Stimmen International Vocal Competition in Gütersloh, Germany. Originally from Western New York, Ms. Zona has also taken first place honors in the Mario Lanza Competition, Bel Canto Competition, Liederkranz Competition and was a regional winner of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions.

Considered a "true dramatic coloratura," Ms. Zona's operatic repertoire includes the great bel canto divas: the title roles in Norma, Lucrezia Borgia, and Anna Bolena, as well as the heroines of Mozart and Handel, Konstanze in Die Entführung aus dem Serail, Elektra in Idomeneo, Cleopatra in Giulio Cesare, and Armida in Rinaldo. She received critical accolades for her portrayal of Madame Goldentrill in The Impresario with Greater Buffalo Opera and Alice Ford in Falstaff in Philadelphia.

Equally comfortable on the concert stage as on the operatic stage, Ms. Zona was embraced by critics and the public on a concert tour with the Sarasota Opera as "nothing short of sensational." Her extensive oratorio performances include: Beethoven's Symphony #9, Mahler's Symphony #8, Handel's Messiah, Mozart's Requiem, Orff's Carmina Burana, and Haydn's Lord Nelson Mass.

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