THE SONGBIRD: Lativan soprano Inga Kalna was born in Riga in 1972. She studied voice there and at the Royal Academy of Music in London, followed by her debut as Pamina. As a principal at the Latvian National Opera in the 1990s, early roles included Gilda, Lucia, and Mimi. In 2001, Kalna joined the roster in Hamburg taking on roles that included Adina, Gilda, Lucia, Violetta, Xenia, and the four heroines in "Tales of Hoffmann." Her Alcina was heard in Vienna, Paris, and Moscow, and was her debut role at La Scala in 2009. Kalna has sung a large swath of lyric, dramatic, and florid roles in cities including Amsterdam, Aix-en-Provence, Berlin, Dresden, Innsbruck, Lausanne, Toulouse, and at the Salzburg Festival. This selection is from an all-Verdi concert in Riga in the summer of 2022.

THE MUSIC: The role of Amalia in Verdi's "I Masnadieri" was composed for Jenny Lind, premiering in London in 1847 with Verdi conducting the first two performances. Though initially rather successful -- Queen Victoria and Prince Albert attended the first performance -- the opera has not had much staying power and is only occasionally revived today. Verdi composed most of the opera in Italy, but wanted to hear Jenny Lind, the most famous soprano of her era, in person before completing the score and orchestration. Amalia's aria "Tu del mio Carlo al seno" opens the second act. The plot is too complicated to explain here (the libretto is mostly blamed for the opera's obscurity), but suffice it to say it is in a standard two-part structure of aria and cabaletta, and written in a light, florid mode to match Lind's coloratura voice.

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