Biography

Andrea Danková was born in Lučenec, Slovakia.  She studied at the Conservatory in Žilina and at the Academy of Music in Bratislava.  She won several competitions and prizes.  She won the “Toti Dal Monte” competition in Treviso and was subsequently invited to sing Micaela in Carmen at Teatro Comunale in Treviso under the baton of Peter Maag.

Her career’s most remarkable performances included Micaela in Carmen at Teatro La Fenice, Mimì in La Bohème at Opéra de Lyon (1997), concert performances of Micaela in Carmen in Tokyo, Japan with Kent Nagano and Orchestre de L’Opera National de Lyon (1997), Liù in Turandot and Amelia Grimaldi in Simon Boccanegra with Daniele Gatti in Teatro Comunale di Bologna (1998), her successful US debut as Micaela and Liù at the Opera of San Francisco under the baton of Marco Armiliato (1998), her debut in the United Kingdom as Micaela and Desdemona in concert performances of Carmen and Otello with José Cura and Sir Colin Davis and the London Symphony Orchestra in London (1998, 1999).  Her further most remarkable engagements also include Micaela in Carmen at Teatro Real Madrid (1999), Violetta in La Traviata in the new production of Franco Zeffirelli at Teatro Verdi in Busseto, and Teatro Comunale Ravenna (2002), concert performance of Julia in Dvořák’s, Jacobin with WDR Symphony Orchester Köln under the baton of Mr. Gerd Albrecht in 2003 (recorded and released also on CD), La Bohème at Theatre Santander (2005) and Theatre Cordoba (2006), as well as engagements in new famous productions by Graham Wick of Woglinde in Das Rheingold (2006) and Ortlinde in Die Walküre (2007) at Teatro National de São Carlos in Lisbon.  In May 2007, she made her debut at Teatro alla Scala as Jenufa in Janáček’s Jenufa where she had a big success.

During her carrier she also appeared in numerous new productions of Slovak National Theatre including, among others, Mimì in La Bohème, Elena in Mefistofele, Mařenka in The Bartered Bride, Desdemona in Otello, Elvira in Don Giovanni, Luisa in Luisa Miller, Micaela in Carmen, Violetta in La Traviata, Liu in Turandot, Amelia in Un ballo in Maschera.  She also appeared as Mimi and Elvira in Prague National Theatre.

Her concert repertoire includes Janáček’s Glacolitic Mass (with Sir Colin Davis and the London Symphony Orchestra in Barbican Hall, London and Avery Fischer Hall, Lincoln Center, New York; with Myung-Whun Chung and Bayerische Rundfunk in Munich; with Jiří Kout and Orchestra of Deutsche Oper Berlin), Janáček’s Eternal Gospel, Dvořák’s Te Deum (with Sir Colin Davis and the London Symphony Orchestra in London and New York), Mahler’s 2nd Symphony (with Myung-Whun Chung and London Symphony Orchestra in London).

Her future engagements will include, among others, her debut as Katia in a famous production of Robert Carsen of Janáček’s Katia Kabanova in Teatro Real Madrid under the baton of Jiří Bělohlávek (2008) and Jenufa in Teatro Real Madrid (2009).