Lucie Kaňková

Lucie Kaňková is a young coloratura soprano with an exquisite vocal technique and breath control. She studied singing in Bern and Lucerne, Switzerland with Barbara Locher, recently she received her Ph.D. at HAMU in Prague.

She is the recipient of numerous competition awards, including e.g. 1st prize at the Antonín Dvořák’s International Singing Competition 2016, 3rd prize at the Bologna International Vocal Competition 2019, 2nd prize IFAC HANDA Australian Singing Competition 2021 – Audience Prize and 1st prize at the Nomea Competition, with the mention “The Best Opera Singer”, 2nd Prize at the Neapolitan Masters Competition 2022 and 1st prize in Mimas Music Festival in Italy.

Especially, she is admired for her interpretations of coloratura soprano roles as the Queen of the night, Gilda, Violetta, Konstanze, Anna Bolena, Lucia di Lammermoor, L’italiana in Algeri and barocque coloratura roles. Particularly the Queen of the night belongs to the treasures of the Mozart‘s gallery of the female characters. In 2022, Lucie was on tour in Japan with the production of Die Zauberflöte with the Hungarian State Opera. In 2022 she was Violetta in a Live TV broadcast in Chisinau, Moldova, and later Gilda in Rigoletto, at the Opéra Royal de Wallonie-Liège in Belgium, conducted by Daniel Oren and directed by John Turturro. She sings both roles regularly at the Prague State Opera.

Her musicality and secure intonation make her a natural candidate for baroque repertoire (e. g. Raffaelle in Haydn´s Return of Tobias, Poppea in L’Incoronazione di Poppea and oratorios from J. S. Bach and Vivaldi). She sang Poppea in the famous Margravial Opera House in Bayreuth. Her acting, dancing and language skills have also allowed her to expand her repertoire into operetta pieces (e.g. Giuditta and Adele).

In spring 2023, she debuted in the role of Lucia di Lammermoor in Prague with great succeess. She also sang Anna Bolena in the production of the National Theatre in Košice, Slovakia. Lucie was Terinka of Antonín Dvořák‘s Jakobín at the National Theatre Brno, CZ. This production was streamed on the platform Operavision and received multiple positive reviews.

In December 2023 she returned to the Opéra Royal de Liège Wallonie as the Queen of the night and the First Nymph.

photo by Dmitry Skvortsov