Cynthia Makris

{{Short description|American soprano opera singer (born 1956)}} thumb|On the water in Florida '''Cynthia Makris''' (born 1956) is an American soprano opera singer as well as a voice and empowerment coach.

== Early life and education == Makris was born in Sterling, Colorado, USA, and has a Bachelor of Arts degree in History and Music Performance from Adams State College.<ref name="WW">{{Cite book|title=International Who's Who in Classical Music 2003|date=24 April 2003 |page=496|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-85743-174-2}}</ref> Cynthia also has a degree in Interior Design from Palm Beach State College.

== Opera Singer and Voice Coach == Cynthia Makris brings 30 years of experience singing major operatic roles in the leading opera houses of the world to her voice coaching. Her vast repertoire ranges from bel canto to dramatic, from Bellini, Donizetti, and Mozart to Verdi, Richard Strauss, and Wagner. Her career brought her to the stages of the world, including La Scala, Covent Garden, and the Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires. She has lived and worked in nearly every country in Europe, as well as Japan, Singapore, Australia, Brazil, Chile, Mexico, and Argentina. Makris has been praised not only for the beauty of her voice but also for the integrity, honesty, and depth of her portrayals of figures as diverse as Puccini’s fragile title heroine, Madama Butterfly, to Verdi’s Lady Macbeth or Strauss’ Salome, which she has performed over three hundred times on five continents.

Cynthia is multilingual and has sung in many languages. This, along with her knowledge of musical styles, makes her an ideal coach for the serious classical student. She also specializes in preparing young people for auditions and building the foundation for their vocal technique. Her students have been accepted into the prestigious Bak Middle School for the Arts and the Dreyfoos High School for the Arts, as well as receiving college scholarships to pursue degrees in vocal music.

Cynthia has been coaching singers since 2007. She has a B.A. in Music Performance and is a certified life coach and master practitioner of NLP. She is a very demanding teacher and expects her students to have a high demand of themselves. Understanding that the voice is a very intimate part of a person’s makeup, she is also very compassionate and positive and always on the side of the student, empowering at all times. Ms. Makris teaches a natural and healthy approach to developing the voice, using the body’s own resonance chambers. It is especially important for children, whose voices are still developing, to learn a natural style of singing which will support the still maturing voice and not put unnecessary strain on the vocal chords. Classical Italian techniques uncover the natural beauty of each voice. The goal is an instrument which is integrated in all registers, which is capable of a wide variety of expression and has both power and beauty throughout.

== Career == Makris has sung major soprano roles at La Scala and the Royal Opera House, the Finnish National Opera and many other opera houses. She has performed in Europe, South America, and Asia. Her repertoire ranges from coloratura to dramatic roles including the title role in ''Salome'' by Richard Strauss.<ref name="WW" /> For Opera Queensland she sang Abigaille in Verdi's ''Nabucco in 2007 and ''Turandot'' in 2008.''

Her first professional role was as Tosca with the Denver Lyric Opera Company.

== Awards == Makris won the Metropolitan Opera Regional award for young singers as well the San Francisco Opera Regional award two consecutive years during her graduate studies in vocal performance at the University of Colorado at Boulder.

She received an award in 1982 from the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia for her performance of the three heroines in ''The Tales of Hoffmann''.<ref>[http://www.datenbanksoftware.net/article/F%C3%B6rderpreis_des_Landes_Nordrhein-Westfalen_f%C3%BCr_junge_K%C3%BCnstlerinnen_und_K%C3%BCnstler "Förderpreis des Landes Nordrhein-Westfalen für junge Künstlerinnen und Künstler"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110723081013/http://www.datenbanksoftware.net/article/F%C3%B6rderpreis_des_Landes_Nordrhein-Westfalen_f%C3%BCr_junge_K%C3%BCnstlerinnen_und_K%C3%BCnstler |date=2011-07-23 }} {{in lang|de}}</ref>

She was Artist of the Year of the Savonlinna Opera Festival in 2006, an award for her contribution to the festival since 1993, when she sang Lady Macbeth in {{ill|Ralf Långbacka|fi}}'s televised production of Verdi's opera.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.makrismastercoaching.com/artist.php |title=Cynthia Makris – Artist of the Year |access-date=2010-11-04 |archive-date=2011-07-14 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110714023641/http://www.makrismastercoaching.com/artist.php |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{IMDb title|0428793|Macbeth|(TV 1993)}}</ref>

== Personal life == Cynthia is married to Finnish tenor, Raimo Sirkiä and has a son, Pete Makris, who lives in Colorado. She lives in Florida, USA, and in Helsinki, Finland.

==Repertoire== {| class="wikitable" ! Composer ! Opera ! Role ! Opera Company / Partial List |- |Beethoven |Fidelio |Leonore |Finnish National Opera |- |Bellini |Norma |Norma |Finnish National Opera

Opera of Philadelphia

Badisches Staatstheater |- |Brand |Maschinist

Hopkins |Nell |Theater Bielefeld

Teatro Colón Buenos Aires

Royal Swedish Opera

Teatro Bellini Catania

Antonia

Giulietta |Theater Bielefeld

Niederlandse Reisopera

Teatro Regio Torino

Badisches Staatstheater

Finnish National Opera

Opéra-Comique Paris

Teatro Argentino de la Plata

Teatro Colón Buenos Aires

Auditorio National Mexico City

Esplanade Singapore

Queensland Opera

New National Theatre Tokyo |- |Richard Strauss |Ariadne auf

Australian Opera

New National Theatre Tokyo

Opera of Philadelphia

Finnish National Opera

Opéra national du Rhin

Teatro municipal Rio de Janeiro

Staatsoper Berlin

Bayerische Staatsoper

Teatro Nacional de São Carlos

Royal Swedish Opera

Opéra de Rouen

Teatro Colón Buenos Aires

Theater Bonn

Royal Opera Covent Garden

Theater Freiburg

Deutsche Oper am Rhein

Badisches Staatstheater

Staatstheater am Gärtnerplatz

Theater Bielefeld

Opera Corpus Christi

Finnish National Opera

Teatro Municipal de São Paulo

Teatro Colón Buenos Aires

Opera Leipzig

Tampere Opera

Operahaus Dortmund |- |Zandonai |Francesca da Rimini |Francesca |Teatro Colón Buenos Aires |}

==References== <references />

==External links== * {{official website|https://cynthiamakris.com/}} * {{IMDb name|1736975}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Makris, Cynthia}} Category:1956 births Category:Living people Category:20th-century American women opera singers Category:21st-century American opera singers Category:21st-century American women opera singers Category:American operatic sopranos Category:Adams State University alumni Category:People from Sterling, Colorado Category:Reiki practitioners Category:Singers from Colorado Category:University of Colorado Boulder alumni