Now established as one of the finest Sopranos of her generation, as an emerging artist, Anna Caterina won prestigious prizes at The International Competition for Verdian Voices in 1988, the Maria Callas Competition and the Pavarotti Competition all celebrating her cantilena, expression but above all, the voice itself. From the brilliant Rossini of her early years she moved to Rossini serio and operas including: Mose in Egitto, Semiramide, Elisabetta, regina d’Inghilterra and Ermione. She then introduced into her repertoire Donizetti’s queens, Mozart’s Donna Elvira (Don Giovanni), Elektra (Elektra) and Vitellia (La Clemenza di Tito). This was followed by Gluck’s Armide, staged by Pier Luigi Pizzi and directed by Riccardo Muti, which opened the 1996/97 season at La Scala; Alceste in Parma and Salzburg,; and Cherubini’s Medea in Toulouse and at Paris’ Theatre du Chatelet. Anna Caterina’s triumph as Cassandra in the Chatelet’s 2003 production of Les Troyens with Sir John Eliot Gardiner signalled a shift towards the great heroines of the French repertoire, following in Regine Crespin’s footsteps. A tragedienne was born. In La Juive and Carmen (respectively at Covent Garden under Pappano and at the Opera Comique under Gardiner), Antonacci revived a tradition of French singing in the spirit of Viardot, another great Rossinian. These successes were followed by Handel’s Agrippina and Rodelinda. Antonacci’s portrayal of two roles within L’incoronazione di Poppea, as Poppea in Munich and Nero in Paris, inspired Era la notte, her one woman show around Monteverdi’s Combattimento di tancredi e clorinda, which continues to tour. Equally accomplished in the recital hall as on the operatic stage, her relationship with the pianist Donald Sulzen has allowed her to increasingly focus on Song, be it Italian (Tosti, Respighi) or French, notably Faure (L’horizon chimerique), Debussy or Reynaldo Hahn. 2013 was a landmark year, with the premiere of La Voix humaine and two concerts, Faure’s Penelope and Reyer’s Sigurd. This year began wonderfully for Anna Caterina with Carmen at Covent Garden opposite Roberto Alagna and conducted by Daniel Oren and continues with Les Troyens at La Scala.