Angelica de la Riva

Acclaimed Brazilian soprano with Cuban-Spanish heritage has performed regularly in New York at Carnegie Hall, David Geffen Hall -the house of the New York Philharmonic- and Alice Tully Hall, also at ShenZen Concert Hall in China and the opera houses in São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, in Brasil. Angelica has also sung in France, Italy and Dubai, AbuDhabi among other countries.

As a soloist, Mrs. De la Riva has performed with orchestras like the St. Luke ́s, the Mozarteum, the Prague Symphony and the Brazilian Symphony Orchestra under directors like E. Plasson, M. Kosarin, L. Mills and R. Boudharam,

Operatic highlights include Tosca, Poppea in L ´´Incoronazione di Poppea, Countess in The Marriage of Figaro, Nedda in Pagliacci. This season Angelica sang the Mozart Requiem and Mahler ́s symphony No. 8th at the National Auditorium in Madrid under maestro Pascual Osa, concert with Murcia Symphony Orchestra at the historic Roman Forum in Cartagena, Spain under director Virginia Martinez. In December 2020 Angelica sang at the unveiling of The World ́s largest painting, “The Journey of Humanity” (Guinness world record) which has been sold for U$62 million dollars.

Her versatility and stage commend, probably earned at law school and with her acting degree, aligned synergetically with her vocal skills allow Angelica to navigate through musicals as well. She started her professional career with the Disney theatrical production of The Beauty and the Beast, directed by Sam Scalamoni and Michael Kosarin, in Brazil. Shortly after, already in NY, Titania, for the musical adaptation of Midsummer Nights Dream, with Manhatan Ensemble Theatre (off Broadway) with whom she also starred another Shakespeare ́s Musical adaptation, The Tempest. Mrs. De la Riva also starred in Stephen Sondheim ́s A Little Night Music at the Brooklyn Center for the Performing Arts.

Angelica ́s solid academic background also grants her the tools to take up the challenge of interpreting contemporary music. Having starred the world premiere of The Rise and Fall of the First World, opera by Michael Kowalski, in NY, Cinco Poemas de Vinicius de Moraes, symphonic poem by João Guilherme Ripper as well as several son cycles including Festa de São João by G. Bernstein and De Amores by Amparo Fabra. Highlight as an actress at Lincoln Center include the premier of The Empty Hours by Spanish composer Ricardo Llorca, who five years later introduced Mrs. De la Riva her husband with whom she lives in Spain since 2019. Angelica has developed most of her career in New York where she lived for 15 years and went to The Juilliard School, The Brooklyn College and Mannes School of Music. Besides her performing career, Angelica is a proud teacher of African Music in the Americas at New Jersey City University where she is also a Visiting Artist and International Ambassador.

Recent awards include The Educational Excellence Awards 2022 for her career and personal achievements in Music and Culture. Other recipients of the award this year are Literature Nobel Prize Mario Vargas Llosa and Jornalist Luis Maria Anson. De la Riva also works and collaborates regularly with several foundations and NGO ́s through a variety of charitable efforts including with the Global Gift Foundation, Eva Longoria Foundation, Querer Foundation, Red Cross, Dubai Cares and Orquestando a Vida, among others. Currently focusing efforts to relocate Ukrainian refugees, specially university and music students displaced by the war, so they can keep studying and rebuilding their lives.

Angelica de la Riva, a former Brazilian rowing champion sang the Olympic Anthem at the Opening Ceremony for the IOC Summer Olympic Games 2016 and the Brazilian National Anthem at the Olympic Awards. In 2014 she was recruited by the Brazilian National rowing coach, her former coach, to return to her team and train for a spot at the Rio 2016.