Cyndia Sieden dispatches rapid coloratura and a cadenza to High F

THE SONGBIRD: Cyndia Sieden was born Cyndia Siedentop in California in 1961. As a teenager, she was a concert soloist in Seattle and appeared with the Seattle Opera as the Forest Bird in 1980, as well as being the Pacific Northwest regional winner of the Met Auditions in 1981. Back in California, Sieden began taking private lessons with Elisabeth Schwarzkopf in 1982, through which was she invited to the Salzburg Mozarteum, winning first place in 1983. Her European debut role was Rosina in Munich; her American debut in a leading role came in 1984 as Marie in Tampa. Sieden built an impressive international career in a wide range of baroque, classical, and modern works in the world’s top opera houses and festivals. THE MUSIC: Mozart composed “Lucio Silla“ when he was 16 years old; the opera seria premiered in Milan in December 1772 to moderate success. The cast calls for four sopranos (one as a castrato) and two tenors. The role of Lucio Cinna, a Roman statesman, was written for the soprano Felicita Suardi as a trouser role. Cinna’s rigorous aria, “Vieni ov’amor t’invita“ is the first aria in the opera. In it, Cinna reassures his friend Cecilio, who had been banished, that his wife Giunia still loves him.