Born in Tirana, Enkelejda Shkoza studied at the
Conservatoire in her home town. She debuted in Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater
in Strasbourg. Moved to Italy, she graduated in singing ad Conservatoire
G. Verdi in Milan and in the same year, she won the first prize at
International Contest Leyla Gencer in Istanbul. Then she sang in
the main theaters in Italy and Europe such as: Rossini Opera Festival
in Pesaro, Teatro Regio in Turin, Teatro Donizetti in Bergamo, Teatro
Comunale in Bologna and at Teatro San Carlo in Naples.
She took part in the productions of Rigoletto and Così fan Tutte at
Covent Garden in London, where she came back in the next Seasons for Madama Butterfly, Pique Dame and Matilde di Shabran. Followed other
important debuts in theaters such as: Opéra
Bastille de Paris (for the new production of Les contes d’Hoffman), Théâtre du Châtelet, Opéra Garnier, Théatre de la
Monnaie, Teatro La Scala in Milan (for the Petite Messe Solennelle),
Semperoper in Dresden, Wiener Staatsoper (for Roberto Devereux).
She has collaborated with such conductors as: Colin Davis,
Riccardo Chailly, Bruno Campanella, Myung-Whun Chung, James Conlon,
Daniel Oren, Antonio Pappano, Fabio Luisi, Daniele Gatti, Evelino
Pidò, Gianluigi Gelmetti, Fabio Biondi, Donato Renzetti, Marcello
Viotti, Carlo Rizzi and Vladimir Jurowski.
Among
her past engagements: La Damnation de Faust in
Amsterdam, Lisbon, Madrid and at the Leipzig Staatsoper; La
Cenerentola, Gianni Schicchi and Suor Angelica in Amsterdam;
Carmen at the Opéra in Monte Carlo and Munich; La Cenerentola at
the Monnaie in Brussels; Rigoletto, La Damnation de Faust, Madama
Butterfly at the Real in Madrid; Maometto II in Strasbourg
and Bilbao; Madama Butterfly, Falstaff, La Forza del Destino at
the Liceu in Barcelona; La Straniera at the Royal Festival Hall
in London; Guillaume Tell in London, Bologna, Palermo and Lyon;
Maria Stuarda at the Rome Opera; Roberto Devereux at the
Théâtre des Champs-Elysées in Paris; Les Contes d'Hoffmann at the
Metropolitan Opera in New York; La Fille du régiment at the Royal
Opera House in London; Aida and Un ballo in Maschera in
Toulon; Il Trovatore in Parma, Macerata, Cagliari, Frankfurt,
Toulon, Tenerife and Tel Aviv; L'Italiana in Algeri in Treviso
and Ferrara; Falstaff (Quickly) at the San Carlo in Naples and in
Palma de Mallorca; La Forza del Destino in Tel Aviv; Busoni's
diptych Suor Angelica (Aunt Princess) and Turandot at the
Teatro Lirico in Cagliari; Nabucco in Turin and Lyon; Pelléas
et Mélisande in Parma; Aida in Nancy and Russia; Lakmé
and the diptych Damoiselle élue / Jeanne d'Arc au bûcher at the
Real in Madrid; Leoncavallo's Zazà in Vienna; Falstaff in
Bari; Rimskij-Korsakov's Christmas Eve in Frankfurt.
She performed Verdi's Requiem on numerous
occasions, in cities such as Paris, Dublin, Lisbon, Tenerife, Tel
Aviv and sang Rossini's Stabat Mater at the Rossini Opera
Festival in Pesaro. He participated in the world premiere of
Menotti's Missa Solemnis pro Jubileo Domini Nostri Tertio
Millennio at the Colosseum in Rome.
Her discography includes the collection Il Salotto,
Rossini's Otello, La Straniera (Isoletta) and Maria
di Rohan for Opera Rara, Thaïs and Cavalleria
Rusticana (Decca), Moïse et Pharaon (ROF) conducted by
Vladimir Jurowski, Béatrice et Bénédict and La Damnation
de Faust (London Symphony Orchestra) conducted by Sir Colin
Davis, Madama Butterfly (EMI) conducted by Antonio Pappano.
Most recently she took part in: Puccini's Trittico
(Frugola, Suor Zelatrice, Zita) at the Salzburg Festival and at the Opéra National de Paris;
Il Trovatore at the Verdi Festival in Parma; Un ballo in
maschera in Tenerife and Marseille; Pelléas et Mélisande
in Modena and Piacenza; Falstaff in Athens; Il Tabarro
at the Rome Opera; Otello (in concert form) in
Aix-en-Provence on tour with the Teatro San Carlo in Naples; Rusalka
(Jezibaba) at the Palau de les Arts in Valencia; Madama
Butterfly at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden in London; Rimsky-Korsakov's
Christmas Eve (Solocha) in Frankfurt;
Verdi's Otello (Emilia) at the Teatro Real in Madrid and Gianni
Schicchi (Zita) with the Orchestra Haydn di Bolzano e Trento.
Plans
include: Aida in Cagliari; Rimsky-Korsakov's May Night
in Lyon and Eugene Onegin in Turin.
July 2025