Paloma Friedhoff Bello

An American and Spanish citizen born in Antwerp, Belgium, Paloma Friedhoff Bello grew up in Madrid, Spain, in a family of musicians. She is the winner of several international prizes in Madrid, Lisbon, Wasghinton DC and St. Louis. Her main interest lies on Early Music, art song, concert music, symphonic repertoire, and most recently recording for film music, composers, and choirs.

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In May 2022 she sang and recorded the role of Bubaste in the premiere in modern times of the opera La Nitteti by Nicolò Conforto, with Nereydas Orchestra, under Javier Ulises Illán. This was the last performance in the music series Universo Barroco taking place at the National Auditorium in Madrid. From 2019 to 2022 she toured Spain as soprano soloist with the Film Symphony Orchestra singing music by Ennio Morricone, John Williams and Hans Zimmer. She also sang under the baton of Ennio Morricone himself, in the Iberian Tour in 2019. In 2020 and 2021 she performed as a soloist with the Orquesta Nacional de España and Jordi Francés in the production of Pulcinella with the Compañía Nacional de Danza. In April 2017 she made her debut at Teatro Real in Madrid singing the main role in the opera El Gato con Botas by Xavier Montsalvatge, and was invited as a soloist by the Princeton Music Festival in New Jersey (USA).

 

Highlights of her career as a concert singer are her performance of The Messiah with the Orquesta del Reino de Aragón at the Auditorio de Zaragoza, Serenade to Music by Vaughan Williams with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra at the Ravinia Festival in Chicago, Exsultate, Jubilate at the Palau de la Música in Valencia, St. Matthew Passion by J. S. Bach in Murcia and Alicante (Spain), Brahms and Mozart’s Requiem with Orfeón Donostiarra at the Auditorio Nacional de Madrid, Bachianas Brasileiras No. 5 with the Madrid Symphony Orchestra cello section, and performing with La Fura dels Baus at the South Summit convention in Madrid.

 

As an active singer of Early Music she has sung at festivals such as the Festival Internacional de Ushuaia (Argentina), Princeton Music Festival (USA), Festival Internacional de Música de Canarias, Semana de Música Religiosa de Cuenca, Festival de Arte Sacro de Madrid and Universo Barroco. She has offered recitals with vihuela, lute, baroque guitar and theorbo together with Uxía Delgado and Manuel Minguillón.

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In the Contemporary Music field she has premiered Roberto Sierra's song cycle Décimas at Ravinia Festival (Chicago), which was recorded for the Spanish National Classical Radio; the secular cantata by Eurico Carrapatoso O Lobo Diogo e o Mosquito Valentim; Requiem by Sebastián Mariné and Sonor Ensemble; and other works by Jorge Argüelles, Mercedes Zavala, and Miguel Bustamante.

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She has offered recitals with pianist Leyre Lisarri all over Spain (Auditorio de León, Caixaforum in Madrid and Barcelona, Centro Botín in Santander, Pamplona, Mallorca and Menorca), singing art songs from the German, French and Spanish repertoires of the 19th and 20th centuries. Together as a duo they have been awarded prizes from Juventudes Musicales Spain and the Monteleón Foundation.

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As a recipient of the prestigious Spanish scholarship “La Caixa”, Paloma holds a Master’s degree from Indiana University, where she studied under Sylvia McNair. She has also been awarded the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation Fellowship, the “Excellence” scholarship from Caja de Burgos, and the “Juventudes Musicales de Madrid” scholarship twice. She holds Bachelor degrees from the Escuela Superior de Canto de Madrid (Spain), where she studied with Manuel Cid and Paloma Camacho, and the Hochschule für Musik und Theater München (Germany), with Edith Wiens. For more info, please visit: www.palomafriedhoff.com

 

September 2022