Maria Hinojosa Montenegro has become one of the most respected singers of her generation, considering her intense activity and the all-around recognition achieved in recent years throughout Europe, North and South America performing some of the leading roles in the baroque, classical and contemporary repertoire.
Maria began her singing studies in her hometown Sabadell with Mª Teresa Boix and graduated in singing and German song from the Escola Superior de Música de Catalunya (ESMUC) with the highest honours, plus the Extraordinary Honours Award for her final degree project. She also holds a Masters in Musical Research from Valencia International University. In 2007 her interpretation in El dúo de La Africana directed by Xavier Albertí at Barcelona’s Teatre Lliure season deserved a nomination for Best Musical Actress and won the Critics’ Prize in the Butaca Awards. She received further recognition in 2011 when was again nominated as Best Musical Actress in the Butaca Awards for her work in the Carte Blanche to Lluïsa Cunillé.
Maria has sung in many of the most prestigious opera houses and concert halls in Europe and America, among them Musikverein and Theater an der Wien, Arena di Verona, Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires, Opera Philadelphia; Teatre del Liceu, Auditori, and Palau de la Música in Barcelona; Palau de la Música and Palau de les Arts in Valencia; Teatro Real and Auditorio Nacional in Madrid; Granada International Festival, Salle Gaveau and Maison de Radio France in Paris, and at the opera houses in Lausanne, Montpellier, Vichy, and Frankfurt. She frequently collaborates with renowned early music ensembles and orchestras under noted conductors such as David Afkham, Pablo Heras Casado, Josep Pons, Gabriel Garrido, Giovanni Antonini, Enrico Onofri, Ottavio Dantone, Sir Neville Marriner, Francesco Corti, Stefano Montanari, Rinaldo Alessandrini, Fabio Biondi, Erich Hoebarth, Ivor Bolton, Corrado Rovaris, Francesc Prat, Paul Daniel, Pablo González, Leonardo García Alarcón, and Martin Gester. She has worked with stage directors Xavier Albertí, Francisco Negrín, Robert Carsen, Kasper Holten, Lluís Pasqual, Lluïsa Cunillé, Rita Cosentino, Luís de Tavira, Cisco Aznar, Juliette Deschamps, Adrián Schvarzstein, and Alfred Kirchner and with theatre companies La Fura dels Baus and Els Comediants.
Highlights from her recording career are De vez en cuando la vida/Mediterraneo with Cappella Mediterranea, the opera Gli amori d’Apollo e di Dafne by Cavalli under Gabriel Garrido, the CD Peter Phillips: un inglés en la Flandes española with Cappella Mediterranea, the oratorio Juditha Triumphans by Vivaldi under Ottavio Dantone, and baroque zarzuelas La fontana del placer by J. Castel, Clementina by Boccherini and l’isola disabitata by G. Bonno conducted by Pablo Heras Casado (all three for Harmonia Mundi); DVDs Jeanne d’Arc au Bucher by Honegger together with Marion Cotillard for Medici and a recording of Pergolesi’s La Salustia for ArtHaus Musik; three CDs with Orquesta Barroca de Sevilla, two of them under Enrico Onofri and the other under Vanni Moretto, plus a number of radio recordings for RNE, BBC Radio, Radio France and ORF. Maria has also recorded several works by contemporary Catalan composers Joan Guinjoan, Joan Magrané, Raquel García Tomás, and Agustí Charles.
Among her recent engagements are French tours with Cappella Mediteranea’s crossover project Mediterráneo, the title role in L’emperadriù del paral.lel at TNC, La Caramba with Forma Antiqva in Santander and Dubai, the world premiere of Andròmeda encadenada by Agustì Charles at Palau de Barcelona with unanimous critical acclaim, Beethoven 9 under Onofri at Esterhazy Palace Eisenstadt, and a double bill with RFG pairing Pergolesi’s La Serva Padrona and the world premiere of A sombra de Cristal by Fernando Buide in Santiago de Compostela.
Future highlights include a new collaboration with OBC in a world premiere by Joan Magran; on the operatic stage, Andròmeda in Darmstadt, the roles of Fiordiligi in Così fan tutte in Valladolid and that of Die Tochter in a production of Cardillac by Hindemith in Oviedo; plus leading roles in the world premiere of Policías y ladrones by Tomás Marco, and Donde no hay violencia no hay culpa by Nebra at Teatro de la Zarzuela in Madrid.
Maria’s artistic goal is to always offer accurate and attentive performances in any different vocal style, from the historical birth of music to our present ever respecting the composers, their times, techniques and unique styles.