Ghena Dimitrova

Ghena Dimitrova has specialized in dramatic Italian soprano tasks with occasional forays into spinto tasks, such as for example Elvira in Ernani and Woman Macbeth. Unlike many dramatic sopranos, she began with a big, powerful tone of voice and could consider the heaviest tasks early in her profession. She sang in her college choir and her guarantee soon became obvious. Her insufficient formal music education held her from getting into music school, therefore she researched privately before getting into the Sofia Conservatory. She in fact entered like a mezzo, though she was named a soprano in her second yr. She produced her debut on the Country wide Opera in 1966 in Verdi’s Nabucco as Abigaille being a last-minute replacement, learning the function in small over weekly. (She acquired originally selected Leonora in Verdi’s Il trovatore or Amelia in El ballo in maschera simply because potential debut assignments — still daring, however, not simply because demanding simply because Abigaille, referred to as a “tone of voice killer” function.) In 1970, she won first award in the esteemed Sofia International Performing Competition, a award that included 2 yrs of research at La Scala’s Scuola di Perfezionamento, where she examined with Gina Cigna, amongst others. Dimitrova also examined recordings, especially those of Maria Callas, Mirella Freni, and Montserrat Caballé. She sang her first Turandot in Treviso, Italy, in 1975 (though she briefly shelved the function before 1980s) and produced her USA debut in 1981 as Elvira. In 1983, she produced her London debut on the Barbican within a concert efficiency of Ponchielli’s La Gioconda, producing her Covent Backyard debut afterwards that same season, as well simply because her La Scala debut simply because Turandot. Her NY debut was also a concert efficiency with Eve Queler’s Concert Opera Orchestra in 1984. In 1988, she produced her Metropolitan Opera debut in the same function.