Ghena Dimitrova
Encyclopedia
Ghena Dimitrova (6 May 1941–11 June 2005) was a Bulgarian
Bulgarians
The Bulgarians are a South Slavic nation and ethnic group native to Bulgaria and neighbouring regions. Emigration has resulted in immigrant communities in a number of other countries.-History and ethnogenesis:...

 opera
Opera
Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...

tic soprano
Soprano
A soprano is a voice type with a vocal range from approximately middle C to "high A" in choral music, or to "soprano C" or higher in operatic music. In four-part chorale style harmony, the soprano takes the highest part, which usually encompasses the melody...

. Her voice was known for its power and extension used in operatic roles such as Turandot
Turandot
Turandot is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini, set to a libretto in Italian by Giuseppe Adami and Renato Simoni.Though Puccini's first interest in the subject was based on his reading of Friedrich Schiller's adaptation of the play, his work is most nearly based on the earlier text Turandot...

 in a career spanning four decades.

Early career

Ghena Dimitrova was born in the Bulgarian village of Beglezh, some 25 km from Pleven
Pleven
Pleven is the seventh most populous city in Bulgaria. Located in the northern part of the country, it is the administrative centre of Pleven Province, as well as of the subordinate Pleven municipality...

, in 1941. She started singing in the school choir and her powerful voice led to her being offered a place at the Sofia Conservatory studying under Cristo Brambarov between 1959 and 1964. While she was initially classified as a mezzo-soprano
Mezzo-soprano
A mezzo-soprano is a type of classical female singing voice whose range lies between the soprano and the contralto singing voices, usually extending from the A below middle C to the A two octaves above...

, she was recognised as a soprano in her second year.

After finishing her studies at the Sofia Conservatory, she started teaching singing. Her breakthrough came in 1967 as Abigaille in a Bulgarian National Opera production of Giuseppe Verdi
Giuseppe Verdi
Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi was an Italian Romantic composer, mainly of opera. He was one of the most influential composers of the 19th century...

's Nabucco
Nabucco
Nabucco is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Temistocle Solera, based on the Biblical story and the 1836 play by Auguste Anicet-Bourgeois and Francis Cornue...

after a couple of other sopranos dropped out. Dimitrova learned the demanding role in a week. In the early recordings Dimitrova's voice had not yet reached its signature size, and in many of the early Nabucco productions, the final optional high C is omitted in the cabaletta, Salgo già, which she would include later in her career.

International career

Dimitrova won the Sofia International Singing Competition in 1970, the prize including a course of study at La Scala
La Scala
La Scala , is a world renowned opera house in Milan, Italy. The theatre was inaugurated on 3 August 1778 and was originally known as the New Royal-Ducal Theatre at La Scala...

's Scuola di Perfezionamento.

She made her Italian debut as Turandot in Treviso
Treviso
Treviso is a city and comune in Veneto, northern Italy. It is the capital of the province of Treviso and the municipality has 82,854 inhabitants : some 3,000 live within the Venetian walls or in the historical and monumental center, some 80,000 live in the urban center proper, while the city...

 in 1975, and essayed the same role for her 1983 La Scala debut opposite tenor Plácido Domingo
Plácido Domingo
Plácido Domingo KBE , born José Plácido Domingo Embil, is a Spanish tenor and conductor known for his versatile and strong voice, possessing a ringing and dramatic tone throughout its range...

 in Franco Zeffirelli
Franco Zeffirelli
Franco Zeffirelli KBE is an Italian director and producer of films and television. He is also a director and designer of operas and a former senator for the Italian center-right Forza Italia party....

's lavish production. Her Turandot is also preserved in a video of the Arena di Verona production from 1983, with Nicola Martinucci
Nicola Martinucci
Nicola Martinucci in Taranto, Italy, is an Italian tenor.He has sung under the baton of some of the greatest conductors, including Claudio Abbado, Riccardo Chailly, Myung-Whun Chung, Sir Colin Davis, Lorin Maazel, Riccardo Muti, Nello Santi and Giuseppe Sinopoli.Martinucci has sung most of the...

 and Cecilia Gasdia
Cecilia Gasdia
-Biography:Cecilia Gasdia studied music and piano at the Conservatorio di Verona, graduating in 1980. That same year she won the first prize in the "New Voices for Opera" competition dedicated to Maria Callas...

. In 1988, she made her debut at the Metropolitan Opera
Metropolitan Opera
The Metropolitan Opera is an opera company, located in New York City. Originally founded in 1880, the company gave its first performance on October 22, 1883. The company is operated by the non-profit Metropolitan Opera Association, with Peter Gelb as general manager...

 in New York performing the same role.

Dimitrova once said of the role: "Turandot may not be my favorite part, but it shows off the voice to great advantage. The way the music is written, you need a voice like a trumpet to do it justice."

Her debut in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 was in 1981 performing the role of Elvira in Ernani
Ernani
Ernani is an operatic dramma lirico in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Francesco Maria Piave, based on the play Hernani by Victor Hugo. The first production took place at La Fenice Theatre, Venice on 9 March 1844...

. She sang at the Barbican Arts Centre in Ponchielli
Amilcare Ponchielli
Amilcare Ponchielli was an Italian composer, largely of operas.-Biography:Born in Paderno Fasolaro, now Paderno Ponchielli, near Cremona, Ponchielli won a scholarship at the age of nine to study music at the Milan Conservatory, writing his first symphony by the time he was ten years old.Two years...

's La Gioconda
La Gioconda (opera)
La Gioconda is an opera in four acts by Amilcare Ponchielli set to an Italian libretto by Arrigo Boito, based on Angelo, tyran de Padoue, a play in prose by Victor Hugo, dating from 1835...

in 1983 before making her Covent Garden
Royal Opera House
The Royal Opera House is an opera house and major performing arts venue in Covent Garden, central London. The large building is often referred to as simply "Covent Garden", after a previous use of the site of the opera house's original construction in 1732. It is the home of The Royal Opera, The...

 debut in the same year. Her late debut she later attributed simply to "politics".

After retiring from the stage in 2001, Dimitrova remained active working with young singers. One of her best students is the soprano Elena Baramova
Elena Baramova
Elena Baramova is a soprano opera singer who was born in Bulgaria. Baramova's performances have included the role of Aida at Polish National Opera and of Abigaile in Nabucco at Prague State Opera in 2006 and of Turandot at Prage State Opera in 2007. In 2007, she also appeared again as Aida as well...

.

Dimitrova died in Milan
Milan
Milan is the second-largest city in Italy and the capital city of the region of Lombardy and of the province of Milan. The city proper has a population of about 1.3 million, while its urban area, roughly coinciding with its administrative province and the bordering Province of Monza and Brianza ,...

on 11 June 2005. After her death the Bulgarian Government promised to establish a fund in her name for promising young singers.

External links

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