site.bta85th Birth Anniversary of World Famous Opera Singer Ghena Dimitrova

Wednesday marks the 85th birth anniversary of world famous Bulgarian opera singer Ghena Dimitrova (1941-2005).

She mastered her vast repertoire step by step, with iron will and discipline, fearlessly handling operas that live in the dreams (and sometimes in the nightmares) of every soprano. In a class of her own, she tackled the most daunting heavyweight roles with disarming ease and astonishing tranquillity.

Dimitrova's overpowering vocal prowess and fiery stamina contrasted with - or rather complemented - a kind and gentle disposition. Everywhere she was hailed as a stunning dramatic soprano.

Her unique, beautifully schooled lyrical voice combined untamed power with tonal splendour. She infused her intelligent renditions with an array of completely controlled dynamics to bring out the finer nuances of each role.

"Once on the stage, you should grip people's souls," the immensely popular prima said about her credo. Her audiences were enthralled, and her critics gushed out rave reviews.

Following is the original profile in English by which BTA's External Service paid tribute to the diva on her passing in 2005:

"Ghena Dimitrova: The Singer Who Sang the Way People Talk

 Sofia, June 12 (BTA) - Critics described her voice as 'formidable', 'unequalled', 'the voice of the century', 'a voice that will knock your socks off', and her stage presence as 'regal' and 'arresting'. The singer herself was dubbed 'the Bulgarian empress', 'the Bulgarian fireball', 'the Queen of Milan', 'a Sofia superstar', and 'one of the biggest vocal monuments of the world's opera'.

She earned this praise for a blend of inherent lyrical beauty, superbly sustained by the refined technique of a soprano leggero, with an impressive dynamic range, culminating in an intensely powerful volume.

Ghena Dimitrova, the internationally acclaimed opera diva, died of cancer in Milan on the morning of June 11. She was 64.

Born to a peasant family in the village of Beglezh near Pleven (North Central Bulgaria) on May 6, 1941, she graduated the Sofia State Conservatoire under Prof. Hristo Brumbarov in 1965. A last-minute stand-in for an indisposed prima donna, she debuted as Abigaille in Verdi's Nabucco at the Sofia Opera House on December 27, 1967. That was to become one of her signature roles. A scholarship she won in 1970 helped her to study at the La Scala School in 1971-1972 under Renato Pastorino, Enza Ferrari and Renata Carosio.

Between 1974 and 1979 she toured the leading theatres of South America, Spain, Italy, Russia, Germany, Austria (Vienna Staatsoper debut in 1978), Czechoslovakia and Hungary. She sang her first Turandot in Puccini's eponymous opera, the role she considered her best achievement, at Arena di Verona in 1982, having debuted there in La Gioconda two years earlier. She first appeared in Covent Garden in 1984, as Turandot, also her debut at La Scala in 1983 and at New York's Metropolitan Opera in 1988.

During the career Dimitrova sang 29 operatic parts, ranging from Aida and Amneris in Aida, Elisabeth and Eboli in Don Carlo, Lady Macbeth in Macbeth, Leonora in Il Trovatore and Amelia in Un Ballo in maschera by Verdi to the title roles in Puccini's Tosca and Manon Lescaut, Bellini's Norma and Ponchielli's La Gioconda, Santuzza in Mascagni's Cavaleria Rusticana, Mercedes in Bizet's Carmen, Masha in Tchaikovsky's Queen of Spades, and Yaroslavna in Borodin's Prince Igor.

Dimitrova was famed for her industriousness. She was able to sing in seven operas in different parts of the world within ten days. She was able to work twelve hours a day. She could get from her seat and go on stage right away to stand in for an ill singer and save the performance. 'My real life is on the stage. There is no rest as long as I can breathe. I'll retire only when I'm booed out of the stage, ' the singer said in a BTA interview in 1996. She conducted eagerly awaited and much loved master classes in Rome, Budapest, Athens, and Sofia.

Her numberless honours include gold medals at the International Competition for Young Opera Singers, Sofia, 1970 and 1971; First place at the Treviso Competition, 1972; Silver Arena, Arena di Verona, 1980; Golden Archer, Fiuggi, 1981; Golden Verdi, Busseto, 1987; Puccini Prize, Torre del Lago, 1989 [for Turandot, Tosca and La Fanciulla del West]; Order of the Balkan Range, First Class, 1996.

Dimitrova lived in Monte Carlo, Vienna and Sofia. She held Bulgarian and Austrian citizenship. She was widowed [her husband was killed in a car crash in October 1991] and is survived by a single daughter, a student of cinematography at Sofia's New Bulgarian University.

'I'm proud that I'm Bulgarian, and whenever I'm giving an interview I never miss to mention that I'm Bulgarian and that I was born in the countryside, ' Ghena Dimitrova told BTA eleven years ago, explaining modestly that she was neither a myth nor a legend, but just a human being whom God had endowed with a beautiful voice.

For all the critics' bombast, well deserved as it is, it was conductor Herbert von Karajan who captured her greatest forte: 'I have finally lived to hear a voice that is strong and pure, to hear a singer who sings the way people talk. ' LG"