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Ghena
Dimitrova is one of the fewest, or
better say the very few, dramatical sopranos of
the last 35 years; or better, is
one of the fewest voices that are
able to face with apparent astonishing tranquility
the most difficult dramatical repertoire. Her
voice, in fact, as she herself underlines with
pleasure, is a voice essentially lyrical, that
combined with prodigious light-soprano techniques and
with a volume of exceptional power, gives her the possibility to
be the uncontrasted heroine of her repertoire. A repertoire, that
the Bulgarian soprano has conquisted pass by pass with iron will
and discipline, reaching results that only apparently seem
natural to her qualities, because even her personality,
together with a uncontainable vocality and an imperious scenic
imponence, is sweetly mild and profound; so that the great soprano feels closer to
characters as Minnie from La fanciulla
del West and Elisabeth from Don Carlo, and not to the roles most
remarkably dramatical, that consecrated her to the celebrity.
Ghena
Dimitrova is Bulgarian, born in Beglej on 06 May 1941, but already Italian for
artistic affection and adoption; she started studying singing
with maestro Christo Brambarov at the Sofia Conservatory, where
she graduated. The official debut of the singer was in Sofia on
27 December 1967, and was almost a fortune debut, owed to the
failing of two primadonnas, arrived exhausted and not able to
face the Nabucco scene. The very young Ghena accepted the role
of Abigaille, with all the unconsciousness, typical for the
youth, and won. The triumph obtained in the role of the cruel
queen would make Abigaille to become one of the characters symbols of the singer. In 1970 Ghena Dimitrova won a grant, that
would have permitted her to perfection her studies in Italy,
something the soprano has always desired. She arrived at the La
Scala school, where she studied with Renato Pastorino, Enza
Ferrari e Renata Carosio.
During
the years 1971/72 the singer performed in the role of Leonora
from “La Forza del Destino”, really in all France. In 1972
she won the Treviso competition, interpreting Amelia in “Un
ballo in maschera”, which immediately opened to her the doors
of the Parma Regio theater, where she interpreted the same opera
with Jose Carreras and Pierro Cappuccilli, and subsequently (January 1973) those of La Scala, where she found herself
interpreting the Verdi title together with Placido Domingo.
The
great international carrier of Ghena Dimitriva had taken off.
Between 1974 and 1979 she sang in the major theaters in South
America, Spain, Italy, Russia, Germany, Austria, Czechoslovakia and Hungary.
Her
repertoire enlarged, containing operas, that live in the dreams (
and sometimes, for the difficulty, in the nightmares) of
every soprano: Aida, il Trovatore, Tosca, Andrea Chenier,
Turandot, Ernani, Cavalleria rusticana, Manon Lescaut, La
Fanciulla del West, Macbeth, Otello. The destiny of great lyrico-drammatic soprano was signed.
In
1980 the carrier of Ghena Dimitrova had the appointment that
would have definitely given her a place between the great voices
of the after war period. At the Arena di Verona the singer
interpreted together with Luciano Pavarotti, La Gioconda, and in
the role that had seen the Italian debut of Maria Callas on the
same place in 1947, created a sensation. The Arena adopted her;
she would interpret after that Nabucco(1981), Macbeth(1982),
since 1983 Turandot, practically on every reproposal of the
Puccini’s opera, Cavalleria Rusticana (1993), and Aida (1993),
and she returned in 1996 once more as Amneris.
Ghena
Dimitrova was already accredited between the most prestigious voices in the world. La Scala entrusted her the great deal of
three season openings with Turandot (1983, under the direction
of Lorin Maazel, and with the fantastic Franco Zeffirelli
scenography), Aida ( alternating bravely in the roles of Amneris
and Aida by the side of Luciano Pavarotti), and Nabucco (1986,
the opera that saw the Riccardo Muti debut as musical director
of the Milan opera temple).
Ghena
Dimitrova interpreted there as well “I lombardi alla prima
Crociata” (1984), “McBeth” ( directed by Abbado and with
the famous scenography of Giorgio Strehler), Cavalleria
Rusticana (1988) and Tosca (1989), but in the meanwhile all the
theaters in Italy from Parma to Florence, from Rome to Naples,
had opened wide their doors to her, charmed by the might and the
ductility of the voice, that seemed not to have equal.
Salzburg
wanted her for its festival for two consecutive years (1984 and
1985) with McBeth, while her presence at the Vienna Staatsoper
became almost a fixed constant. In 1987 after having docked it
in Houston, Naples, Francfurt, she won an important challenge in
the Opera House of Paris, interpreting Norma.
In
the same year she finally arrived at the Metropolitan, the last
of the “avamposti lirici”, that the soprano hadn’t already
taken by storm. , in New York she interpreted her battle horse
for excellence, Turandot, for ten seasons, two of which with
Pavarotti and Levine; and returned for La Gioconda, Cavalleria
Rusticana, Tosca and La fanciulla del West.
Who
listens attentively to the voice of Dimitrova, even on her sound
records, beyond the most obvious impression of an instrument of
exceptional might, cannot remain insensitive in front of the
effort of the singer to make the voice lighter, to give an expressive
colour and interior intensity to the sound. Her La
Scala Abigaille, under the direction of Muti is a magisterial example
of how this role should be interpreted; with all the arrogance and
vocal insolence that it requires, but certainly
with the necessary mildness, with all the hidden pain of a soul
became rigid, because of the lack of affection. The incredible
extension of her voice, consents to Mrs. Dimitrova to alternate
roles for soprano and mezzosoprano even in the same opera, as in
the example of Aida and Amneris, or of Elisabeth and Eboli in
Don Carlo, a role, the last one, debuted in the United States as
testimony that the artist feels never ready enough, nevertheless
an intense and already very long carrier.
This
year in fact is properly the thirty fifth anniversary of the
debut of this great singer that with intelligence has managed to
construct a carrier yet storical, and connecting inseparably her
name to characters as Abigaille, Lady McBeth and mostly Turandot,
becoming an interpreter of absolute reference of her time. The
thirty five years of carrier stand to testify the complete
mastery, which is necessary even to an exceptionally gifted
voice for being able to pass trough such a heavy carrier, and to
maintain a vocal freshness that permits to sing even today all
the operas in the repertoire, even those sang during the youth
and may be less executed as I Masnadieri by Verdi, a role
almost for a light soprano, and so distant from Gioconda,
Santuzza and Tosca, that for recorded, has been sang in absolute
majority of executions.
Short
Biography Awards
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