Angela Gheorghiu

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Angela Gheorghiu (born Angela Burlacu) (born September 7, 1965)[1] is a prominent Romanian operatic soprano. Since her professional debut in 1990, she has sung leading roles at the New York Metropolitan Opera, the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, the Vienna State Opera, La Scala Milan, and many other major opera houses in Europe and the United States. She has a substantial discography primarily with EMI Classics and Decca.

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[edit] Biography

The daughter of a train driver, Gheorghiu (pronounced [gjor'giu]) was born in Adjud, Romania. Along with her sister Elena Dan, she sang opera music from an early age.[2] At age 14, Gheorghiu began to study singing at the Bucharest Music Academy, primarily under Mia Barbu. Her graduation in 1990 coincided with the overthrow of Nicolae Ceauşescu, enabling her to seek an international career immediately. Her professional opera debut took place at the Cluj Opera as Mimì in La bohème in 1990, the same year she won the Belvedere International Competition.[3]

Gheorghiu made her international debut in 1992 at Covent Garden as Zerlina in Don Giovanni.[4] She debuted at the Vienna State Opera as Adina in L'elisir d'amore and at the Metropolitan Opera as Mimi in La bohème.[5] In 1994, she was auditioned by the conductor Sir Georg Solti for a new production of La traviata at the Royal Opera House. Her debut as Violetta led her to international stardom.

Gheorghiu has concentrated her repertoire in roles with which she has great affinity: Violetta (La traviata), Mimì (La bohème), Magda (La rondine), Adina (L'elisir d'amore), Juliette (Roméo et Juliette) and some others. In 2003, she debuted as Nedda in Pagliacci and as Marguerite in Faust. A soprano with a large range and a dark coloured voice[6], Gheorghiu is also able to sing spinto roles. She has recorded Tosca (also made into a film directed by the French Benoît Jacquot) and Leonora in Il trovatore for EMI and sang in her first Tosca at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, in 2006. Her performance was an overall success, although because the famous Zeffirelli production of 1964 was replaced by a new production (which premiered with her), there was comparison between the Toscas of Gheorghiu and Maria Callas, for whom the Zeffirelli production was designed.

She has recorded many recital albums and complete opera recordings and often appears on television and in concerts. The EMI recording of Massenet's Manon with Angela Georghiu in the title role was nominated in the 2002 Grammy Awards for "Best Opera Recording" [7]

[edit] Gheorghiu at the Met and elsewhere

At times, Angela Gheorghiu has had tempestuous relationships with opera house managements and directors. Many, but not all, of them have stemmed from her opposition to directors who, as she put it in an interview with ABC "want to express their own fantasies, forgetting about the characters. At times, what they put on stage goes against both the story and the music."[8] She has attributed her outspokenness to her upbringing in Romania under the totalitarian regime of Nicolae Ceausescu:

"Because I grew up in a country where there was no possibility of having an opinion, it makes me stronger now. Lots of singers are frightened about not getting invited back to an opera house if they speak out. But I have the courage to be, in a way, revolutionary. I want to fight for opera, for it to be taken seriously. Pop music is for the body, but opera is for the soul."[9].

Gheorghiu had locked horns several times with the Met's former General Manager, Joseph Volpe since her debut there as Mimi in 1993. In 1996, Gheorghiu was cast as Micaela in a new production of Carmen, opposite Waltraud Meier and Placido Domingo. The production by Franco Zeffirelli called for Micaela to wear a blonde wig, a nuance to which the soprano vehemently objected. Volpe famously declared, "The wig is going on, with you or without you".[10] Gheorghiu eventually relented and appeared in ten performances of Carmen that season, including the Met's tour to Japan, although she kept the hood of her cloak up to cover the wig as much as possible. She appeared at the Met again in 1998 for six performances of Roméo et Juliette with her husband, tenor Roberto Alagna as Roméo. Volpe had planned to engage Gheorghiu in her signature role, Violetta Valery, for a new production of La Traviata, to premiere in November 1998 and directed by Zeffirelli. Alagna was to sing the role of Violetta's lover, Alfredo Germont. According to Volpe the soprano and her husband squabbled with staff and director over production details and continually delayed signing the contract. They eventually signed their contracts, and faxed them to the Met one day past their expiration date. Holding the singers to the letter of the contracts, Volpe refused to accept them after the deadline. The production opened with Patricia Racette and Marcelo Alvarez as the lovers.[11]

Nevertheless Georghiu and Alagna returned to the Met for five perfomances of L'elisir d'amore in 1999 and for four performances of Faust in 2003. Gheorghiu also performed at the Met as Liu in Turandot in 2000; as Violetta in La traviata opposite Jonas Kaufmann in 2006 and 2007; as Amelia in Simon Boccanegra in 2007; and as Mimì in La bohème in 2008.[12] Gheorghiu's future engagements at the house include Magda in Puccini's La Rondine, the company's first performance of the opera since 1936; Marie Antoinette in a rare revival of John Corigliano's The Ghosts of Versailles; and another new production of Carmen, this time in the title role.

In September 2007 Georghiu was dismissed from Lyric Opera of Chicago's production of La bohème by General Manager William Mason, for missing rehearsals and costume fittings, and generally "unprofessional" behavior. Gheorghiu said in a statement that she had missed some rehearsals to spend time with her husband, who was singing at the Met in Roméo et Juliette and rehearsing for Puccini's Madama Butterfly and added "I have sung 'Boheme' hundreds of times, and thought missing a few rehearsals wouldn't be a tragedy. It was impossible to do the costume fitting at the same time I was in New York. [13].

Six weeks later, Gheorghiu made her house debut at San Francisco Opera receiving very good reviews for her Magda in the company's new production of La Rondine.[14][15] The San Francisco Opera production originated with London's Royal Opera House, where it premiered on May 7, 2002 with Angela Gheorghiu and Roberto Alagna as Magda and her lover Ruggiero. It is one which she particularly admires:

"When the curtain opened on La Rondine at Covent Garden, the audience gasped and applauded. People want to dream. If directors want to do something new with operas, why not do something beautiful?"[16]

[edit] Personal life

Divorced from her first husband, from whom she retained her surname, Gheorghiu married the French-Italian tenor Roberto Alagna in 1996. The couple have sung together often on stage and on studio recordings. She was once chosen the 74th "most beautiful" woman in the world by the magazine FHM.[17]

[edit] Partial Discography

[edit] References

  1. ^ John Warrack and Ewan West, 'Gheorghiu, Angela', The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Opera, Oxford University Press, 1996; Nicolas Slonimsky and Laura Diane Kuhn , Baker's Biographical Dictionary of Musicians, Gale Group, 2001, p.1264; David M. Cummings, 'Gheorghiu, Angela', International Who's Who in Classical Music, Routledge, 2003, p.274
  2. ^ Roberto Alagna - People Magazine 21 June 1999
  3. ^ Vienna Chamber Opera: International Hans Gabor Belvedere Singing Competition
  4. ^ Biography on Official website (2004)
  5. ^ Bio of Angela Gheorghiu - The Metropolitan Opera
  6. ^ Crory, Neil (2005) "Recommended CD Recordings: Puccini: Angela Gheorghiu" Opera Canada 46(2): p.47
  7. ^ 2002 Grammy Nominees, Grammy Award Spotlight, CNN.
  8. ^ "que quiere expresar sus fantasías, olvidándose de los personajes. A veces, lo que se representa en el escenario va en contra de la historia y de la música." in Susana Gaviña, «Yo tengo el control en la ópera», ABC, May 18, 2007. Retrieved 3 June 2008.
  9. ^ Warwick Thompson, Her serene highness, The Times, May 4, 2007. Retrieved 3 June 2008.
  10. ^ Alan Kozinn, Debriefing/Joseph Volpe; How Pavarotti Got a Proper Farewell, New York Times, March 21, 2004. Retrieved 3 June 2008.
  11. ^ Anthony Tommasini, Hesitating Celebrity Couple Loses a Met Opera Contract, New York Times, April 4, 1998. Retrieved 3 June 2008
  12. ^ Angela Gheorghiu performance record at the Metropolitan opera, MetOpera Database. Retrieved 3 June 2008.
  13. ^ Lyric Opera of Chicago fires soprano Angela Gheorghiu Associated Press, via The International Herald Tribune, September 28, 2007. Retrieved 3 June 2008.
  14. ^ Joshua Kosman, Gheorghiu's debut worth the wait in Opera's 'La Rondine', San Francisco Chronicle, November 9, 2007. Retrieved 3 June 2008.
  15. ^ Georgia Rowe, Angela Gheorghiu is the wind beneath the wings of 'La Rondine', The Oakland Tribune, November 13, 2007. Retrieved 3 June 2008
  16. ^ Robert Thicknesse, The angel comes down to earth, The Times, June 11, 2004. Retrieved 3 June 2008.
  17. ^ Ed Vulliamy, Angela Gheorghiu and Roberto Alagna: A double act of arias and anger, The Observer, December 17, 2006; With a voice like that, she’s allowed to be a nightmare, The Times, June 11, 2006.

[edit] External links


Persondata
NAME Gheorghiu, Angela
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Burlacu, Angela
SHORT DESCRIPTION opera singer
DATE OF BIRTH September 7, 1965
PLACE OF BIRTH Adjud, Romania
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH