Raina Kabaivanska
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Raina Kabaivanska (Bulgarian: Райна Кабаиванска) (born December 15, 1934) is a Bulgarian opera singer, one of the most renowned sopranos in the second half of the 20th century. Born in Burgas under the name Raina Yakimova, she graduated Opera Singing and Piano from the Bulgarian State Academy of Music.
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[edit] Operatic career
Kabaivanska made her debut at the Bulgarian National Opera in Sofia as Tatjana in Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin in 1957. Two years later she made a breakthrough in Italy as Nedda in Leoncavallo’s I pagliacci although it was not until 1961 when Kabaivanska gave her first performance at Milan’s La Scala, that international renown came. Between the 1960s and the 1980s Kabaivanska toured most major opera theatres in the world, including La Scala, Metropolitan Opera and Carnegie Hall in New York, Covent Garden in London, Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow and Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires. She made a color film of Pagliacci in 1968, with Jon Vickers as Canio.
In 1976, she made a film recording of Puccini’s Tosca opposite Plácido Domingo as Mario Cavaradossi and Sherrill Milnes as Baron Scarpia, directed by Gianfranco De Bosio and conducted by Bruno Bartoletti.
[edit] Repertory
Her repertory has included works by:
| Composer | Opera | Role |
|---|---|---|
| Giuseppe Verdi | Don Carlo | Elisabeth of Valois |
| Otello | Desdemonia | |
| La traviata | Violetta Valery | |
| Falstaff | Alice Ford | |
| Il trovatore | Leonora | |
| La forza del destino | Leonora | |
| Les vêpres siciliennes | La Duchesse Hélène | |
| Ernani | Elvira | |
| Requiem | Soprano | |
| Giacomo Puccini | Madama Butterfly | Cio-Cio San |
| Tosca | Floria Tosca | |
| Manon Lescaut | Manon Lescaut | |
| Richard Wagner | Rienzi | Irene |
| Francesco Cilea | Adriana Lecouvreur | Adriana |
| Gaetano Donizetti | Roberto Devereux | Elisabetta |
| Charles Gounod | Faust | Marguerite |
| Ruggero Leoncavallo | Pagliacci | Nedda |
| Jules Massenet | Manon | Manon Lescaut |
| Alfredo Catalani | La Wally | Wally |
| Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky | The Queen of Spades | Lisa |
| Eugene Onegin | Tatiana | |
| Richard Strauss | Capriccio | Countess |
| Riccardo Zandonai | Francesca da Rimini | Francesca |
| Gasparo Spontini | La Vestale | Julia |
| Christoph Willibald Gluck | Armide | Armide |
| Leoš Janácek | The Makropulos Case | Emilia Marty |
| Franz Lehár | The Merry Widow | Hanna Glawari |
[edit] Awards and career
Kabaivanska has received the following international opera awards: Bellini (1965), Viotti d'Oro (1970), Puccini (1978), Illica (1979), Monteverdi (1980), the Award of Accademia 'Medici' - Lorenzo il Magnifico, Florence (1990), the Grand Prix 'A Life, Dedicated to the Music', Venice (2000).
At present, Kabaivanska is a professor at the Accademia Musicale Chigiana, in Siena, Italy. She has a Master Class for performers of Puccini's works, as well as master classes in Spain, Italy and France. She is also a jury member for many prestigious competitions all over the world.
Kabaivanska delivered an emotional performance of the "Ave Maria" from the opera Otello by Giuseppe Verdi to open the funeral mass for Luciano Pavarotti in Modena, Italy on 8 September 2007.
Raina Kabaivanska has recently added another role to her considerable repertoire: the Countess in Tchaikowski's "Queen of Spades" in a series of five performances (31 january - 19 february 2008) at the Capitole in Toulouse (France).
[edit] External links
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