Maria Guleghina

Maria Guleghina is one of the most celebrated and acclaimed sopranos of the world. Her performances are invariably rewarded with standing ovations throughout the world’s foremost opera houses. She has been described as the “Cinderella from Russia”, “Russian soprano with Verdi flowing through her veins” and “Vocal Miracle”. She is particularly noted for her interpretation of the title role in Tosca. Her repertoire also includes the title role in Aida, Manon Lescaut,Norma, Fedora, as well as Lady Macbeth in Macbeth, Abigaille in Nabucco, Leonora in Il Trovatore, Oberto and La Forza del Destino, Elvira in Ernani, Elisabetta in Don Carlo, Amelia in Simon Boccanegra, and Un Ballo in Maschera, Lucrezia in I due Foscari, Desdemona in Otello, Santuzza in Cavalleria Rusticana, Maddalena in Andrea Chenier, Lisa in Pique Dame and Odabella in Attila.

Maria Guleghina began her professional career at the State Opera in Minsk, and a year later made her debut in La Scala as Amelia in Un Ballo in Maschera under Maestro Gavazzeni opposite Luciano Pavarotti. Her voice of great power, warmth, thrust and with immense acting ability made her a permanent and welcome guest everywhere. At La Scala she has performed Lucrezia in I due Foscari, Tosca, Fedora, Lady Macbeth in Macbeth, Lisa in Pique Dame, Manon Lescaut, Abigaille in Nabucco and Leonora in La Forza del Destino conducted by Riccardo Muti in Tokyo. She has accompanied La Scala on two tours to Japan in 1991 and 1999 on which she also performed solo recitals at this worlds renown theatre.

Since her 1991 debut at the Metropolitan Opera as Maddalena in a new production of Andrea Chenier opposite Luciano Pavarotti, she has returned there many times as Tosca, Santuzza in Cavalleria Rusticana, Aida, Abigaille in Nabucco, Dolly in Sly opposite Placido Domingo and Giorgetta in Il Tabarro.

In 1991 she made her Vienna State Opera debut in Andrea Chenier and has returned to perform Lisa in Pique Dame, Tosca, Aida, Elvira in Ernani, Lady Macbeth in Macbeth, Leonora in Il Trovatore and Abigaille in Nabucco.

Before her 1995 stage debut in the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden where she performed the title role in Fedora opposite Placido Domingo, she had already performed in a critically acclaimed concert performance of Ernani at the Barbican with the Royal Opera House company. This was followed by a highly successful recital at the Wigmore Hall. Her other appearances at Covent Garden include Tosca, concert performances of Andrea Chenier, Odabella in Attila and most recently Lady Macbeth in Macbeth.

In 1996 Maria Guleghina’s debut in Arena di Verona was as Abigaille in Nabucco where she was awarded the “Prize of Giovanni Zanatello” for a sensational debut performer. She has since performed there on numerous occasions.

In 1997 Maria Guleghina made her Paris Opera debut with the title role in Tosca and has since been seen in this theatre as Lady Macbeth in Macbeth, Abigaille in Nabucco and Odabella in Attila.

Maria Guleghina has a long standing relationship with Japan, a country where she has become very well known. In 1990 Ms. Guleghina performed Leonora in Il Trovatore, and recorded Otello there with Renato Bruson under the baton of Gustav Kuhn. In 1996 she returned to Japan for performances of IlTrovatore at the National Opera. She subsequently performed Tosca with the Metropolitan Opera in Japan and in the same year took part in the inauguration of the New National Theatre of Tokyo in a new production of Aida by Franco Zeffirelli. In 1999 and 2000 Maria Guleghina gave two solo recital tours in Japan and recorded two solo CDs. She also toured to Japan with La Scala as Leonora in La Forza del Destino and with the Washington Opera as Tosca. And most recently Maria Guleghina successfully performed her world debut as Violetta in La Traviata.

Maria Guleghina has performed solo recitals all over the world including appearances at La Scala, Gran Teatre del Liceu, Lille, Sao Paolo, Carnegie Hall, Wigmore Hall, Suntory Hall, Osaka, Kyoto, Hong Kong, Rome and Moscow to name a few.

Many of the productions in which she has appeared have been broadcast on the radio as well as televised. They include Tosca, Pique Dame, Andrea Chenier,Sly and Nabucco from the Metropolitan Opera, Tosca, Manon Lescaut and Un Ballo in Maschera from La Scala, Attila from Paris Opera, Nabucco from the Vienna State Opera and solo recitals from Japan, Barcelona, Moscow and Leipzig.

She has appeared with the world’s leading singers and conductors including Luciano Pavarotti, Placido Domingo, Leo Nucci, Renato Bruson, Jose Cura and Samuel Ramey, Gianandrea Gavazzeni, Riccardo Muti, James Levine, Zubin Mehta, Fabio Luisi, Claudio Abbado and Daniel Oren.

Some highlights of her recent engagements include a series of Verdi concerts with the Gulbenkian Foundation in Lisbon as well as the title role in Norma at the Santander and La Coruña Festival, Abigaille, Maddalena and Tosca, at the Vienna State Opera. Elena in I Vespri Siciliani at the Washington Opera as part of their 50 th Anniversary. Performances of Nabucco and Tosca with Valery Gegiev as part of “Stars at White Nights” Festival at the Mariinsky Theatre, concert performances of il Trovatore in Miami. Manon Lescaut at the Liceu in Barcelona and Cavalleria Rusticana, Tosca and Il Tabarro at the Metropolitan.

Ms Guleghina’s future engagements include a new production of Macbeth, Norma, Pique Dame, Adriana Lecouvreur and Turandot at the Metropolitan Opera, Aida and Nabucco at the Arena di Verona Turandot and Cavalleria Rusticana at the Liceu in Barcelona, a new Production of Nabucco at the Bayerische Staats Oper, etc.

Ms. Guleghina is the recipient of the Giovanni Zanatello Prize for her debut at the Arena di Verona, Maria Zamboni gold medal, 1999 gold medal at the Osaka Festival, 2001 Bellini Prize, and the Arte e Operosita nel mondo prize from Milan. Maria Guleghina has been awarded the orden of Holy Olga, the Highest Orden of the Russian orthodox Church by Patriarch Alexis of Russia. Recently she has also been appointed on the Honorary Board of the International Paralympics Committee.

Recent media releases include a DVD of Andrea Chenier from Teatro Communale di Bologna (TDK), a DVD of Macbeth from the Liceu in Barcelona (Opus Arte), the Metropolitan Opera’s DVD of Nabucco with James Levine (DG), etc. Her recent Audio Releases include a live concert recording of Verismo arias „Passion of Verismo” (TMR) and a recording of Rachmaninov Romances “Passion of Rachmaninov” (TMR).