Angela Gheorghiu, the great Romanian soprano

Angela Gheorghiu was born on September 7th, 1965, in a small town in Moldavia called Adjud. Her talent became apparent from a very early age, so her parents sent her to a music school in Bucharest. She went on to study at the Bucharest Academy of Music with the teacher Mia Barbu.

She made her debut at the Cluj-Napoca National Opera in 1990 as Mimi in Giacomo Puccini’s La Bohème. In 1992, she played Zerlina in Mozart’s Don Giovanni at the Royal Opera Covent Garden in London. But it was her performance in La Traviata in 1994 that made her internationally famous.

The conductor, Sir Georg Solti famously said “I was in tears. I had to go out. The girl is wonderful. She can do everything”, while the BBC cancelled their programs for the evening to broadcast the show.

Her voice has been described as “a liquid instrument of great lyrical beauty with gleaming spun-gold notes” by a Sunday Times reporter. She has even been compared to Maria Callas and to show her affinity with the American artist, she recorded an album in homage of her. The album, simply entitled "Homage to Maria Callas" went straight to the top of the most prestigious classical music chart in the world. It contains arias that are close to Gheorghiu’s heart, like "La Boheme", "Faust", "I Pagliacci", "Il Pirata", "Samson et Delilah", "La Wally", "Carmen", "Andrea Chenier", "Le Cid", "Adriana Lecouvreur" and "La Traviata".

Although she currently resides in London and travels all over the world, she confesses that she feels a strong connection to her native country. She says that home is the smell of the streets she grew up in, the food, the friends, the school where she studied, because all of these made her the person she is today. “Your home is your blood!” she famously said for the Romanian publication Evenimentul Zilei. She also considers herself “the best possible ambassador for this country”!

And while she no longer performs on Romanian stages, she still participates in different events organized for her. For instance, she came to Romania in 2011 to launch her album dedicated to Maria Callas and to attend the projection of the show “Tosca”, a production of the Royal Opera, Covent Garden, in which she starred.  

Sources:

"Angela Gheorghiu, Biography", Angela Gheorghiu, May 2014, Available at: http://www.angelagheorghiu.com/biography.html, Accessed: 07.15.2015.

"Angela Gheorghiu: The Diva Who Wants It All", classic fm, Available at: http://www.classicfm.com/artists/angela-gheorghiu/guides/angela-gheorghiu-diva-who-wants-it-all/#Aja0MUCeAE4fyqcH.97, Accessed: 07.15.2015.

"Angela Gheorghiu: 'Uneori am plâns de foame'", Evenimentul Zilei, April 6th 2009, Available at: http://www.evz.ro/angela-gheorghiu-uneori-am-plans-de-foame-846242.html, Accessed: 07.15.2015.

"Noul album al Angelei Gheorghiu, 'Homage to Maria Callas', pe locul I în topul Gramophone", Jurnalul.ro, November 17th 2011, Available at: jurnalul.ro/cultura/muzica/noul-album-al-angelei-gheorghiu-homage-to-maria-callas-pe-locul-i-in-topul-gramophone-596840.html, Accessed: 07.15.2015.

Fuller, Amanda E., "Angela Gheorghiu: Romanian opera singer", Encyclopaedia Britannica, January 8th 2015, Available at:  http://www.britannica.com/biography/Angela-Gheorghiu, Accessed: 07.15.2015.

Piloff, Mădălina, "Angela Gheorghiu: 'Acasă e sângele tău!'", Evenimentul Zilei, November 27th 2011, Available at: http://www.evz.ro/angela-gheorghiu-tara-e-sangele-tau-955564.html, Accessed: 07.15.2015.

Smith, Julia Llewellyn, "Opera singer Angela Gheorghiu says of her marital difficulties with Roberto Alagna: 'It was stupid of us to be apart'", The telegraph, September 25th 2011, Available at: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/opera/8786844/Opera-singer-Angela-Gheorghiu-says-of-her-marital-difficulties-with-Roberto-Alagna-It-was-stupid-of-us-to-be-apart.html, Accessed: 07.15.2015.