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Published on: 7/23/2008
Last Visited: 7/25/2008
Raina Kabaivanska 07/23/2008 - By Gina Guandalini
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Raina Kabaivanska
Bulgarian opera singer, one of the most renowned sopranos in the second half of the 20th century
http://www.rainakabaivanska.net
Raina Kabaivanska was born in Burgass, Bulgaria, on the Black Sea.Her father was a veterinarian and a writer; also a talented inventor, as he designed and realized Balkantourist, the Bulgarian Tourist Association.Her mother was a professor of physics..Raina always lived in Sofia and studied there.As a child she played the piano and sang accompanying herself on a small accordeon.As a student at the Sofia Conservatory she was a soloist in the Artistic Collective of the Workers' Army and played and sang popular opera arias for soprano and mezzo. For a few months she was a member of the chorus at the Sofia Opera House, as a soprano.In the final end-of-term production of the Conservatoory.In the end-of-term spectacle of her last Conservatory year she took part in Tatyana's Leter Scene from Tchaykovsky's Eugene Onyegin amd in the final scene of Verdi's Un ballo in maschera.In 1958 she obtained a 6-month scholarship from her government.She used it to finish her musical education in Italy.
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Kabaivanska's working relationship with La Scala remained intense during the ‘60'es (Falstaff, Busoni's Turandot, Suor Angelica, Don Carlos, Mefistofele, Rien-zi).
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After the birth of daughter Francesca ( so christened after Zandonai's opera), Raina Kabaivanska chose the city of Modena for her home.
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Kabaivanska was able to overcome all blasé prejudice, interpreting the Art Nouveau heroines - Desdemona in Otello, Wally, Tosca, Adriana Lecouvreur, Butterfly, Francesca da Rimini - with sovereign musicianship, with strictly controlled style and taste, and with the charisma of a great actress.
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In 1978 Herbert von Karajan ( who had been both conductor and director to her tense, exciting Nedda in Pagliacci at La Scala ) wanted Raina in Trovatore at the Salzburg Festival and in Vienna.
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In 1979 Raina sang Evgenji Onjegin a the Metropolitan in New York.
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The end of that partnership meant that Raina was now free to choose the roles in her career.She was established as the most acclaimed soprano in Italy and in many European countries.The Rome Opera, the Comunale of Bologna, the Hamburg Staatsoper, the San Carlo in Naples, the Regio of Turin, the Coliseo of Bilbao, the Massimo of Palermo opened their doors to her with fresh suggestions.
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Anticipating a much-trumpetend production of the ‘90'es, Raina has filmed Tosca in its authentic places - the church of S.Andrea della Valle, the Farnese palace and the Castle of S. Angelo - with Placido Domingo, already in 1979.
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A young and enthusiastic public was now raising Kabaivanska to the status of cult singer.Versatility is not the least of her qualities.It could not be otherwise in an artist who is first and foremost a cultured, polyglot lady and an excellent musician, Her concerts and recitals are countless to this day and range from Monteverdi to our time.One area she particularly favours, slavic chamber music.As a chamber artist Kabaivanska has never forgotten her "roots"; she is a musician with a perfect command of Czech and Russian and she expresses herself with a deeply felt melancholy.. Raina Kabaivanska's first master classes took place in 1992 near Turin; ever since it has been impossible to keep track with the frequency with which she has lavished her technical, interpretative and scenic expertise on young students.She was a prestigious coach at the Accademia Chigiana in Siena,at the Accademia in Osimo and at the Opera Real in Madrid, among others.Lastly, since 1993 our artist has ventured into the exploration of Twentieth-century opera: the intricate one, by Strauss, Janacek, Britten, Poulenc.For such composers the human is not and cannot be the "bel canto" of the previous centuries, but the whispers and screams of characters with a neurotic, worn-out sensitivity.Kabaivanska has created chic, restless ladies, such as the Gräfin in Capriccio, the epitome of the Abandoned Woman in La voix humaine, the Governess in The turn of the Screw,; but also disturbed, tragical characters, such as Emilia Marty in The Makropoulos Case and Kostelni,ka in Jenufa.
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In the current stage of her career, Kabaivanska is still digging in the treasure of XX century in musica.She has tackled The Merry Widow , non just as a purely frivolous divertissement , but as a milestone in XX century opera.
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As the late critic and musicologist, Rodolfo Celletti, wrote about her, "Raina's voice, considered in itself, as pure sonic material, as an instrument, is almost as non-existing.
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RAINA KABAIVANSKA IN CONCERTO
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RAINA KABAIVANSKA IN CONCERTO
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RAINA KABAIVANSKA TODAY
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RAINA KABAIVANSKA - OMAGGIO ALLA CARRIERA
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RAINA KABAIVANSKA IN RECITAL
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