Vesselina Kasarova

Marco Borggreve

Biographie

Vesselina Kasarova was born in Stara Zagora (Bulgaria) and began at the age of four years playing the piano. After the concert diploma, she studied voice with Ressa Koleva at the Music Academy of Sofia, and was already as a student at the National Opera in major roles.

In 1989 she received a two year fixed contract at the Zurich Opera, where she advanced within a short time to an audience favorite and was hailed by the international community as a great discovery. That same year she also won the first prize at the German singing competition "Neue Stimmen" in Gütersloh.

In the Mozart Year 1991 Vesselina Kasarova made his debut at the Salzburg Festival, with two matinees at the Mozarteum (Betulia Liberata K. 118), as well as in the Annio conducted by Sir Colin Davis in La Clemenza di Tito. Other roles at the Salzburg Festival was Tancredi, Ombra felice, Zerlina, Farnace, Sesto and Marguerite (La Damnation de Faust). In the autumn of that year was Vesselina Kasarova as Rosina (Il Barbiere di Siviglia) under Donald Runnicles her acclaimed debut at the Vienna State Opera.

With lots of Mozart (Cherubino, Idamante, Sesto, Dorabella) and Rossini (Rosina, Tancredi, Isabella, Angelina) as well as Romeo (I Capuleti ei Montecchi), Giovanna Seymour (Anna Bolena), Charlotte (Werther), etc. guested it also at the Grand Théâtre de Genève, Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona, Zurich Opera, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Bavarian State Opera in Munich, Opéra National de Paris (Bastille, Garnier), Lyric Opera of Chicago, San Francisco Opera, Vienna State Opera, in Amsterdam and at the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino and Rossini Opera Festival in Pesaro, and worked with conductors such as Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Sir Colin Davis, Pinchas Steinberg, Donald Runnicles, Seji Ozawa, Semyon Bychkov, Daniel Barenboim, Riccardo Muti, Marcello Viotti, Alberto Zedda, Franz Welser-Möst, Sir Roger Norrington, Eve Queler, Wolfgang Sawallisch, Ivor Bolton and Friedrich Haider.

Concerts and recitals led Vesselina Kasarova to Munich, Berlin, Rome, Paris, Vienna, Dresden, La Scala in Milan, Wigmore Hall London, Carnegie Hall in New York, Schubertiade Feldkirch and the Festival de la Musique Montreux-Vevey.

For RCA Red Seal Vesselina Kasarova has recorded numerous CDs, which have won several awards.