Edita Gruberová

Edita Gruber (born 23 December 1946 in Raca, district in the north of Bratislava, Czechoslovakia) is a Slovak soprano. It is one of the leading coloratura sopranos of our time, what her nickname as the "Queen of coloratura " or " Slovak Nightingale" earned.

Life and artistic work

Edita Gruber grew up as the daughter of a Hungarian mother ( Etela ) and a German -born father ( Gustav Gruber ) with the Slovak language. Her family belonged to the local Hungarian minority. Even in school plays her voice fell on, and then the pastor parents put a professional musical education the only daughter of my heart. Edita Gruber, who wanted to be a nurse, her six years' study with 15 years began in Bratislava at the Conservatory; her voice teacher was Maria Medvecká. On February 19, 1968, the 21 -year-old debut in the role of Rosina in The Barber of Seville in Bratislava, where she had already participated as a student in choral ensembles. The young soprano, completed her first professional stage performances in the years 1968 to 1971 in the provincial town of Banská Bystrica. There she sang Eliza in My Fair Lady, Violetta in Verdi's La Traviata and the four female roles ( Olympia, Giulietta, Antonia and Stella) in The Tales of Hoffmann.

In 1970, Gruberová her debut at the Vienna State Opera as Queen of the Night in Mozart's Magic Flute. On March 23, 1971 she left Czechoslovakia and went to Vienna, where she worked on perfecting the voice and repertoire with the chamber singer Ruthilde Boesch. " She has taught me the technique I mastered today ," confirmed Edita Gruber in an interview about her vocal teacher ( Welt am Sonntag on 11 January 2004). At the Vienna State Opera, she first appeared in (very) small lots, such as a milliner in Der Rosenkavalier, as Kate Pinkerton in Madame Butterfly, and later as Zerbinetta in Ariadne auf Naxos, Konstanze in The Abduction from the Seraglio, Olympia in Les Contes d ' Hoffmann and Rosina in Il barbiere di Siviglia.

Her international career as a coloratura singer, especially in the bel canto specialist, began in 1974 when she appeared as Queen of the Night in The Magic Flute at the festivals in Glyndebourne and under Herbert von Karajan in Salzburg.

Other milestones of her career in 1976, marked the premiere of Ariadne auf Naxos under Karl Böhm, when she sang Zerbinetta, a game in which they occurred in Vienna for the hundredth and last time on 6 December 2009 and 1978 as Lucia in Lucia di Lammermoor they sang about 90 times at the Staatsoper.

" Since that time, it was Edita Gruber in Vienna and around the world in a much sought after singer, who is said to no coloratura too difficult and no amount was too high. Your effortless high, f's ' Queen of the Night investigated their peers and Edita Gruber made ​​the epitome of the perfect coloratura soprano ".

It was followed by appearances at La Scala, the Royal Opera House in London, the Paris Opera ( for two concerts with piano accompaniment in 1980 and 1990 respectively ), the Bavarian State Opera, the Vienna State Opera, the Zurich Opera House (1986 ) and numerous other houses. One of her important roles was Lucia di Lammermoor, the mad scene she sometimes afforded with the adapted for flute and verrophone original glass harmonica part. Another highlight of her career was the appearance in October 1989 in La Traviata, conducted by Carlos Kleiber and directed by Franco Zeffirelli at the New York Metropolitan Opera. The last time they came into this game on during a concert playing on 21 December 2010 at the Vienna Musikverein. On April 1 and May 24, 2004 Gruberová sang for the first time at the Festspielhaus Baden -Baden in the role of Norma, on 22 February 2008 at the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona as Lucrezia Borgia, July 5, 2012 at the Philharmonie in Munich Gasteig La straniera.

Edita Gruber advocated that several unknown operas of Donizetti and Bellini were re-listed, such as Maria Stuarda, Beatrice di Tenda, Anna Bolena, Roberto Devereux or Linda di Chamounix. To this end, numerous CD recordings came under their label Nightingale.

Throughout her long singing career Edita Gruber worked with all the great conductors of the time together, such as Karl Böhm, Richard Bonynge, Sir Colin Davis, Kurt Eichhorn, Friedrich Haider, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Herbert von Karajan, Carlos Kleiber, Kurt Masur, Zubin Mehta, Riccardo Muti, Seiji Ozawa, Nicola Rescigno, Giuseppe Sinopoli, Sir Georg Solti, and performed with well-known singers such as Agnes Baltsa, Lucia Popp, Brigitte Fassbaender, Reri Grist, Jessye Norman, Leontyne Price and Anny Schlemm and singers such as Francisco Araiza, José Bros, Anna Fleischer, Renato Bruson, Walter Berry, Plácido Domingo, Juan Diego Flórez, James King, René Kollo, Alfredo Kraus, Luciano Pavarotti or Shicoff on.

The artist used since the beginning of her career always will include the song singing. Her repertoire includes compositions by Johannes Brahms, Robert Schumann, Franz Schubert, Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy, Gioacchino Rossini and Leo Delibes. Often she was accompanied by Friedrich Haider on the piano.

Edita Gruber is a Goodwill Ambassador of the Swiss Friends of SOS Children's Villages. The artist was with the Slovak musician Štefan Klimo (d. 1983), married; she is the mother of two daughters.

An extensive discography and a high number of various TV and video recordings documenting the great musical spectrum of the singer.

Awards

• Austrian (1980 ) and Bavarian (1989 ) Kammersängerin
• Honorary member of the Vienna State Opera (1988 )
• Franco Abbiati Critics Award
• Sir Laurence Olivier Award
• Bellini d' oro for outstanding vocal performances
• Honorary doctorate from the Academy of Music and Dramatic Art Bratislava ( Vysoká škola múzických Umění in Bratislava )
• International Music Award (1991 )
• Order of the White Double Cross ( 1997)
• Bavarian Order of Merit (1997)
• Bavarian Maximilian Order for Science and Art (1999)
• Echo Classic: Singer of the Year (1999), Opera Recording of the Year (2005)
• Mercury Theatre Award (2004 )
• Grand Decoration for Services to the Republic of Austria ( 3 February 2005)
• Gold Decoration for Services to the City of Vienna (27 May 2009)
• Herbert von Karajan Music Prize (2013 )

Discography (selection)

Opera recordings

• Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: The Magic Flute, Idomeneo, Lucio Silla, Don Giovanni, Bastien and Bastienne, The Abduction from the Seraglio (2x), The Impresario, Il sogno di Scipione, La finta giardiniera, Mitridate, re di Ponto
• Vincenzo Bellini: Norma, Beatrice di Tenda, La sonnambula, I Puritani, I Capuleti ei Montecchi
• Gaetano Donizetti: Maria Stuarda (2x ), Anna Bolena, Roberto Devereux, Lucia di Lammermoor (4x ), Maria di Rohan, Linda di Chamounix, La Fille du Régiment, Lucrezia Borgia
• Jacques Offenbach: Tales of Hoffmann
• Giuseppe Verdi: La Traviata (3x), Un ballo in maschera, Rigoletto, Don Carlo
• Gioachino Rossini: Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Semiramide
• Engelbert Humperdinck: Hansel and Gretel

Albums

• Brahms - Dvorak - Strauss: Lieder
• Mozart, Debussy, Wolf: Lieder
• Frühlingslieder
• Dvorák - Rachmaninoff - Rimsky -Korsakov ( Songs)
• Duets: We sisters two, we beauties ( with Vesselina Kasarova )
• From Heart to Heart
• Dialogue. New romantic ballads
• J. S. Bach: Cantatas, flute concertos
• J. S. Bach / G. F. Handel / Mozart: hymn
• Joy to the World - Christmas Concert ( Christmas Recital )
• Children's Songs of the World
• Mozart: Concert Arias (multiple)
• French & Italian Operatic Arias
• Famous Opera Arias
• Edita Gruberova: Virtuoso Arias
• Edita Gruberova sings Verdi, Bellini, Donizetti
• Edita Gruberova - The Tokyo Recital 1990
• The Art of Gruberova
• Madness scenes
• Donizetti Portraits
• Donizetti's Tudor Queens
• ADAGIO. Between Heaven and Earth ( Edita Gruberova Edition Volume II)
• Queen of Coloratura
• Art of coloratura
• The Anniversary Concert
• Oh, we poor prima donnas! Edita Gruberova Operetta Gala
• Belcanto Duets - Edita Gruberova, Yoshikazu Mera
• Le Donne di Puccini
• Edita Gruberova - arias, songs and ensembles

More albums

• Joseph Haydn: The Creation
• Hans Werner Henze: Cantatas
• Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy: Symphony No. 2 " Hymn of Praise "
• Gustav Mahler: Symphony No. 4
• Carl Orff: Carmina Burana

Roles only as a video / DVD recordings

• Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Così fan tutte
• Jules Massenet: Manon
• Johannes Brahms: A German Requiem
• Giuseppe Verdi: Rigoletto. 1983 as Gilda with Pavarotti as the Duke, directed by Jean -Pierre Ponnelle.