article_title background birth_date genre image origin name
raina kabaivanska
 solo_singer 15 december 1934 opera tosca - madrid , and enrigue baquerizo 2004.jpg burgas , bulgaria raina kabaivanska
raina kabaivanska

raina kabaivanska -lrb- -rrb- -lrb- december 15 , 1934 -rrb- is a bulgarian opera singer , one of the leading lyrico-spinto sopranos of her generation , particularly associated with verdi and puccini , although she sang a wide range of roles .
born raina jakimowa in burgas , bulgaria , she studied in sofia with prokopowa and jossifow , and made her debut at the bulgarian national opera in sofia as tatjana in tchaikovsky 's `` eugene onegin '' in 1957 .
the following year , she left for italy for further studies with zina fumagalli-riva in milan and with giulia tess in vercelli .
two years later she made a breakthrough in fano , italy , as nedda in leoncavallo 's `` pagliacci '' .
in 1961 , she gave her first performance at la scala in milan , as agnese in bellini 's `` beatrice di tenda '' , opposite dame joan sutherland .
she sang widely in italy , genoa , venice , parma and notably in turin in 1973 , as elena in `` i vespri siciliani '' , in the only production ever directed by maria callas .
in 1962 , she made her debuts at both the royal opera house in london , as desdemona in verdi 's `` otello '' , and the metropolitan opera in new york , as nedda .
she went on performing at the bolshoi theatre in moscow , the teatro colón in buenos aires , the paris opéra , the vienna state opera , the budapest opera , the lyric opera of chicago , the san francisco opera , the dallas opera , the teatro dell ` opera di roma , etc. .
she also appeared in a few opera films , notably `` pagliacci '' , opposite jon vickers in 1968 , `` il trovatore '' , opposite franco bonisolli , in 1975 , and `` tosca '' , opposite plácido domingo , in 1976 .
a versatile singer with a beautiful voice and fine musicianship , she is also a singing-actress of considerable ability .
her repertory includes : kabaivanska has received the following international opera awards : bellini -lrb- 1965 -rrb- , viotti d'oro -lrb- 1970 -rrb- , puccini -lrb- 1978 -rrb- , illica -lrb- 1979 -rrb- , monteverdi -lrb- 1980 -rrb- , the award of accademia ` medici ' - lorenzo il magnifico , florence -lrb- 1990 -rrb- , the grand prix ' a life , dedicated to the music ' , venice -lrb- 2000 -rrb- .
at present , kabaivanska is a professor at the accademia musicale chigiana , in siena , italy .
she has a master class for performers of puccini 's works , as well as master classes in spain , italy and france .
she is also a jury member for many prestigious competitions all over the world .
kabaivanska delivered an emotional performance of the `` ave maria '' from the opera otello by giuseppe verdi to open the funeral mass for luciano pavarotti in modena , italy on 8 september 2007 .
mme kabaivanska has recently added another role to her considerable repertoire : the comtesse in tchaikowsky 's `` queen of spades '' , in a series of five performances -lrb- 31 january - 19 february 2008 -rrb- at the capitole in toulouse -lrb- france -rrb- .
