Angela Gheorghiu

Biography

Angela Gheorghiu, the world’s most glamorous opera star (New York Sun), was born in the small Romanian town Adjud. From early childhood it was obvious that she will become a singer, her destiny was music. She attended the Music High School in Bucharest and graduated from the National University of Music Bucharest. She studied with the remarkable music teacher Mia Barbu. Ms. Gheorghiu’s magnificent voice and dazzling stage presence have established her as a unique international opera superstar.

She made her international debut in 1992 at Covent Garden as Mimì in La bohème and in the same year made her debut at the Vienna State Opera. She debuted at the Metropolitan Opera in 1993, as Mimì. It was at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden that she first sang her much acclaimed Violetta in La Traviata in 1994, when for the first and last time in television and operatic history the BBC cleared out its schedules to broadcast the opera live. Since her Royal Opera debut she has appeared at the world’s leading opera houses and concert halls around the world, her repertory including Mimì in La bohème, Violetta in La Traviata, Juliette (Roméo et Juliette), Nedda (Pagliacci), Adina (L’elisir d’amore), Amelia in Simon Boccanegra, Charlotte in Werther, Tosca, Magda (La rondine), Marguerite in Faust and Adriana Lecouvreur.

She has recorded widely for EMI Classics/Warner Classics and Decca and has received numerous international artistic honours, including La Médaille Vermeille de la Ville de Paris, the awards of Chevalier and Officier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, the Nihil Sine Deo decoration from King Michael I of Romania, the European Cultural Award for Music, the Victoire d'Honneur Award, multiple Gramophone awards and twice the Female Artist of the Year award at the Classical BRIT Awards.

Angela Gheorghiu played the title role in Benoît Jacquot’s film Tosca, that was enthusiastically received by the international press. She attended the launch of the film at the Venice Film Festival in 2001. She also sang Juliette in a film of Roméo et Juliette.

Angela Gheorghiu performed at the reopening gala of the Royal Opera House (1999) and of the Teatro Malibran in Venice (2001). She sang at the Queen Elizabeth II Golden Jubilee, on the grounds of Buckingham Palace (2002), and at the Nobel Piece Prize Concert (2003). In 2005, she sang at the opening of the Palau de les Arts Reina Sofia in Valencia, in the presence of Queen Sofia of Spain, and at the Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands Silver Jubilee Gala in Amsterdam. In 2007, she performs the role of Fanny in the world premiere of Vladimir Cosma’s Marius et Fanny in Marseille. In 2011 she sang at the reopening of the Bolshoi Theater in Moscow and at the opening of the Katara Amphitheater in Doha, Qatar, where she performs music especially composed for her by Vangelis. She also sang for the Diamond Jubilee of HM Queen Elizabeth II in 2012, at the Royal Opera House.

In the history of opera, Angela Gheorghiu shines as a rare phenomenon: not only a singer/actress with an exceptional vocal technique and profound dramatic and musical intelligence, but also a magnetic communicator who penetrates the hearts and minds of a panoramic spectrum of audiences. She has brought the very highest values of operatic art to a vast worldwide community on an unusually broad scale.