Edita Gruberová

Edita Gruberová

Edita Gruberová (born 23 December 1946), is a Slovak coloratura soprano. She is noted for her great tonal clarity, agility, dramatic power, endurance, and ability to sing high notes with great power and sustained vocal consistency, which made her an ideal Queen of the Night in her early years. In recent years, she has enjoyed huge success with a number of the most important bel canto roles.

Education

Gruberová began her musical studies at Bratislava Conservatory where she was a student of Mária Medvecká. She then continued at Academy of Performing Arts in Bratislava (VŠMU). While studying, she was a singer of the Lúčnica folk ensemble and appeared several times in the Slovak National Theatre.

Career

In 1968, Gruberová made her operatic debut in Bratislava as Rosina in The Barber of Seville. After winning a singing competition in Toulouse, she was then engaged as a soloist of the opera ensemble of the J. G. Tajovský Theatre in Banská Bystrica, Slovakia, from 1968 to 1970. Since communist Czechoslovakia was going through a period called Normalization, during which the borders were closed with non-communist countries, Medvecká surreptitiously arranged for an audition for Gruberová in the summer of 1969 at Vienna State Opera, which immediately engaged her. The following year, she made her first major breakthrough when she sang the Queen of the Night. Gruberová then decided to emigrate to the West. In subsequent years, she became a soloist in Vienna and was invited to sing at many of the most important opera houses in the world, especially in coloratura roles.

Gruberová made her debut at Glyndebourne in 1973 and at the Metropolitan Opera in 1977, both as the Queen of the Night. In 1977, she first appeared at the Salzburg Festival, as Thibault in Don Carlo, under Herbert von Karajan. In 1981, she appeared opposite Luciano Pavarotti in Jean-Pierre Ponnelle's film of Rigoletto. Gruberová made her Royal Opera House, Covent Garden début as Giulietta in Bellini's I Capuleti e i Montecchi in 1984. Other important roles she has sung include Zerbinetta, Gilda, Violetta, Lucia, Konstanze, Manon and Oscar; she sang Donna Anna at La Scala in 1987, Marie in La fille du régiment in 1987, Semiramide in 1992 at Zürich, Queen Elizabeth I in Donizetti's Roberto Devereux in Vienna in 1990. In 2003, she added title role in Norma to her repertoire, and sang it in Munich in 2008/09.

Gruberová has made many recordings, most notably in recent years full-length recordings and extended selections from Donizetti's Tudor Queens trilogy and other bel canto operas, lately exclusively on Nightingale label. More than a dozen of her filmed and televised opera appearances have been released on DVD, including Norma, Manon, Beatrice di Tenda, Lucrezia Borgia, and Linda di Chamounix.

Discography

Recording year	Opera	Cast	Conductor, opera house and orchestra	Label
1976 Live performance	Richard Strauss Ariadne auf Naxos	Edita Gruberova Gundula Janowitz Agnes Baltsa James King Walter Berry	Karl Böhm Wiener Staatsoper Orchestra der Wiener Staatsoper	Orfeo D'or
1979	Giuseppe Verdi Don Carlo (four acts)	José Carreras Mirella Freni Agnes Baltsa Nicolai Ghiaurov Piero Cappuccilli Ruggero Raimondi José van Dam Edita Gruberova (Tebaldo)	Herbert von Karajan Chor der Deutsche Oper Berlin, Berliner Philharmoniker	EMI Classics
1979/80	Giuseppe Verdi Un ballo in maschera	Plácido Domingo Renato Bruson Katia Ricciarelli Elena Obraztsova Edita Gruberova	Claudio Abbado Coro e Orchestra del Teatro alla Scala	Deutsche Grammophon
1981	Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Die Zauberflöte	Wolfgang Brendel Roland Bracht Edita Gruberova Lucia Popp Brigitte Linder Heinz Zednik Siegfried Jerusalem	Bernard Haitink Symphonie-Orchester Des Bayerischen Rundfunks Chor Des Bayerischen Rundfunks	EMI Digital
1983	Gaetano Donizetti Lucia di Lammermoor	Alfredo Kraus Kathleen Kuhlmann Robert Lloyd (bass) Renato Bruson Bruno Lazzaretti Edita Gruberova	Nicola Rescigno Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Ambrosian Singers	EMI Classics
1984 Live recording	Vincenzo Bellini I Capuleti e i Montecchi	Edita Gruberova Agnes Baltsa Gwynne Howell Dano Raffanti John Tomlinson	Riccardo Muti Chorus and Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden Recorded over several performances May 1984	EMI Classics
1984	Giuseppe Verdi Rigoletto	Edita Gruberova Renato Bruson Neil Shicoff Brigitte Fassbaender Robert Lloyd	Giuseppe Sinopoli Coro e Orchestra dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia	Philips Classics Records
1985	Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Die Entführung aus dem Serail	Edita Gruberova Kathleen Battle Gösta Winbergh Heinz Zednik Martti Talvela	Georg Solti Wiener Staatsoperchor, Wiener Philharmoniker	Decca Records
1988 [1]	Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Die Zauberflöte	Edita Gruberova Barbara Bonney Marjana Lipovšek Peter Keller Thomas Moser Thomas Hampson Matti Salminen Hans-Peter Blochwitz Anton Scharinger	Nikolaus Harnoncourt Chor und Orchester des Opernhauses Zurich	Teldec
1989	Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Lucio Silla	Edita Gruberova Cecilia Bartoli Peter Schreiber Dawn Upshaw Yvonne Kenny	Nikolaus Harnoncourt Arnold Schoenberg Chor, Concentus musicus Wien	Teldec
1989	Jacques Offenbach Les contes d'Hoffmann	Edita Gruberova Plácido Domingo Claudia Eder Gabriel Bacquier James Morris Justino Diaz	Seiji Ozawa Choeurs de Radio France, Orchestre National de France	Deutsche Grammophon
1991	Gaetano Donizetti Lucia di Lammermoor	Edita Gruberova Neil Shicoff Alexandru Agache Alistair Miles Bernard Lombardo Francesco Piccoli	Richard Bonynge The Ambrosian Singers, London Symphony Orchestra Recorded St Augustine's Church London September 1991	Teldec
1992 Live performance	Vincenzo Bellini Beatrice di Tenda	Edita Gruberova Vasselina Kasarova Igor Morosow Don Bernardini	Pinchas Steinberg Wiener Konzerthaus, Wiener Jeunesse-Chor Orf-Symphonieorchester	Nightingale Classics
1993	Gaetano Donizetti Linda di Chamounix	Edita Gruberova Dan Bernardini Ettore Kim Monica Groop Stefano Palatchi Anders Melander	Friedrich Haider Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra and Mikaeli Chamber Choir	Nightingale Classics
1994 Live recording	Gaetano Donizetti Roberto Devereux	Edita Gruberova Delores Ziegler Don Bernardini Ettore Kim	Friedrich Haider Choeurs de l'Opéra du Rhin, Orchestre Philharmonique de Strasbourg	Nightingale Classics
1994 Live performance	Gaetano Donizetti Anna Bolena	Edita Gruberova Delores Ziegler Stefano Palatchi José Bros Igor Morosow Helene Schneiderman	Elio Boncompagni Chorus and Orchestra of Hungarian Radio and Television Recorded Wiener Konzerthaus 28/11 & 1/12 1994	Nightingale Classics
1995	Gaetano Donizetti La fille du régiment	Edita Gruberova Deon van der Walt Rosa Laghezza Philippe Fourcade François Castel	Marcello Panni Chor des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Munich Radio Orchestra Recorded Herkulessaal der Münchner Residenz March 1995	Nightingale Classics
1997 Live recording	Gioachino Rossini Il barbiere di Siviglia	Edita Gruberova Juan Diego Flórez Rosa Laghezza Vladmir Chernov Enric Serra Francesco Ellero d'Artegna	Ralf Weikert Chor des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Munich Radio Orchestra	Nightingale Classics
2004 Live recording	Vincenzo Bellini Norma	Edita Gruberova Elīna Garanča Aquiles Machado Alastair Miles Judith Howarth	Friedrich Haider Vocal Ensemble Rastatt, Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland-Pfalz	Nightingale Classics
2010 Live recording	Gaetano Donizetti Lucrezia Borgia	Edita Gruberova José Bros Silvia Tro Santafé Franco Vassallo	Andriy Yurkevych Chor des Oper Köln, Philharmonie Köln	Nightingale Classics

Further reading

• (German) Niel Rishoi, Edita Gruberová. Ein Portrait, Atlantis Musikbuch, Zurich and Mayence, 1996, ISBN 3-254-00192-3

References

1. "CD Preview".

External links

• Edita Gruberová at the Internet Movie Database
• Bayerische Staatsoper mediathek where clips of Gruberová in performances can be found