Maria Guleghina - "Russian Cinderella"

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

She is known by many as "Russian Cinderella". Singer Maria Guleghina is today considered one of the world's most famous opera divas.

Vocal Miracle

A magnificent Russian soprano with "Verdiian music" in her blood, she became famous for her amazing performance of the parts of Tosca and Aida in the works of the same name.

Leading roles in "Manon Lescaut" and "Norma", "Fedora" and in "Turandot" and "Nabucco". More than one opera has been adorned with her performance. Maria Guleghina sang the roles of Violetta in the famous La Traviata, Lisa from The Queen of Spades, Desdemona in Othello and many, many others. Marina Agasovna Meytarjyan, and that is exactly what her maiden name sounds like, in 1987 received the title of Honored Artist of the Byelorussian SSR. And more recently, in 2013, in the Republic of North Ossetia-Alania, she was given the title of people.

Biography

Maria Agasovna was born on the ninth of August 1959 in Odessa in the family of an Armenian and a Ukrainian. She graduated from the local conservatory in vocal class. Her teacher was A. Dzhamagortsyan. Maria Guleghina, whose biography is closely connected with Belarus, began her main activity on the stage in 1983, as a soloist of the Minsk Academic Theatre. A year later, she was invited to La Scala, where sheShe made her debut in Un ballo in maschera. Her partners were many celebrities, including Pavarotti, with whom she first performed on this world-famous stage under the baton of Maestro Gavazzeni.

The warm and strong voice that Maria Guleghina received from nature, her acting skills turned her into a welcome guest in many world theaters. It is interesting that the star of the world opera scene, who knows no equal in the performance of dramatic soprano parts, made her debut as an artist at the age of sixteen, but not a singer, but … a dancer. She performed the role of a gypsy in the opera La Traviata, which was staged by students of the Odessa Conservatory. The fact is that Maria Guleghina graduated from ballet school and only after that she tried her hand at vocals. At first she studied as a contr alto, then as a mezzo-soprano, and only then she showed herself as a dramatic soprano.

Professional career

At La Scala, Guleghina took part in fourteen productions, including the performances of The Two Foscari and Tosca, Fedora and Macbeth, The Queen of Spades and Manon Lescaut, as well as Nabucco "The Force of Destiny" directed by Riccardo Muti, etc. Since her debut at the Metropolitan Opera, where Maria Guleghina took part in the production of "André Chénier" with Luciano Pavarotti in 1991, the singer has appeared on this stage more than one hundred and thirty times, including in the performances of "Aida", as well as "Norma" and "Adrienne Lecouvrere".

In the same 1991, "Russian Cinderella" made her debut at the Vienna Opera in the production of "André Chénier". Here she sang the partsLisa and Tosca, as well as Elvira in "Ernani", Aida and many others. Even before her appearance on stage at Covent Garden, where she performed in Fedora with Placido Domingo, the opera diva took part in a concert performance of the immortal work Hernani at the Barbican Hall with the troupe of the Royal Theater. This was followed by an invitation to perform at the Wigmore Hall.

In 1996, opera lovers could enjoy her voice on the stage of the Arena di Verona. Here, for her performance in Nabucco, the role of Abigail, Maria Gulegina was awarded the Zanatello Prize. Later, she repeatedly sang in this theater.

Private life

Surprisingly, two images coexist perfectly in this woman. She manages to easily combine in her turbulent and sometimes unpredictable life two great roles at once: a great singer and a talented mother. Her daughter - already an adult Natasha from her first marriage - today helps her mother in many matters. And the ten-year-old son Ruslan gives her the opportunity to feel the joys of motherly love to the end. And Maria Guleghina never hid that it was her children, and not big fees and the main roles, that were and are the most important in her life. Only a few women managed to achieve such peaks in their favorite profession, which the “Russian Cinderella” conquered. For almost thirty years of work, she managed to sing in all the world's famous theaters. Her arrival anywhere is an event for this country.

Maria Guleghina's husbands were very different. She was first married at the age of eighteen. As a result, Natasha was born. Afterwhich she married a famous pianist, whose name she still bears. It was with him that in 1989, after leaving the Soviet Union, she moved to Hamburg. In 2010, the diva had a third marriage with a famous wrestler and coach of the Russian national team.

An old grudge

In 1986, Guleghina took part in the Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow. Then she took only third place, although she deserved a gold medal, which, for quite definite reasons, was not awarded to her. Many would probably have been satisfied with such a result, but not Maria, a fighter by nature. After such an “unsuccessful” performance in her opinion and an undeserved “judgment” in Moscow, the opera diva left for Minsk, where she performed leading roles at the Opera and Ballet Theater for some time.

Global recognition

Maria Agasovna today regularly performs on world stages. Among her partners are such famous singers as Placido Domingo and Leo Nucci, Samuel Reimi and José Cura, Renato Bruson and many others. She was accompanied at various times by orchestras led by conductors Gianandrea Gavazzeni and Zubin Meta, Mutti, Levine, as well as Valery Gergiev and Claudio Abbado.

Gulegina is the winner of numerous awards and prizes. The singer was awarded the Gold Medals of Maria Zamboni and the Osaka Festival. She does a lot of community work. For her activities, Maria Agasovna was awarded the Order of St. Olga - this is the highest award awarded by the Russian Orthodox Church. The Patriarch handed it to the singerAlexy II. In addition, Guleghina is a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador. She is also an honorary member of the POC.