Valentina Kutzarova Mezzo-soprano

Born in Varna in Bulgaria, Valentina Kutzarova studied music in her hometown, then at the Academy of Music in Sofia. After some initial engagements in Pleven (Bulgaria) and at the Opera Studio in Zurich, she was a member of the Saint-Gall Theatre Company in Switzerland and Linz Opera in Austria from 1993 to 1999. During this period, she made her debut in some of the most important roles of the repertoire for mezzo-soprano: Charlotte (Werther), Annio ( La Clemenza di Tito) Dorabella (Così fan tutte), Hänsel (Hänsel und Gretel), Cherubino (Marriage of Figaro), Amasre (Xerxes), Prince Orlovsky (Die Fledermaus), Rosina (The Barber of Seville), Octavian (Rosenkavelier), Niklausse (Tales of Hoffmann) and the title roles in Carmen and An Italian in Algiers. In 1995, she was awarded the Grand Prix by the Jury and First Prize by the audience at the Rocca delle Macie International Singing Competition in Siena and, in 1997, Second Prize and the prize for the best performance of Grieg song at the International Queen Sonja Competition in Oslo. Since then, she has performed in many of the world’s most renowned opera houses: La Fenice in Venice, the Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich, Hanover Opera, Il Teatro San Carlo in Naples, Teatro Verdi in Sassari, Grand Théâtre in Geneva, Basle Opera, the Opéra National du Rhin in Strasbourg, the Grand Théâtre in Bordeaux, Montpellier Opera, Las Palmas and Bilbao Operas, NCPA Bombay, the National Theatre in Zagreb, the Bregenz Festival and the Mayo Festival in Guadalajara. She has close links with the conductor Sascha Goetzel by whom she was recently invited to sing the role of Octavian in a concert version of Rosenkavalier in Istanbul, Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde and Les Nuits d’Été by Berlioz. She has also worked with internationally renowned conductors such as Günter Neuhold, Giovanni Antonini, Maurizio Barbacini, Wolfgang Bozic, Frans Brüggen, Dennis Russel Davies, Adam Fischer, Reinhard Goebel, Alain Guingal, Julia Jones, Jiri Kout, Marko Letonja, Roberto Rizzi-Brignoli, Nello Santi, Martin Sieghart, Laurent Wagner, Johannes Wildner, Marco Zambelli and David Zinman. Her recording of Paer’s Passione per il Santo Sepulcro is available on the record label CPO.

This is her Paris Opera début.