Angela Gheorghiu (Romanian: [anˈdʒela ɡe̯orˈɡi.u]; born September 7, 1965) is a Romanian soprano, best known for singing in operas by Puccini and Verdi. Critics and opera fans widely regard her as one of the greatest sopranos in history.
She began her career in 1990 and made her first performances at the Royal Opera House and Vienna State Opera in 1992. She sang at New York's Metropolitan Opera for the first time in 1993. She became very famous around the world after performing the role of Violetta in Verdi's La traviata at Covent Garden in 1994. Roles she is especially known for include Mimì in La bohème, Magda in La rondine, and the main characters in Tosca and Adriana Lecouvreur. She often performed with French tenor Roberto Alagna, whom she met in 1992 and married in 1996. They performed together in concerts and operas until their divorce in 2013.
Her voice is described as "the most instantly recognizable and interesting soprano voice of our time." It is noted for having beautiful high notes and rich, deep lower notes, similar to the famous soprano Maria Callas. She is considered "the world's most glamorous opera star."
She has recorded many songs, mostly with EMI Classics (which later became part of Warner Classics) and Decca. She has won several Gramophone Awards and received honorary doctorates.
Early life and family
Angela Burlacu was born in Adjud, Romania, to a mother who sewed clothes and a father who drove trains. She and her sister, Elena, began singing opera music when they were young. At age 14, Angela started studying singing at the Ciprian Porumbescu Conservatory, where her main teacher was Mia Barbu. She graduated in 1990, shortly after the fall of Nicolae Ceaușescu the previous year. This allowed her to begin a career in international singing. Her final exam took place at the Cluj-Napoca Romanian National Opera, where she performed the role of Mimì in La bohème in 1990. That same year, she won third prize in the Belvedere International Singing Competition.
In 1996, Elena died in a car accident. After this, Angela’s parents separated, and her father became a monk, living in a monastery in Mount Athos. Four years later, Angela adopted her niece, Ioana, after Elena’s husband, Andrei Dan, who was a surgeon, died. Ioana later studied at the University of Kent and has lived in London since. Angela chose not to have children of her own, fearing that pregnancy might change her singing voice. She also believed that raising Ioana was already a meaningful experience for her.
Career
Gheorghiu began her international career at the Theater Basel in 1991, performing the role of Adina in L'elisir d'amore. In 1992, she performed Zerlina in Don Giovanni at the Royal Opera, London, alongside Bryn Terfel as Masetto, and later made her official debut as Mimì in La bohème. That same year, she performed Adina at the Vienna State Opera and was cast as Nannetta in Falstaff during the same season. She became a regular guest at the Royal Opera, appearing in productions such as Turandot (Liù), Don Giovanni (Zerlina), Carmen (Micaëla), L'elisir d'amore (Adina), Roméo et Juliette (Juliette), and The Tales of Hoffmann (Antonia). In 1994, she starred in the premiere of a new production of Chérubin by Massenet. In November 1994, she performed Violetta in a new production of La traviata at the Royal Opera House, directed by Richard Eyre and conducted by Georg Solti. The performance received widespread attention and was broadcast live on BBC Two, helping her gain international recognition.
In 1993, she made her debut at the Metropolitan Opera in La bohème. She later returned to the company for performances in La bohème, Turandot, Carmen, L'elisir d'amore, and Roméo et Juliette. In 1999, she performed in Roméo et Juliette at the Lyric Opera of Chicago and as Suzel in L'amico Fritz at the Opéra de Monte-Carlo. She also performed in Michael Jackson's MJ & Friends in Munich. Later that year, she sang at the Richard Tucker Opera Gala and at the reopening of the Covent Garden Royal Opera House. In 2001, she performed in the reopening concert of La Fenice, titled "Concert in Honour of the President of the Republic" at the Teatro Malibran. She also appeared as Micaëla, Violetta, and Mimì at the Paris Opera and as Violetta and Juliette at the Salzburg Festival. Gheorghiu was cast in two opera films: Tosca (2001; directed by Benoît Jacquot) as the title role, and Roméo et Juliette (2002; directed by Barbara Willis Sweete) as Juliette.
In 2002, she performed as Magda in Nicolas Joel's new production of La rondine, which premiered at the London Royal Opera on 7 May 2002. She returned for a revival in 2004, made her San Francisco Opera debut in November 2007, and had her Metropolitan Opera debut in the 2008/09 season, marking the company's first performance of the opera since 1936.
In 2002, she performed at the Prom at the Palace, an event celebrating the Golden Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II. She was invited to perform at the 2003 Nobel Peace Prize Concert. In 2005, she sang at the opening of the Palau de les Arts Reina Sofía in Valencia in the presence of Queen Sofía of Spain and Queen Beatrix at her Silver Jubilee Gala in Amsterdam.
In March 2003, Gheorghiu performed as Marguerite in Faust at the Metropolitan Opera but withdrew from later performances due to security concerns related to the Iraq War. In July 2003, she performed Nedda in Pagliacci with Plácido Domingo at the Royal Opera and later sang in La traviata at the Verona Arena. Gheorghiu is a soprano with a wide vocal range and a dark-colored voice, capable of singing spinto soprano roles. In 2006, she performed the full role of Tosca on stage for the first time, having previously performed only Act 2 at the 2005 Met Opera Gala with Bryn Terfel. This performance was part of a new production at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, directed by Jonathan Kent. Her performance was well-received, though it was compared to the famous 1964 Zeffirelli production, which was designed for Maria Callas.
She performed at the Teatro Regio di Torino, Los Angeles Opera, Deutsche Oper Berlin, and Teatro dell'Opera di Roma. In 2007, she made her debut at La Scala in La traviata, conducted by Lorin Maazel, and returned five years later for La bohème. In the 2007/08 season, she performed in two world premieres: Marius et Fanny at the Opéra de Marseille and Le Dernier Jour d'un condamné, based on a novel by Victor Hugo and composed by David Alagna, at the Palau de les Arts Reina Sofía.
Gheorghiu continued to perform at the Met as Violetta in La traviata alongside Jonas Kaufmann in 2008, as well as in other operas. In 2010, she performed in La bohème at the Met and in La traviata at the Salzburg Festival. In 2012, she returned to the Met for a performance in *La
Personal life
In 1992, Gheorghiu met tenor Roberto Alagna, her co-star in La bohème at the Royal Opera. At that time, both were married; she was married to plumbing engineer Andrei Gheorghiu. In 1994, Alagna’s wife died from cancer. Gheorghiu divorced that same year but kept her husband’s surname because of her family’s musical background, with whom she continued to have a good relationship. By 1995, they became engaged and married in April 1996 during a performance of La bohème at the Metropolitan Opera. The ceremony took place in the office of Joseph Volpe, the general manager, by New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani. The couple frequently performed together on stage and in studio recordings.
In a 2009 interview with The Independent, Gheorghiu mentioned that Alagna felt jealous of other artists she performed with, particularly Jonas Kaufmann. In October 2009, Alagna announced their separation in an interview with Le Figaro. However, Gheorghiu stated in an interview with Corriere della Sera that she had filed for divorce and that Alagna wanted to reconcile. After their separation, she refused to perform opposite Alagna in Carmen at the Metropolitan Opera in December 2009. Their divorce was canceled in December 2009.
In March 2011, Gheorghiu told The Daily Express that she and Alagna had reunited, though she planned to continue performing separately for a time. They were seen together in March 2011 backstage at London’s Royal Opera House, where Alagna was performing in Aida. Later that year, they opened the amphitheater at the Katara Cultural Village in Qatar together. In June 2012, they performed together in two shows of La bohème at the Royal Opera House to celebrate the 20th anniversary of their meeting in a production of the same opera. They also performed at a joint concert in Buenos Aires and had planned to perform together in Manon Lescaut and Adriana Lecouvreur in future seasons. However, in January 2013, they agreed to divorce.
Since autumn 2013, Gheorghiu has been in a relationship with Mihai Ciortea, a Romanian dentist who is 22 years younger than her.
Professional relationships
Sometimes, Gheorghiu has had problems working with opera managers and directors. Some of these issues came from her disagreement with directors who, as she explained in an interview with ABC, focused more on their own ideas than on the characters in the operas. She said that sometimes, the performances they created did not match the story or the music. She explained that her strong opinions came from growing up in Romania under the strict government led by Nicolae Ceaușescu.
In 1996, Gheorghiu was chosen to play Micaëla in a new version of Bizet’s Carmen at the Metropolitan Opera, alongside Waltraud Meier and Plácido Domingo. The director, Franco Zeffirelli, asked her to wear a blonde wig, which she did not like. When the opera toured in Japan in 1997, she refused to wear the wig on the first night. The Met’s general manager, Joseph Volpe, said the wig would be worn with or without her and replaced her with a backup singer. Later, Gheorghiu continued the performances with the wig hidden under her cape.
Volpe had planned for Gheorghiu to play Violetta Valery in a new version of La traviata, which was to open in November 1998 and directed by Zeffirelli. Marcelo Alagna was to sing the role of Violetta’s lover, Alfredo Germont. Volpe said Gheorghiu and Alagna argued with the staff and director about details of the production and delayed signing their contracts. They finally signed the contracts and sent them to the Met one day after the deadline. Volpe refused to accept them, and the production opened with Patricia Racette and Marcelo Álvarez in the lead roles.
In September 2007, Gheorghiu was removed from Lyric Opera of Chicago’s production of La bohème by General Manager William Mason. This happened because she missed rehearsals and costume fittings and was described as behaving unprofessionally. Gheorghiu said in a statement that she missed some rehearsals to spend time with her husband, who was performing at the Met in Roméo et Juliette and preparing for Madama Butterfly. She added, “I have sung Bohème hundreds of times, and I thought missing a few rehearsals wouldn’t be a problem. It was impossible to do the costume fitting while I was in New York.”
When asked if she was difficult, she replied, “No, I seek perfection!”
Achievements
Gheorghiu won the title of Female Artist of the Year at the Classic Brit Awards in 2001 and 2010. She has received five Gramophone Awards. The recording of Puccini's La rondine, released by EMI Classics, won Record of the Year in 1997. Her album Verdi Heroines (Decca) won Best Recital in 2000 and the Classic FM People's Choice Award in 2001. The EMI recording of Jules Massenet's Manon, with Gheorghiu in the title role, won the "Best Opera Recording" and was nominated for the same award at the 2002 Grammy Awards. EMI's recording of Puccini's Madama Butterfly won Best Opera Recording in 2009.
The EMI recording of Tosca, featuring Gheorghiu, Roberto Alagna, and Ruggero Raimondi in the title roles, earned her the Deutscher Schallplattenpreis award in 2002. In 2002, Gheorghiu won the Echo Klassik Award for "Female Singer of the Year." In 2004, she received the Best Opera Recording award at the Victoires de la musique classique for Bizet's Carmen, released by EMI Classics. She also won the Diapason d'Or Awards, Choc du Monde de la Musique in France, the Cecilia Prize in Belgium, the Italian Musica e dischi, the Foreign Lyric Production Award, and the United States Critics' Award.
In 2013, the DVD of Adriana Lecouvreur, released by Decca with Gheorghiu in the title role, won the International Classical Music Awards for Best DVD Performance. In May 2014, she was inducted into the Gramophone Hall of Fame. On October 2, 2015, she was awarded the European Cultural Award during a special ceremony at the Dresden Frauenkirche.
Gheorghiu received the "Victoire d'Honneur" (Honour of Victory) award at the 2018 Victoires de la musique classique and the "Premio Puccini" award from the Puccini Festival Foundation in the same year. In March 2019, she was honored with the Global Star award at the "BraVo" International Professional Music Awards during a ceremony at the Bolshoi Theatre.
Gheorghiu was awarded the vermeil Medal of the City of Paris and was appointed Officier and Chevalier of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French Ministry of Culture. In December 2010, she was presented with the Order of the Star of Romania in the grade of Commander. In October 2012, she received the Nihil Sine Deo royal decoration from King Michael I, recognizing her efforts to promote Romanian culture globally.
Gheorghiu holds honorary doctorates from the George Enescu National University of Arts (2010), the Gheorghe Dima Music Academy (2014), and the University of Bucharest (2017).
Publications
- Gheorghiu, Angela; Tolansky, Jon (4 September 2018). Angela Gheorghiu: A Life for Art. University Press of New England. ISBN 978-1-6116-8912-9.
- Gheorghiu, Angela; Tolansky, Jon (17 September 2021). Angela Gheorghiu: O viata pentru arta. Curtea Veche Publishing. ISBN 9786064409942.