Stefan Dimitrov
Encyclopedia
Bass (voice type)
A bass is a type of male singing voice and possesses the lowest vocal range of all voice types. According to The New Grove Dictionary of Opera, a bass is typically classified as having a range extending from around the second E below middle C to the E above middle C...
opera singer. Born in the Black Sea town of Burgas
Burgas
-History:During the rule of the Ancient Romans, near Burgas, Debeltum was established as a military colony for veterans by Vespasian. In the Middle Ages, a small fortress called Pyrgos was erected where Burgas is today and was most probably used as a watchtower...
, Bulgaria
Bulgaria
Bulgaria , officially the Republic of Bulgaria , is a parliamentary democracy within a unitary constitutional republic in Southeast Europe. The country borders Romania to the north, Serbia and Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south, as well as the Black Sea to the east...
, he was of Greek origin. He won four international singing competitions at the very beginning of his career: those in Toulouse
Toulouse
Toulouse is a city in the Haute-Garonne department in southwestern FranceIt lies on the banks of the River Garonne, 590 km away from Paris and half-way between the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea...
, the "Erkel" in Budapest
Budapest
Budapest is the capital of Hungary. As the largest city of Hungary, it is the country's principal political, cultural, commercial, industrial, and transportation centre. In 2011, Budapest had 1,733,685 inhabitants, down from its 1989 peak of 2,113,645 due to suburbanization. The Budapest Commuter...
, the "s’Hertogenbosch" in the Netherlands, and the "Young Opera Singers" in Sofia
Sofia
Sofia is the capital and largest city of Bulgaria and the 12th largest city in the European Union with a population of 1.27 million people. It is located in western Bulgaria, at the foot of Mount Vitosha and approximately at the centre of the Balkan Peninsula.Prehistoric settlements were excavated...
. In 1965 Stefan Dimitrov met the piano accompanist and répétiteur
Répétiteur
Répétiteur , repetitore , or Korrepetitor / Repetitor , originally from the French verb répéter meaning "to repeat, to go over, to learn, to rehearse"....
, Malina Dimitrova (b. Plovdiv
Plovdiv
Plovdiv is the second-largest city in Bulgaria after Sofia with a population of 338,153 inhabitants according to Census 2011. Plovdiv's history spans some 6,000 years, with traces of a Neolithic settlement dating to roughly 4000 BC; it is one of the oldest cities in Europe...
19 June 1945 - d. Sofia
Sofia
Sofia is the capital and largest city of Bulgaria and the 12th largest city in the European Union with a population of 1.27 million people. It is located in western Bulgaria, at the foot of Mount Vitosha and approximately at the centre of the Balkan Peninsula.Prehistoric settlements were excavated...
24 April 2008 ), who graduated at this time and took her first steps in the opera accompanying field. They were later to be married. The couple had one son, Liuben, who graduated as solo pianist and later become part of the Genova & Dimitrov
Genova & Dimitrov
Genova & Dimitrov is a German piano duo, considered both by the world music press and the audience one of the world's finest and most successful young ensembles...
piano duo.
Early career
He graduated from the Central Master Studio of Singing of the SofiaSofia
Sofia is the capital and largest city of Bulgaria and the 12th largest city in the European Union with a population of 1.27 million people. It is located in western Bulgaria, at the foot of Mount Vitosha and approximately at the centre of the Balkan Peninsula.Prehistoric settlements were excavated...
State Music Academy under its founder and leader Prof. Christo Brumbarov, the teacher of singers such as Nicolai Ghiaurov
Nicolai Ghiaurov
Nicolai Ghiaurov was a Bulgarian opera singer and one of the most famous bass singers of the postwar period. He was admired for his powerful, sumptuous voice, and was particularly associated with roles of Verdi.Ghiaurov married the Italian soprano Mirella Freni in 1978...
, Nicola Ghiuselev, Ghena Dimitrova
Ghena Dimitrova
Ghena Dimitrova was a Bulgarian operatic soprano. Her voice was known for its power and extension used in operatic roles such as Turandot in a career spanning four decades.-Early career:...
and others.
An invitation to pursue a post-graduate master's degree at the Bolshoi Theatre
Bolshoi Theatre
The Bolshoi Theatre is a historic theatre in Moscow, Russia, designed by architect Joseph Bové, which holds performances of ballet and opera. The Bolshoi Ballet and Bolshoi Opera are amongst the oldest and most renowned ballet and opera companies in the world...
in Moscow followed. There Stefan sang under conductors such as B. Haikin, Y. Simonov (General Music Director of the Bolshoi at the time), M. Ermler, A. Lazarev, F. Mansurov and worked on stage presentation under Boris Pokrovski and his assistants. Together with partners such as Yevgeny Nesterenko, Elena Obraszova, Irina Archipova and Vladimir Atlantov, Dimitrov performed a number of roles: Boris in Boris Godunov
Boris Godunov (opera)
Boris Godunov is an opera by Modest Mussorgsky . The work was composed between 1868 and 1873 in Saint Petersburg, Russia. It is Mussorgsky's only completed opera and is considered his masterpiece. Its subjects are the Russian ruler Boris Godunov, who reigned as Tsar during the Time of Troubles,...
, Don Basilio in Il Barbiere di Seviglia
The Barber of Seville
The Barber of Seville, or The Futile Precaution is an opera buffa in two acts by Gioachino Rossini with a libretto by Cesare Sterbini. The libretto was based on Pierre Beaumarchais's comedy Le Barbier de Séville , which was originally an opéra comique, or a mixture of spoken play with music...
, the Grand Inquisitor in Don Carlos
Don Carlos
Don Carlos is a five-act grand opera composed by Giuseppe Verdi to a French language libretto by Camille du Locle and Joseph Méry, based on the dramatic play Don Carlos, Infant von Spanien by Friedrich Schiller...
, Prince Galitzki and Khan Konchak in Prince Igor
Prince Igor
Prince Igor is an opera in four acts with a prologue. It was composed by Alexander Borodin. The composer adapted the libretto from the East Slavic epic The Lay of Igor's Host, which recounts the campaign of Russian prince Igor Svyatoslavich against the invading Polovtsian tribes in 1185...
, Sparafucile in Rigoletto
Rigoletto
Rigoletto is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi. The Italian libretto was written by Francesco Maria Piave based on the play Le roi s'amuse by Victor Hugo. It was first performed at La Fenice in Venice on March 11, 1851...
and others. Numerous engagements resulted in Stefan Dimitrov performing in many opera and concert theatres in Moscow and former UdSSR.
National and international career
After they came back to Bulgaria, Stefan and Malina Dimitrova were invited as permanent soloist and chief répétiteurRépétiteur
Répétiteur , repetitore , or Korrepetitor / Repetitor , originally from the French verb répéter meaning "to repeat, to go over, to learn, to rehearse"....
of the National State Opera Theatres of Sofia
Sofia
Sofia is the capital and largest city of Bulgaria and the 12th largest city in the European Union with a population of 1.27 million people. It is located in western Bulgaria, at the foot of Mount Vitosha and approximately at the centre of the Balkan Peninsula.Prehistoric settlements were excavated...
and of Rousse
Rousse
Ruse is the fifth-largest city in Bulgaria. Ruse is situated in the northeastern part of the country, on the right bank of the Danube, opposite the Romanian city of Giurgiu, from the capital Sofia and from the Bulgarian Black Sea Coast...
on the Danube
Danube
The Danube is a river in the Central Europe and the Europe's second longest river after the Volga. It is classified as an international waterway....
, and they appeared with these ensembles in numerous tours to Spain, Germany, the Czech Republic
Czech Republic
The Czech Republic is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Poland to the northeast, Slovakia to the east, Austria to the south, and Germany to the west and northwest....
, France and Italy. During his activities as soloist in Greece, Italy, France, Netherlands, Germany, Belgium, Luxembourg
Luxembourg
Luxembourg , officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg , is a landlocked country in western Europe, bordered by Belgium, France, and Germany. It has two principal regions: the Oesling in the North as part of the Ardennes massif, and the Gutland in the south...
and in all Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe is the eastern part of Europe. The term has widely disparate geopolitical, geographical, cultural and socioeconomic readings, which makes it highly context-dependent and even volatile, and there are "almost as many definitions of Eastern Europe as there are scholars of the region"...
Stefan Dimitrov worked under conductors and stage directors such as W. Eichner, I. Ranzescu, A. Naydenov, I. Marinov, M. Angelov, Al. Raychev.
In 1980, Stefan and Malina launched their relationship with Belgium's leading opera house, La Monnaie
La Monnaie
Le Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie , or the Koninklijke Muntschouwburg is a theatre in Brussels, Belgium....
/ De Munt in Brussels
Brussels
Brussels , officially the Brussels Region or Brussels-Capital Region , is the capital of Belgium and the de facto capital of the European Union...
under its director Gerard Mortier
Gérard Mortier
Gerard Alfons August, Baron Mortier is a Belgian opera director and administrator of Flemish origin.Mortier has served as general director of La Monnaie and of the Salzburg Festival...
. Later on, this collaboration grew to include the Vlaamse Opera
Vlaamse Opera
The Vlaamse Opera ' is an opera company in Belgium directed by Aviel Cahn which operates in two different opera houses in two Flemish cities, the Vlaamse Opera Antwerpen at Van Ertbornstraat 8 and the Vlaamse Opera Ghent at Schouwburgstraat 3...
company in Antwerp.
Under conductors such as Sir John Pritchard, Silvio Varviso
Silvio Varviso
Silvio Varviso was a Swiss conductor who spent most of his career devoted to conducting operas. He began his conducting career working in minor opera houses in Switzerland in the mid 1940s. He became the principal conductor of the opera house in Basel in 1956 where he served for six years...
, Machael Schonwandt, Silvain Cambreling and stage directors such as Adolf Dresen, Kurt Horez, Pierre Constant, the singer had many engagements, including guest appearances under the auspicis of La Monnaie and the Vlaamse Opera throughout Europe. During this period Stefan Dimitrov's partners on stage were singers such as José van Dam
José van Dam
Joseph, Baron van Damme , known as José van Dam, is a Belgian bass-baritone.At the age of 17, he entered the Brussels Royal Conservatory and studied with Frederic Anspach. A year later, he graduated with diplomas and first prizes in voice and opera performance...
, Ermanno Mauro, Karita Mattila
Karita Mattila
Karita Marjatta Mattila is a leading opera soprano. She was born in Somero, Finland.Mattila appears regularly in the major opera houses worldwide, including the Metropolitan Opera, the Royal Opera House in London, Théâtre du Châtelet, Opéra Bastille, the Lyric Opera of Chicago, San Francisco...
, and Leona Mitchell
Leona Mitchell
Leona Mitchell , is an African-American and Chickasaw operatic soprano and an Oklahoma Music Hall of Fame inductee....
.
Awards
During his musical career Stefan Dimitrov was awarded many prizes for his artistic achievements in Bulgaria, Germany, Belgium (Special Merits of the Queen) and in France and was presented in the 1999 "Who Is Who in Bulgaria" and the 2000 "Who is Who in Bulgarian Culture".Recordings
Stefan Dimitrov made a number of studio and live recording sessions at numerous radio and TV broadcasting corporations in Bulgaria, Belgium, Netherlands, France, etc. as well as a few CD releases for EMIEMI
The EMI Group, also known as EMI Music or simply EMI, is a multinational music company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the fourth-largest business group and family of record labels in the recording industry and one of the "big four" record companies. EMI Group also has a major...
.
Selected repertoire
- Beethoven, L. Van – 9th Symphony
- Bellini, V. – I Capuleti e i MontecchiI Capuleti e i MontecchiI Capuleti e i Montecchi is an Italian opera in two acts by Vincenzo Bellini.The libretto by Felice Romani was a reworking of the story of Romeo and Juliet for an opera by Nicola Vaccai called Giulietta e Romeo. This was based on Italian sources rather than taken directly from Shakespeare...
- Capelio - Borodin, Al. – Prince IgorPrince IgorPrince Igor is an opera in four acts with a prologue. It was composed by Alexander Borodin. The composer adapted the libretto from the East Slavic epic The Lay of Igor's Host, which recounts the campaign of Russian prince Igor Svyatoslavich against the invading Polovtsian tribes in 1185...
- Prince Galitzki & Khan Konchak - Donizetti, G. - Viva La Mama - Mama Agata
- Donizetti, G. - L'elisir d'amoreL'elisir d'amoreL'elisir d'amore is an opera by the Italian composer Gaetano Donizetti. It is a melodramma giocoso in two acts...
- Dulcamara - Donizetti, G. - Lucia di LammermoorLucia di LammermoorLucia di Lammermoor is a dramma tragico in three acts by Gaetano Donizetti. Salvadore Cammarano wrote the Italian language libretto loosely based upon Sir Walter Scott's historical novel The Bride of Lammermoor....
- Raimondo - Glinka, M. - Ivan Susanin - Ivan Sussanin
- Gounod, Ch. - FaustFaust (opera)Faust is a drame lyrique in five acts by Charles Gounod to a French libretto by Jules Barbier and Michel Carré from Carré's play Faust et Marguerite, in turn loosely based on Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's Faust, Part 1...
- Mephisto - Mozart, W.A. - Die Zauberflöte - Zarastro
- Mozart, W.A. - Requiem
- Mussorgsky, M. - Boris GodunovBoris Godunov (opera)Boris Godunov is an opera by Modest Mussorgsky . The work was composed between 1868 and 1873 in Saint Petersburg, Russia. It is Mussorgsky's only completed opera and is considered his masterpiece. Its subjects are the Russian ruler Boris Godunov, who reigned as Tsar during the Time of Troubles,...
- Boris Godunov, Varlaam, Pimen - Nikolai, O. – Die lustigen Weiber von Windsor - Falstaff
- Puccini, G. – TurandotTurandotTurandot is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini, set to a libretto in Italian by Giuseppe Adami and Renato Simoni.Though Puccini's first interest in the subject was based on his reading of Friedrich Schiller's adaptation of the play, his work is most nearly based on the earlier text Turandot...
- Timur - Prokofiev, S. – Semyon Kotko - Tkachenko
- Rossini, G. - Il barbiere di Siviglia - Don Basilio
- Rossini, G. - L'italiana in AlgeriL'italiana in AlgeriL'italiana in Algeri is an operatic dramma giocoso in two acts by Gioachino Rossini to an Italian libretto by Angelo Anelli, based on his earlier text set by Luigi Mosca...
- Mustafa - Rossini, G. - La gazza ladraLa gazza ladraLa gazza ladra is a melodramma or opera semiseria in two acts by Gioachino Rossini. The libretto was by Giovanni Gherardini after La pie voleuse by JMT Badouin d'Aubigny and Louis-Charles Caigniez....
- Gotardo - Rossini, G. - Stabat Mater -
- Saint-Saëns, C. – Samson et Dalila - Abimelech
- Smetana, B. – The Bartered BrideThe Bartered BrideThe Bartered Bride is a comic opera in three acts by the Czech composer Bedřich Smetana, to a libretto by Karel Sabina. The opera is considered to have made a major contribution towards the development of Czech music. It was composed during the period 1863–66, and first performed at the...
- Kezal - Tchaikovsky, P. – Eugene OneginEugene Onegin (opera)Eugene Onegin, Op. 24, is an opera in 3 acts , by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. The libretto was written by Konstantin Shilovsky and the composer and his brother Modest, and is based on the novel in verse by Alexander Pushkin....
- Prince Gremin - Verdi, G. - Don CarlosDon CarlosDon Carlos is a five-act grand opera composed by Giuseppe Verdi to a French language libretto by Camille du Locle and Joseph Méry, based on the dramatic play Don Carlos, Infant von Spanien by Friedrich Schiller...
- King Philip & The Great Inquisitor - Verdi, G. - NabuccoNabuccoNabucco is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Temistocle Solera, based on the Biblical story and the 1836 play by Auguste Anicet-Bourgeois and Francis Cornue...
- Zaccaria - Verdi, G. - Simon BoccanegraSimon BoccanegraSimon Boccanegra is an opera with a prologue and three acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Francesco Maria Piave, based on the play Simón Bocanegra by Antonio García Gutiérrez....
- Fiesco - Verdi, G. - AidaAidaAida sometimes spelled Aïda, is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Antonio Ghislanzoni, based on a scenario written by French Egyptologist Auguste Mariette...
- Ramphis and the King - Verdi, G. - Il trovatoreIl trovatoreIl trovatore is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Salvadore Cammarano, based on the play El Trovador by Antonio García Gutiérrez. Cammarano died in mid-1852 before completing the libretto...
- Ferrando - Verdi, G. - Un ballo in mascheraUn ballo in mascheraUn ballo in maschera , is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi with text by Antonio Somma. The libretto is loosely based on an 1833 play, Gustave III, by French playwright Eugène Scribe who wrote about the historical assassination of King Gustav III of Sweden...
- Tom - Verdi, G. - RigolettoRigolettoRigoletto is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi. The Italian libretto was written by Francesco Maria Piave based on the play Le roi s'amuse by Victor Hugo. It was first performed at La Fenice in Venice on March 11, 1851...
- Sparafucile and Monterone - Verdi, G. - MacbethMacbethThe Tragedy of Macbeth is a play by William Shakespeare about a regicide and its aftermath. It is Shakespeare's shortest tragedy and is believed to have been written sometime between 1603 and 1607...
- BanquoBanquoBanquo is a character in William Shakespeare's 1606 play Macbeth. In the play, he is at first an ally to Macbeth and they are together when they meet the Three Witches. After prophesying that Macbeth will become king, the witches tell Banquo that he will not be king himself, but that his... - Verdi, G. - StiffelioStiffelioStiffelio is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi, from an Italian libretto by Francesco Maria Piave, based on the play Le pasteur, ou L'évangile et le foyer by Émile Souvestre and Eugène Bourgeois...
- Borg - Verdi, G. - Messa da RequiemRequiem (Verdi)The Messa da Requiem by Giuseppe Verdi is a musical setting of the Roman Catholic funeral mass for four soloists, double choir and orchestra. It was composed in memory of Alessandro Manzoni, an Italian poet and novelist much admired by Verdi. The first performance in San Marco in Milan on 22 May...
- - Wagner, R. - Der fliegende Holländer - Daland
- Wagner, R. - TannhäuserTannhäuser (opera)Tannhäuser is an opera in three acts, music and text by Richard Wagner, based on the two German legends of Tannhäuser and the song contest at Wartburg...
- Biterolf - Wagner, R. - Die Meistersinger von NürnbergDie Meistersinger von NürnbergDie Meistersinger von Nürnberg is an opera in three acts, written and composed by Richard Wagner. It is among the longest operas still commonly performed today, usually taking around four and a half hours. It was first performed at the Königliches Hof- und National-Theater in Munich, on June 21,...