Nikolai Gyaurov
Nikolaj Georgiev Gjaurow , international Nicolai Georgiev Ghiaurov , Bulgarian Николай Георгиев Гяуров (born September 13, 1929 in Ladzene , Bulgaria ; † June 2, 2004 in Modena , Italy ) was a Bulgarian-Austrian opera singer. He was considered one of the best bass players in the world.
Life
Gjaurow studied singing in Sofia and from 1950 to 1955 at the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory . In 1956 he made his first appearance as Don Basilio in Il Barbiere di Siviglia ( The Barber of Seville ) . In 1957 he went to the Vienna State Opera . This was followed by the Moscow Bolshoi Theater in 1958 , La Scala in Milan in 1959 , Verona in 1961 , London in 1962 and the New York Metropolitan Opera in 1965 . In this year he also made his breakthrough as Boris Godunow at the Salzburg Festival under the direction of Herbert von Karajan .
Gjaurow was known as "Re di Bassi" ("King of the Basses"). He shone as Don Giovanni , Boris Godunow, as Mephisto in Gounod's Faust and as Philip II in Verdi's Don Carlos .
In 1985 he acquired Austrian citizenship . In 1989 the Vienna State Opera made him an honorary member . The son Vladimir Gyaurov from his first marriage is a conductor . In his second marriage, the bassist was married to the Italian soprano Mirella Freni (1935–2020) since 1978 .
In October 2000, at the age of 71, Gjaurow performed at the 1st Herbert von Karajan Memorial Concert conducted by James Allen Gähres in Ulm , where he sang opera arias and duets by Cilea , Tchaikovsky and Verdi with Mirella Freni .
Ghiaurov Peak on Livingston Island in Antarctica bears his name in his honor.
Discography (selection)
- The Art Of Nikolaï Ghiaurov , audio CD, Forlane 1995
repertoire
role | Opera | composer |
---|---|---|
Conte Rodolfo | La sonnambula | Bellini |
Oroveso | Norma | Bellini |
Sir Giorgio | I puritani | Bellini |
Papa ClementeVII | Benvenuto Cellini | Berlioz |
Mefistofele | Mefistofele | Boito |
Khan Konchak | Prince Igor | Borodin |
Principe Gremin | Eugene Onegin | Tchaikovsky |
Creonte | Medea | Cherubini |
Arkel | Pelléas and Mélisande | Debussy |
Enrico VIII | Anna Bolena | Donizetti |
Raimondo Bidebent | Lucia di Lammermoor | Donizetti |
Baldassarre | La favorite | Donizetti |
Méphistophélès | fist | Gounod |
Goryantchikov | Since una casa di morti | Janáček |
Il cieco | iris | Mascagni |
Indra | Le roi de Lahore | Massenet |
Le Prieur | Le juggler de Notre-Dame | Massenet |
Don Quixote | Don Quixote | Massenet |
Marcello | The Huguenots | Meyerbeer |
Seneca | L'incoronazione di Poppea | Monteverdi |
Don Giovanni | Don Giovanni | Mozart |
Boris Godunov Varlaam Pimen |
Boris Godunov | Mussorgsky |
Ivan Chovansky | Khovanshchina | Mussorgsky |
Alvise Badoéro | La Gioconda | Ponchielli |
Colline | La bohème | Puccini |
Timur | Turandot | Puccini |
Don Basilio | The Barber of Seville | |
Cunt | Moïse et Pharaon | Rossini |
Gualtiero | Guillaume Tell | Rossini |
Zaccaria | Nabucco | Verdi |
Don Ruy Gomez de Silva | Ernani | Verdi |
Attila | Attila | Verdi |
Banco | Macbeth | Verdi |
Sparafucile | Rigoletto | Verdi |
Ferrando | Il trovatore | Verdi |
Jacopo Fiesco | Simon Boccanegra | Verdi |
Filippo II Il Grande Inquisitore |
Don Carlo | Verdi |
Padre Guardiano | La forza del destino | Verdi |
Ramfis | Aida | Verdi |
Web links
- Works by and about Nikolaj Gjaurow in the catalog of the German National Library
- Nicolai Ghiaurov, bass on classicalautographs.com (English) ( Memento from February 8, 2012 in the Internet Archive )
- Nikolaj Gjaurow in the Vienna History Wiki of the City of Vienna
Individual evidence
- ^ Obituary of June 2, 2004 to Le Penseur , accessed January 1, 2016
- ^ Official Herbert von Karajan - online archive 1. Herbert von Karajan Memorial Concert. Accessed May 25, 2016
personal data | |
---|---|
SURNAME | Gyaurov, Nikolay |
ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Gjaurow, Nikolay Georgiev (full name); Ghiaurov, Nicolai Georgiev; Гяуров, Николай Георгиев (Bulgarian) |
BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Bulgarian-Austrian opera singer |
DATE OF BIRTH | September 13, 1929 |
PLACE OF BIRTH | Ladzene , Bulgaria |
DATE OF DEATH | June 2, 2004 |
Place of death | Modena , Italy |