Gabriela Beňačková

Gabriela Beňačková (also Gabriela Beňačková-Čápová), born March 25, 1947 in Bratislava, is a Chech lyric soprano of Slovak origin.

Operatic career

Beňačková specializes in the music of her Slovak compatriots, particularly Eugen Suchoň, as well as Czech composers, notably Bedřich Smetana, Antonín Dvořák and Leoš Janáček. She is considered to be one of the greatest 'Jenůfa's' in Janáček's opera of the same name. Her Carnegie Hall performance, and subsequent Metropolitan Opera run with Leonie Rysanek, are considered to be legendary.

In 1981, Czechoslovakian television starred Ms Beňačková in a definitive version of Prodaná nevěsta (The Bartered Bride) by Bedřich Smetana, which has since become a popular DVD recording available in an all-regions format (2006). That recording teamed her with the heroic tenor (fellow Slovak) Peter Dvorský as Jeník, and with bass Richard Novák as Kecal, and other popular singers. She completed her farewell recital tour in 2008.

She has made a number of recordings, and has appeared in several filmed operas on DVD, as well as the feature film The Divine Emma, where she supplied the singing voice of the famous Czech soprano Emmy Destinn. Her voice can also be heard in the movie Driving Miss Daisy singing title role in Rusalka by Antonín Dvořák, and in Copycat singing Puccini's aria Vissi d'arte from the opera Tosca by Giacomo Puccini.

Between 1991 and 1999 she had 39 appearances in New York's Metropolitan Opera, the last one as Desdemona in Othello by Giuseppe Verdi together with Plácido Domingo.

She appeared as Marguerite in the Vienna State Opera's production of Charles Gounod's Faust (1985), as well as Fidelio/Leonore in the Royal Opera House production of Fidelio by Ludwig van Beethoven (1991). In 2012, she sang the difficult role of the Comtesse de la Roche, in Die Soldaten, at the Salzburg Festival, a production now on DVD.

Beňačková has also made a beautiful recording in the title role of Rusalka by Dvořák. The conductor was Václav Neumann.

Recordings

References

  1. ↑ Review (no sung texts or translations)
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