Opera Fresh: Happy Birthday: Sylvia Geszty

Monday, February 28, 2011

Happy Birthday: Sylvia Geszty

"No che non sei capace" K. 419 (Mozart)

The soprano was born Sylvia Maria Ilona Wytkowsky on born February 28, 1934, in Budapest, Hungary. Originally wanting to be a dancer or actress, but decided to take voice lessons and attempt a career in opera. She studied at the Franz Liszt Musikakademie in Budapest with Erzsébeth Hoor-tempi. She won several competitions, including the Robert Schumann singing competition in Berlin. In 1959 she made her debut at the Budapest National Opera and immediately was engaged as a soloist with the Hungarian Philharmonic Orchestra. Two years later, she was singing the role of Amor in Gluck's Orfeo ed Euridice at the Berlin Staatsoper. Soon she was dubbed by the public the "Prima Donna unter den Linden." In 1966 she sang the Queen of the

The Hungarian soprano today.

Night at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, in London and repeated the role a year later at the Salzburg Festival. She was also singing a the Komische Oper in Berlin as well. By 1967 she was one of the most acclaimed coloraturas in Germany singing the coloratura roles in Die Zauberflöte, Lucia di Lammermoor, Rigoletto , Alcina, Les Contes d'Hoffmann and La Traviata. Meanwhile, she continued to study with Dagmar Freiwald-Lange. She had success with many concerts and recitals, especially in Munich and Salzburg. In 1970, the singer moved to West Germany and became a permanent member of the Staatsoper Stuttgart. One of her most celebrated roles was Rosina in Rossini's Il Barbiere di Siviglia. She
performed regularly at the Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich, as well as opera houses around the world including Hamburg, Paris, Brussels, Moscow, Amsterdam, London, Buenos Aires, Los Angeles and Vienna. It was at the Glyndebourne Festival that she sang Zerbinetta in Ariadne auf Naxos and Konstanze in Die Entführung aus dem Serail. She sang Rosina in Haydn's La Vera Costanza at the Schönbrunn, in Vienna, in 1984. The versatile singer sang lieder and oratorio works. From 1975-97 she taught music at the Hochschule für Musik und

Darstellende Kunst Stuttgart and from 1985-91 at the Zürich Conservatory. Some of her students have included Norbert Schmitt Berg, Katarzyna Dondalska, Gabriella Pittnerova, Melanie Diener , Gunda Baumgärtner, Jutta Böhnert, Anke Sieloff , Annette Luig, Gabriele Rossmanith , Regina cabbage and Lauren Newton. In 1988 she founded the International Coloratura Singing Competition. She made her opera directorial debut in 1998 in a production of Don Pasquale at the Theater in Posen in Poland. She recorded a vast discography and television appearnaces (over 80 programs for ARD and ZDF), as well as movies and radio show experiences. In 2004, she published her memoirs in a book titled Königin der Koloraturen. Erinnerungen. [Source]