VALENTINA KUTZAROVA (Mezzo-soprano) was born in Varna. She graduated opera singing at the Prof. P. Vladigerov National Academy of Music in Sofia in the class of Prof. Lili Stefanova. After her specialization at the International Opera Studio in Zurich she became a cast member of the most prominent opera houses in Europe: “Teatro la Fenice” in Venice, the ones in Sassari, Naples, Linz, Innsbruck, Saint Gallen, Basel, Geneva, Strasbourg, Paris, Montpellier, Bordeaux, Bilbao, Munich, Hanover, Düsseldorf, as well as in the theatres of Las Palmas, Guadalajara (Mexico), Mumbai and many others.
The repertoire of the talented singer includes a long series of principal mezzo-soprano roles from the operas: Massenet’s Werther, The Mercy of Titus, The Marriage of Figaro, Idomeneo, Cosi Fan Tutte, The Magic Flute and Don Giovanni by W. A. Mozart; Xerxes by Handel; Orfeo by Monteverdi; The Barber of Seville, The Turk in Italy, Cinderella and The Italian in Algiers by Rossini; Norma and Capuleti and Montagues by Bellini; Maria Stuarda by Donizetti; Carmen by Bizet; Capriccio and Der Rosenkavalier by R. Strauss; Die Walküre, Das Rheingold and Die Zauberflöte by Wagner; The Queen of Spades by Tchaikovsky; Juliet by Martinu; Madama Butterfly by Puccini; Hoffmann’s Tales by Offenbach; Falstaff by Verdi; The Defeat of Lucrezia by Britten; Moses and Aaron by Schoenberg; The Indian Queen by Purcell; Countess Maritza by Kálmán, etc.
Kutzarova has worked with renowned conductors such as Giovanni Antonini, Andrea Marcon, Reinhard Goebel, Ádám Fischer, Frans Bruggen, David Zinman, Jiri Kout, Dennis Russel Davies, Philippe Jordan, Marko Letonja, Sascha Goetzel, Günter Neuhold, Maurizio Barbacini, Johannes Wildner, Marco Zambelli, etc.
In addition to her many operatic roles, the Mezzo-soprano’s repertoire includes works of chamber-vocal lyric and cantata-oratorio pieces from various stylistic eras from the Baroque to contemporary music. She has been a soloist in Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater, J.S. Bach’s Magnificat, Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, J. Haydn’s Paukenmesse, W.A. Mozart’s Requiem and Great Mass, Schumann’s Paradise and the Peri, Schubert’s Missa solemnis in C major, Dvorak’s Stabat Mater, Passion for Jesus Christ by F. Paer, Little Solemn Mass by Rossini, Mass No. 3 in F minor by Bruckner, Summer Nights by Berlioz, Elijah Oratorio by Mendelssohn, Symphony No. 2 “Resurrection” by Mahler, Poem of Love and the Sea by Chausson, Symphony No. 1 by Scriabin, Alexander Nevsky by Prokofiev, The Songs of Gurre by Schoenberg, Requiem for Syria by George Alexander Albrecht, Easter Oratorio by Michael Stenov, etc.
Valentina Kutzarova is the winner of Grand Prix and First Prize at the Rocca delle macie Vocal Competition in Siena, as well as Second Prize at The Queen Sonja International Music Competition in Oslo.