To take the words from Altair´s mouth I´d just say that the Russian-Austrian soprano Anna Netrebko, (born 18 September 1971) is a well-known opera singer. She is much admired for her sumptuous voice, her fine technique, and her great personal beauty.
Netrebko was born in Krasnodar. She began her operatic career cleaning the floors at St Petersburg's Mariinsky Theatre (home of the then Kirov Opera). There, she attracted the attention of conductor Valery Gergiev who became her vocal mentor. Guided by Gergiev, she made her operatic stage debut at the Mariinsky as Susanna in Le Nozze di Figaro. She went on to sing many roles with the company, including Amina in La Sonnambula, Pamina in Die Zauberflöte, Rosina in The Barber of Seville, Lucia di Lammermoor among others.
In 1995, the 24 yrs old Netrebko made her US debut as Lyudmila in Glinka's Ruslan and Lyudmila at the San Francisco Opera. Following this successful performance, she became a frequent guest singer at San Francisco. She also appeared in other cities in the US and is known as an acclaimed interpreter of Russian roles, such as Lyudmila, Natasha in Prokofiev's War and Peace, Louisa in his Betrothal in a Monastery and Marfa in The Tsar's Bride. Netrebko has also made successful forays into bel canto and romantic roles such as Gilda in Rigoletto, Musetta in La Bohème and Giulietta in I Capuleti e i Montecchi.
In 2002, Netrebko made her debut at the Metropolitan Opera as Natasha in that company's premiere of War and Peace. In the same year, she sang her first Donna Anna at the Salzburg Festival's production of Don Giovanni, conducted by Nikolaus Harnoncourt.
In 2003, Anna Netrebko sang Violetta in Munich, the title role of Lucia di Lammermoor at the Los Angeles Opera and Donna Anna at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden. She also released her first studio album, Opera Arias, which became one of the best seller classical recordings of the year. In 2004, she followed her successes and released her second album Sempre Libera. She sang a highly regarded Roméo et Juliette with Rolando Villazón, with whom she also performed in L'Elisir d'Amore in 2005. In the same year, she appeared as Violetta Valéry in Verdi's La Traviata at the Salzburg Festival, conducted by Carlo Rizzi.
Netrebko's voice is notable for having both the softness and flexibility of a lyric soprano as well as the resonance and dark timbre characteristic of a spinto soprano. She has also a wide vocal range, being able to sing the soprano high E flats and even high E's.
In March 2006, Netrebko applied for Austrian citizenship in Vienna; the citizenship was received on July 25th 2006. According to an interview in the Austrian weekly "News", she will live in Vienna and Salzburg. This has led to a considerable backlash in Russia - Moscow times story
Buy on AliExpress.com
