{"id":6580,"date":"2025-09-13T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-09-13T07:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/voicedetective.com\/?p=6580"},"modified":"2025-09-13T18:35:22","modified_gmt":"2025-09-13T16:35:22","slug":"lg-nicolai-ghiaurov-bass-september-13-1929","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/voicedetective.com\/de\/2025\/09\/lg-nicolai-ghiaurov-bass-september-13-1929\/","title":{"rendered":"NICOLAI GHIAUROV, BASS, SEPTEMBER 13, 1929"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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nicolai ghiaurov, bass,
september 13, 1929<\/h1>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Nicolai\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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\u2018He possessed a voice of unusually rich and varied colour allied to an excellent vocal technique and remarkable musicality. A vigorous and painstaking actor, as an interpreter he tended to express the strong and violent emotions rather than the finer and more intimate shades of meaning.\u2019<\/i>[1]<\/sup><\/a><\/p>

\u00a0<\/p>

The great bass-baritone Nicolai Ghiaurov was born this day in 1929 in Velingrad. He followed in a long and illustrious line of bass-baritones from his native Bulgaria. Indeed, Bulgaria seems to possess some quality that produces great bass voices! And one of the very greatest was Ghiaurov.<\/p>

\u00a0<\/p>

As a child he sang frequently at family gatherings and initially learned piano, violin and clarinet. He had thought to become an actor but while undertaking his military service, in what almost seems to be a time-honoured tradition, an officer heard him sing in the choir and recommended him for a singing career![2]<\/sup><\/a> Initially studying with Christo Brambarov at Bulgarian State Conservatory he then moved on to a Leningrad and Moscow.[3]<\/sup><\/a> This period of study from 1950 to 1955 was with the assistance of a state scholarship[4]<\/sup><\/a>. His career was launched with first place at the Concours International de Chant de Paris in 1955<\/span>.[5]<\/sup><\/a> His professional debut also came in 1955 in Sofia in the role of Don Basilio in Rossini\u2019s Il barbiere di Siviglia<\/i>.<\/p>

\u00a0<\/p>

His Italian debut came in 1958 in the Teatro Communale in Bologna in Faust.[6]<\/sup><\/a> By the next year he was at La scala in the roles of Boris Godunov and Phillip II – perhaps the two defining roles of his career. From the 1960s onwards he appeared in the major houses, including Covent Garden, Vienna Staatsoper, New York\u2019s Metropolitan Opera, where he was established as a favourite with audiences in these roles. He continued to add to his repertoire of Russian and Verdi roles throughout his career.[7]<\/sup><\/a> His most notable recording are Philip II under Solti; Boris and again under Karajan, and as the \u201csonorous bass soloist in Carlo Maria Giuliani\u2019s recording of the Verdi Requiem\u201d.[8]<\/sup><\/a><\/p>

\u00a0<\/p>

He died in Modena on the 2 June 2004[9]<\/sup><\/a>[10]<\/sup><\/a> and is interred in the columbarium of the San Cataldo Cemetery next to his spouse and great colleague Mirella Freni.<\/p>

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[1]<\/span><\/sup><\/a> CELLETTI, RODOLFO \/ BLYTH, ALAN., GHIAUROV, NICOLAI<\/u> IN MACY, LAURA., THE GROVE BOOK OF OPERA SINGERS<\/u>. OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS (2008). P.189<\/p><\/div>

[2]<\/span><\/sup><\/a> BLYTH. ALAN., NICOLAI GHIAUROV OBITUARY IN THE GUARDIAN<\/u> (SAT 5 JUN 2004 03.03 CEST<\/span>)\u00a0 HTTPS:\/\/WWW.THEGUARDIAN.COM\/NEWS\/2004\/JUN\/05<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/span> GUARDIANOBITUARIES.ARTSOBITUARIES<\/span><\/p><\/div>

[3]<\/span><\/sup><\/a> IBID. P.189<\/p><\/div>

[4]<\/span><\/sup><\/a> \u00a0FORBES, ELIZABETH., NICOLAI GHIAUROV – OPERATIC BASS WITH A RICH-TONED VOICE AND LARGER-THAN-LIFE PERSONALITY<\/u> (FRIDAY 04 JUNE 2004 00:00 BST) RETRIEVED FROM HTTPS:\/\/WWW.INDEPENDENT.CO.UK\/NEWS\/OBITUARIES\/NICOLAI-GHIAUROV-730520.HTML<\/span><\/p><\/div>

[5]<\/span><\/sup><\/a> IBID. P.189<\/p><\/div>

[6]<\/span><\/sup><\/a> IBID. P,189<\/p><\/div>

[7]<\/span><\/sup><\/a> IBID. INDEPENDENT<\/p><\/div>

[8]<\/span><\/sup><\/a> IBID. P.189<\/p><\/div>

[9]<\/span><\/sup><\/a> IBID. P.189<\/p><\/div>

[10]<\/span><\/sup><\/a> ALTHOUGH THE GUARDIAN OBITUARY STATES 3 JUNE 2004, THE GROVE BOOK OF OPERA SINGERS REFERENCE IS LATER FROM 2008 AND IS THEREFORE TAKEN AS AUTHORITATIVE<\/p><\/div><\/div><\/div>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u2018He possessed a voice of unusually rich and varied colour allied to an excellent vocal technique and remarkable musicality. A vigorous and painstaking actor, as an interpreter he tended to express the strong and violent emotions rather than the finer and more intimate shades of meaning.\u2019 <\/p>\n

The great bass-baritone Nicolai Ghiaurov was born this day in 1929 in Velingrad. He followed in a long and illustrious line of bass-baritones from his native Bulgaria. Indeed, Bulgaria seems to possess some quality that produces great bass voices! And one of the very greatest was Ghiaurov.<\/p>\n

As a child he sang frequently at family gatherings and initially learned piano, violin and clarinet. He had thought to become an actor but while undertaking his military service, in what almost seems to be a time-honoured tradition, an officer heard him sing in the choir and recommended him for a singing career! Initially studying with Christo Brambarov at Bulgarian State Conservatory he then moved on to a Leningrad and Moscow. This period of study from 1950 to 1955 was with the assistance of a state scholarship . His career was launched with first place at the Concours International de Chant de Paris in 1955. His professional debut also came in 1955 in Sofia in the role of Don Basilio in Rossini\u2019s Il barbiere di Siviglia.<\/p>\n

His Italian debut came in 1958 in the Teatro Communale in Bologna in Faust. By the next year he was at La scala in the roles of Boris Godunov and Phillip II – perhaps the two defining roles of his career. From the 1960s onwards he appeared in the major houses, including Covent Garden, Vienna Staatsoper, New York\u2019s Metropolitan Opera, where he was established as a favourite with audiences in these roles. He continued to add to his repertoire of Russian and Verdi roles throughout his career. His most notable recording are Philip II under Solti; Boris and again under Karajan, and as the \u201csonorous bass soloist in Carlo Maria Giuliani\u2019s recording of the Verdi Requiem\u201d. <\/p>\n

He died in Modena on the 2 June 2004 and is interred in the columbarium of the San Cataldo Cemetery next to his spouse and great colleague Mirella Freni.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":6581,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"give_campaign_id":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[73],"tags":[74],"class_list":["post-6580","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-legendary-singers","tag-legendary-singers"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/voicedetective.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6580","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/voicedetective.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/voicedetective.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/voicedetective.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/voicedetective.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6580"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/voicedetective.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6580\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/voicedetective.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6581"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/voicedetective.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6580"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/voicedetective.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6580"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/voicedetective.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6580"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}