Anna Tomowa-Sintow

A pianist before she was a singer, Anna Tomowa-Sintow — born in Stara Zagora in 1941 — studied both disciplines at the Sofia Conservatory, with Georgi Zlatev-Cherkin and Katia Spiridonova, and made her Leipzig debut in 1967 as Abigaille. The Berlin State Opera came next. In 1973 she auditioned for Herbert von Karajan and was engaged on the spot for the premiere of Orff's De temporum fine comoedia at Salzburg; the association held until his death in 1989, through Mozart and Verdi productions, the Missa solemnis and Requiems by Mozart, Verdi and Brahms. She sang the Countess, Donna Anna, Desdemona, Elsa, Elisabeth, Ariadne, the Marschallin and the Empress at the Vienna State Opera, La Scala, Covent Garden, the Metropolitan, San Francisco and Chicago. Her Ariadne auf Naxos with the Vienna Philharmonic under James Levine took the 1988 Grammy for best opera recording. An honorary doctor of the National Academy of Music in Sofia since 2001, she has returned there to teach masterclasses since 2009. She joined the Berlin company in 1972. Arabella belongs to her Strauss roles beside the Marschallin and Ariadne, the Four Last Songs are among her recordings, and she has sat on the juries of singing competitions.