Soprano
Biography
Yordanka Derilova's debut was Elisabeth in Don Carlos, at the Burgas opera, before the National Opera in Sofia and the regional houses and, in 1998, a guest contract at the Prague State Opera. Her schooling at the Lyubomir Pipkov National Music School and the Pancho Vladigerov National Academy of Music was followed by study at the Boris Christoff academy in Rome. Since 2003 she has been a permanent member of the ensemble at the Anhaltisches Theater in Dessau, and it is largely from there that the Wagner and Strauss roles which define her — Brünnhilde, Elektra — have been sung, alongside Aida, Turandot, Tosca and Lady Macbeth. She has appeared at the Salzburg Festival, the Royal Opera in Stockholm and the festival house in Bregenz, and across Europe, Asia and the Middle East. She was made a Kammersängerin in 2009; Salerno's Vissi d'arte competition gave her the Premio di Aida in 2005; she took the Thalia prize in 2016, and the National Opera in Sofia made her an honorary member in 2023.