LEYLA GENCER

'Leyla Gencer' (born October 10, 1928 in Istanbul, Turkey) is a Turkish international known soprano opera singer.

Contents

Career

Awards and honors

Discography

See also

External links

Career

She is a notable bel canto soprano who spent most of her career in Italy, from the early 1950s through the mid-1980s, and she had a repertoire encompassing more than seventy roles. She made very few commercial recordings; however, numerous bootleg recordings of her performances exist. In particular, Gencer was associated with the heroines of Donizetti.
Gencer grew up in the Turkish town of Çubuklu, on the Anatolian side of the Bosphorus. She began studying singing at the Istanbul Conservatory, but dropped out to study privately in Ankara with her teacher, the Italian soprano Giannina Arangi-Lombardi. Gencer sang in the chorus of the Turkish State Theater until she made her operatic debut in Ankara in 1950 as Santuzza in ''Cavalleria Rusticana''. During the next few years, she became well-known in Turkey and sang frequently at functions for the Turkish government.
In 1953, Gencer made her Italian debut at the San Carlo in Naples as Santuzza. She returned to Naples the following year for performances of ''Madama Butterfly'' and ''Eugene Onegin''. In 1957, she made her debut at La Scala in Milan as Mme. Lidoine in the world premiere of Poulenc's ''Dialogues des Carmélites''. She went on to appear regularly at La Scala, performing nineteen roles between 1957 and 1983, including Leonora in ''La Forza del Destino'', Elisabetta in ''Don Carlos'', ''Aïda'', Lady Macbeth in ''Macbeth'', ''Norma'', Ottavia in ''L'incoronazione di Poppea'', and ''Alceste''. At La Scala, she also appeared as the First Woman of Canterbury in the world premiere of Pizzetti's ''L'assassinio nella cattedrale'' in 1958.
In 1962, Gencer made her debut at Royal Opera House, Covent Garden as Elisabetta di Valois and as Donna Anna in ''Don Giovanni''. She made her U.S. debut at the San Francisco Opera in 1956 as Francesca in ''Francesca da Rimini''. She sang at other American opera houses as well, but never sang at the Metropolitan Opera, though there had been discussions for her to sing ''Tosca'' there in 1956. (Virginia Zeani sang at the Met only two or three times.)
In 1985, Gencer retired from the operatic stage with a performance of Gnecco's ''La Prova di un'opera seria'' at La Fenice. She continued to appear in concerts until 1992. As of 2007, she is still active, and was recently appointed by La Scala's music director Riccardo Muti to run its school for young artists.
Throughout her career, Gencer was known primarily as a Donizetti interpreter. Among her best-known Donizetti performances are ''Belisario'', ''Poliuto'', ''Anna Bolena'', ''Lucrezia Borgia'', ''Maria Stuarda'', and ''Caterina Cornaro''. Her most acclaimed and best-known performance, though, was ''Roberto Devereux'', which she sang in Naples in 1964.
In addition to the bel canto roles for which she is best known, Gencer's repertory also included works by such composers as Prokofiev, Mozart, and Puccini. She appeared in many rarely performed operas, including Smareglia's ''La Falena'', Rossini's ''Elisabetta, regina d'Inghilterra'', Spontini's ''Agnese di Hohenstaufen'', Pacini's ''Saffo'', and Gluck's ''Alceste''.

Awards and honors

In 1988, the president of Turkey named Gencer a "State Artist". The ''Leyla Gencer Voice Competition'' has been held in Istanbul since 1996.
In 2002, she received the prestigious 'Puccini Honor Award' from the The Licia Albanese-Puccini Foundation at Lincoln Center in New York City.
In 2004, the Turkish Mint issued a commemorative coin in silver, bearing her figure and worth US$10.

Discography

★ Bellini: ''Norma'' / 1966, de Fabritiis, Gencer, Cossotto, et al

★ Bellini: ''Norma'' / 1965, Gavazzeni, Gencer, Simionato, et al

★ Bellini: ''Beatrice di Tenda''1964 / Gui, Gencer, Zanasi, et al

★ Bellini: ''I Puritani'' 1961 / Quadri, Gencer, Raimondi, et al

★ Pacini: ''Saffo'' 1967 / Gencer, Del Bianco, Mattiucci

★ Cherubini: ''Medea'' 1968/ Gencer, Bottion, et al

★ Mayr: ''Medea in Corinto'' 1976/ Ferro, Gencer, Johns

★ Gluck: ''Alceste'' 1967/ Gui, Gencer, Picchi

★ Chopin: ''Polish Songs''; Liszt / Leyla Gencer, Nikita Magaloff

★ Donizetti: ''Anna Bolena'' 1958/ Gavazzeni, Gencer, Simionato, et al

★ Donizetti: ''Anna Bolena'' 1965/ Gavazzeni, Gencer, Cava, et al

★ Donizetti: ''Caterina Cornaro'' 1972 / Cillario, Gencer, Aragall

★ Donizetti: ''Les Martyrs'' / 1975 Camozzo, Gencer, Bruson, et al

★ Donizetti: ''Les Martyrs'' / 1978 Gelmetti, Gencer, Bruson, et al

★ Donizetti: ''Lucrezia Borgia'' / 1970 Gracis, Gencer, Raimondi et al.

★ Donizetti: ''Lucrezia Borgia'' / 1966 Franci, Gencer, Aragall, Petri et al.

★ Donizetti: ''Maria Stuarda'' / 1967 Molinari-Pradelli, Gencer, Verret, Tagliavini et al.

★ Donizetti: ''Messa di Requiem'' / Gavazzeni, Teatro La Fenice

★ Donizetti: ''Roberto Devereux'' 1964 / Gencer, Cappuccilli, et al.

★ Donizetti: ''Belisario'' 1969 / Gavazzeni, Gencer, Taddei et al.

★ Mozart: ''Don Giovanni'' 1960/ Molinari-Pradelli, Gencer, Petri, Bruscantini, Stich-Randall et al

★ Mozart: ''Don Giovanni'' 1962/ Solti, Gencer, Jurinac, Freni

★ Ponchielli: ''La Gioconda'' 1971 / de Fabritiis, Gencer, Raimondi

★ Zandonai: ''Francesca da Rimini'' 1961 / Capuana, Gencer, Cioni et al.

★ Rossini: ''Elisabetta, Regina d'Inghilterra'' 1971/ Sanzogno, Gencer, Grilli

★ Verdi: ''I due Foscari" 1957/ Serafin, Gencer, Guelfi

★ Verdi: ''Battaglia di Legnano'' 1959/ Gencer, Limarilli

★ Verdi: ''Rigoletto'' 1961/ Quadri, Gencer, McNeil, Raimondi

★ Verdi: ''Gerusalemme'' 1963/ Gavazzeni, Gencer, Aragall, Guelfi

★ Verdi: ''I Vespri Siciliani'' 1965/ Gavazzeni, Gencer, et al

★ Verdi: ''Macbeth'' 1960/ Gui, Gencer, Taddei, Picchi et al.

★ Verdi: ''Macbeth'' 1968/ Gavazzeni, Gencer, Guelfi, Corradi, et al

★ Verdi: ''Attila'' 1972/ Silipigni, Gencer, Hines

★ Verdi: ''Ernani'' 1972/ Gavazzeni, Gencer, Bergonzi

★ Verdi: ''Simon Boccanegra'' 1961/ Gavazzeni, Gobbi, Gencer

★ Verdi: ''Trovatore'' 1957/Previtali, Gencer, Del Monaco, Barbieri, Bastianini

★ Verdi: ''Un ballo in maschera'' 1961/ Gencer, Bergonzi

★ Verdi: ''Aida'' 1956/ Capuana, Gencer, Bergonzi, Cossotto

★ Verdi: ''La Forza del Destino'' 1957/ Serafin, Gencer, Di Stefano

★ Verdi: ''La Forza del Destino'' 1965/ Molinari Pradelli, Gencer, Bergonzi

See also

★ Turkish State Opera and Ballet

External links

★ Leyla Gencer Voice Competition

★ Biography with photo gallery.

★ Leyla Gencer biography, performance chronology, discography and videography.

★ Belcanto Society page with Interview and photos.