Latvia’s most beautiful voice
Elina Garanca sings Dorabella in Così fan tutte
In 2003 the twenty-seven year old mezzo soprano Elina Garanca, who comes
from Riga in Latvia, made her debut at the Salzburg Festival singing Annio
in
La clemenza di Tito; this year, 2004, she sings Dorabella in Così
fan tutte. She was a finalist in 2001 at the BBC Cardiff Singer of
the World Competition where Dame Joan Sutherland was a member of the jury.
She commented, “Miss Garanca has a superb voice and a natural born
appearance of a diva.”
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Elina Garanca, who sings Dorabella in Così fan tutte, made a magnificent festival debut singing Annio in La clemenza di Tito. |
Music is in the Garanca family. Elina’s father conducts a choir, her mother is a singer and wanted her daughter to be a cultural attaché in the diplomatic service rather than embarking on the strenuous and sometimes troublesome life of a performing artist. As a young girl Elina learned to play the piano and liked to imitate Whitney Houston. She followed her ambition – to perform on the opera stage – tenaciously and with determination. Since January 2003 she has been engaged in the ensemble of the Vienna State Opera and performs for five months per season.
Asked about the rapid and successful development of her career the young singer replied, “In Latvia they say that 90% of success results from hard work and 10% from talent. But that’s not quite right. Nowadays you need at least 10 aspects: natural talent as well as good working conditions and you also have to be prepared to work hard. You have to be lucky and meet the right people in the right place.” Elina Garanca has fond memories of her childhood which she spent mostly with her grandparents in the country. “My love of animals from that time still gives me a lot of strength.“
Ulla Kalchmair
Titel and Salzburg-Impressions © Thomas Klinger, Munich