Dimiter Petkov - A te l'estremo addio... Il lacerato spirito

Dimiter Petkov
(1938 - 2005)

Bulgarian bass was born on 5 March 1938 in Sofia. He studied with Christo Brambarov at the State Music Academy. His debut was with the Sofia National Opera singing the role of the King in Aida in 1964.
In 1967 Petkov won the Grand Prize in the Young Opera Singer Competition in Sofia. His first international appearances were with the Sofia National Opera touring in 1969 to the Festival of Wiesbaden. Then followed appearances in Paris, Naples, Moscow and the Barcelona. In 1968 he participated at the Glyndebourne Festival as Osmin in The Abduction from the Seraglio and in 1970 as Gremin in Eugene Onegin. Leaving Bulgaria in 1976 the bass took up residence in Geneva.
In 1969 he sang the role of Phillip in Don Carlo at the Arena di Verona (with Placido Domingo) and again there in 1981 as Zaccaria in Nabucco (with Ghena Dimitrova and Renato Bruson). Between 1972 and 1976 his appearances at the Vienna State Opera included Phillip and Mephisto in Faust. Additional appearances followed in Valencia singing Silva in Ernani in 1976, Teatro Liceo Barcelona singing Fiesco in Simon Boccanegra 1977, and in 1978 Varlaam in Boris Godunov at the Rome Opera. Between 1978 and 1989, Dimiter Petkov sang Ablimelech in Samson et Dalila and Dikoy in Katja Kabanova at the Paris Opera, Enrico in Anna Bolena and Ramfis in Aida at the Teatro Comunale Bologna and Marseilles in the French premier of the opera Rusalka by Dvorak. At La Scala he sang in 1981 and 1984, in Zurich between 1984-85 and in 1982 at the Teatro San Carlos Lisbon as Count Walther in Luisa Miller. Performances at the Deutscher Oper Berlin were in 1988 and in 1989 at the opera house of Nancy as Boris in Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk by Shostakovich. He appeared in the United States in 1989 singing Dikov in Katja Kabanova at the Dallas Opera.
Dimiter Petkov returned to Bulgaria where he became a member of the Plovdiv Opera. He has recorded for EMI (Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk); Harmonia Mundi; Balkanton (Aleko, Khovantchina); Erato (Iolanthe, War and Peace); DGG (Pique Dame); Sony (Boris Godunov) and MRF (Les Huguenots).

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Dimiter
• Petkov
• Fiesco
• Simon
• Boccanegra
• Prologo
• Verdi
• Opera