Leyla Gencer

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LEYLA GENCER - A tribute to the great “Diva Turca” - Victoria-M. asteri_55@yahoo.com

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Leyla Gencer, was born in Istanbul -Turkey-, on October 10, 1928. Gencer, was a world-renowned Turkish soprano opera singer. 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.

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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.

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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 Carlo, Aida, 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.

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In 1962, Gencer made her debut at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, as Elisabetta di Valois (Don Carlo) 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 also sang at other American opera houses.

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In 1985, Gencer retired from the operatic stage with a performance of Gnneco's La Prova di un'opera seria at La Fenice Theatre. She continued to appear in concerts until 1992. As of 2007, she was still active, and had been appointed by La Scala's music director Riccardo Muti to run its school for young artists.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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Leyla Gencer, popularly known as “la diva turca”, died in Milan, Italy, on May 10, 2008, at the age of 79, of respiratory problems and heart failure.

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La Scala expressed “immense sorrow” over Gencer's death, saying the singer had “one of the most moving voices of any time”. Her performances provided “years of unrepeatable splendour”, it added.

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She achieved her strong presence in the opera world, not only by her beautiful and deep voice and the variety of her repertoire, but also with the dramatic nuances that she attributed to the roles she performed. ... perhaps, with her disappearance, has gone the last diva of the 20th. century. E N D Words and pictures taken from the web.Mùsic: Quando rapito in estasi, aria Gaetano Donizetti’s òpera “Lucia di Lammermoor”, by Leyla Gencer. © May/2008 ENGLISH VERSION