ph. Marco Brescia & Rudy Amisano | Teatro alla Scala
A concert in La Scala of Maria Agresta - a student of Raina Kabaivanska
The concert was broadcasted live on the website of La Scala on March 24-th at 9 p.m. Due to the pandemic situation, the entire season of the first Italian opera house is held without an audience in the hall.
Italian soprano Maria Agresta, a star of the School of Raina Кabaivanska, returned to one of the world most prestigious opera stages - La Scala in Milan. Presented arias, duets and preludes to operas by Verdi and Puccini were performed with the tenor Francesco Meli and the conductor Nicola Luisotti.
Maria Agresta made her debut in 2010 in Sofia and Modena as Mimi from “La Bohème” - a performance from the project "Raina Kabaivanska presents her students on the international opera stage" implemented under the auspices of New Bulgarian University. In the next years her career developed brilliantly with performances on the most important international stages - La Scala, Metropolitan Opera, Covent Garden, Opera national de Paris, Rome Opera, Vienna Opera, Salzburg Festival and many others. Her partners are great opera singers of our times like Jonas Kaufmann, Andrea Carè, LudovicTézier, Francesco Meli and the legend Placido Domingo.
"I love her unique way to grant her talent to this exceptional art. Meeting her was a discovery. A wonderful and loving person revealed to me, as only a mother can be. As a teacher she is exceptional! Demanding and persistent, at the same time loving and generous beyond belief. I do not know anyone else of the same artistic significance who knows how and is willing to share her knowledge and experience to the others. ”- says Maria Agresta about her teacher Raina Kabaivanska.
The world famous conductor Nicola Luisotti has also witnessed the artistic magic of Raina Kabaivanska. In 2002 he conducted at Teatro Reggio in Parma the last "Tosca" in Italy of the great soprano, who was then 68. During this historical performance Luisotti was forced to stop the orchestra several times because it was drowned by the loud applause of the audience for Kabaivanska. After the emblematic aria "Vissi d'arte" the applause almost demolished the theater. The ecstasy of the audience was out of control. Raina Kabaivanska tried to continue, but in the hall was rising almost angry shout down: “Bis! Bis!” For eight minutes one of the most difficult audiences in the world applauded their Diva. Then, excited and grateful, she repeated the aria.
In June and July 2021 Maria Agresta will have the difficult task - for the first time in her career, to perform the crowning role of her Maestra - "Tosca" on the stages of Grand Opera in Paris and Teatro Real in Madrid.
In September 2021 Raina Kabaivanska will come back to Sofia for the 21st edition of her International Master Class for young opera singers, organized by New Bulgarian University.