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Ileana Cotrubaș

Romanian operatic soprano (1939–2026) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Ileana Cotrubaș (Romanian: [iˈle̯ana kotruˈbaʃ] ⓘ; 9 June 1939 – 20 August 2026) was a Romanian operatic soprano. After winning the 1966 ARD International Music Competition in Munich, she made an international career, a member of the Vienna State Opera from 1970. She made an international breakthrough on 7 January 1975, stepping in for Mirella Freni at La Scala in Milan as Mimì in Puccini's La bohème. She retired from public singing in 1990.

Born(1939-06-09)9 June 1939
Galați, Covurlui County, Kingdom of Romania
Died20 August 2026(2026-08-20) (aged 87)
Vienna, Austria
EducationCiprian Porumbescu Conservatory, Bucharest
OccupationOperatic soprano
Quick facts OSR, Born ...
Ileana Cotrubaș
OSR
Cotrubaș with Plácido Domingo in La bohème, Liceu, 1981/82
Born(1939-06-09)9 June 1939
Galați, Covurlui County, Kingdom of Romania
Died20 August 2026(2026-08-20) (aged 87)
Vienna, Austria
EducationCiprian Porumbescu Conservatory, Bucharest
OccupationOperatic soprano
Years active1964–1990
OrganizationsVienna State Opera
TitleKammersängerin
Spouse
Manfred Ramin
​
(m. 1972)​
Signature
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Cotrubaș was much admired for her acting skills and facility for singing opera in many different languages. Her voice was described as light and bright with a fragile timbre;[1] Mozart roles formed a core of her repertoire. Vivien Schweitzer wrote in her New York Times obituary that Cotrubaș was able to convey the pathos of operatic heroines with her tender, pure, expressive tone.[2]

Life and career

Cotrubaș was born on 9 June 1939 in Galați.[1][3][4] She grew up in a musical family; her father, Vasile, was a tenor in an amateur choir.[5] Cotrubaș became a member of a children's radio choir at age nine.[1][3] In 1952, she moved to Bucharest to study at the Școala Specială de Muzică – a school for the musically gifted.[6] At the Bucharest Conservatory, she studied voice with classes also in piano, violin, akkordeon and chorale conducting.[7]

Cotrubaș made her stage debut with the Bucharest Opera as Yniold in Debussy's Pelléas et Mélisande in 1964[3] during her studies.[1] She subsequently expanded her repertory to include roles such as Oscar in Verdi's Un ballo in maschera, Gilda in Rigoletto, and Blonde in Mozart's Die Entführung aus dem Serail and began appearing in productions throughout Europe.[8]

In 1965, Cotrubaș won first prize in opera, lieder, and oratorio at the International Vocal Competition 's-Hertogenbosch in the Netherlands[3] The following year, she won the ARD International Music Competition in Munich.[1][7] Those awards, together with her great success in the role of Pamina in Mozart's Die Zauberflöte in Brussels, led to appearances in the Vienna State Opera, Hamburg State Opera, Berlin State Opera and the Salzburg Festival.[1] She continued her studies in Vienna, and became a member of the ensemble of the Oper Frankfurt in 1968,[3][1] engaged by Christoph von Dohnányi.[7]

In 1969, she made her UK debut at the Glyndebourne Festival as Mélisande,[1] and sang two succeeding seasons there in the title role of Cavalli's La Calisto. She made her début at the Royal Opera House in London in 1971 as Tatyana in Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin.[3]

Her debut at the Vienna State Opera was in 1969 as Pamina in Zauberflöte,[1][9] which won her international recognition.[1] Cotrubaș signed a three-year contract with the Vienna State Opera in 1970. During her time there, she learned the roles of Susanna in Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro, Zerlina in Don Giovanni, the title role in Verdi's La traviata, Mimì in Puccini's La bohème, and Sophie in Der Rosenkavalier by Richard Strauss.[7][10][11]

In 1973, she made her American operatic debut at the Lyric Opera of Chicago as Mimì, and at Glyndebourne sang Susanna alongside the Figaro of Knut Skram. Cotrubaș made her international breakthrough on 7 January 1975, when she replaced Mirella Freni at La Scala in Milan as Mimì,[7] on the suggestion by Luciano P.[12] She had to fly from her home in Kent and arrived 15 minutes before curtain time. Her interpretation, "intimate, tender and vocally refined",[7] was acclaimed by critics and audiences alike.[13] The following year, she portrayed the title role of La traviata at the Bavarian State Opera, alongside Plácido Domingo as Rodolfo and conducted by Carlos Kleiber. She was impressed by working with Kleiber who made her go to her limits.[7]

Cotrubaș made her Metropolitan Opera debut on 23 March 1977, as Mimì[3] in a production with José Carreras and Renata Scotto.[14] While with the Met, she appeared as Gilda, alongside Domingo and Cornell MacNeil, in a televised performance of Rigoletto on 7 November 1977, and as Violetta, again with Domingo and MacNeil, in a televised performance of La traviata on 28 March 1981. She sang three other roles at the Met: Ilia in Mozart's Idomeneo (in its Metropolitan Opera premiere), Tatyana, and Micaëla in Bizet's Carmen, the role of her final performance with the company on 26 March 1987.[15]

Cotrubaș was known for being very demanding of directors and colleagues. On two occasions—Eugene Onegin in Vienna in 1973 and Don Pasquale at the Met in 1980—she walked out of productions when she disagreed with the stage director.[13][7][16] She retired from public singing in 1990, but continued to teach, giving master classes[17] and coaching promising young singers, including Elena Tsallagova.[18] She told her students that they had to present a character with the first note, which meant that they had to understand the work, the character's position in it and its language, to be able to define the character in posture, movement and voice. [12]

Personal life

Cotrubaș was married to the conductor Manfred Ramin from 1972.[2] They lived in Vienna and had no children.[19]

Cotrubaș died in Vienna on 20 August 2026.[2][5][12] A black flag was flown by the Vienna State Opera as a sign of mourning.[11]

Awards

Bibliography

  • Ileana Cotrubaș Opernwahrheiten, Vienna: Holzhausen Verlag, 1998. ISBN 978-3-85493-005-1[21]
  • Ileana Cotrubas, Manfred Ramin Die manipulierte Oper, Vienna: Verlag Der Apfel, 2017. ISBN 978-3-85450-118-3[22]

Recordings

See also

References

External links

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