Marena Balinova
Soprano
Austria/Bulgaria
The dramatic coloratura soprano Marena Balinova studied voice at the Academy for Music in Sofia,Bulgaria, and started her stage career as Queen of the Night in Mozart’s “Magic Flute” at Sofia State
Opera. After winning the First Prize at the International Singing Competition “Varna Summer”, shemoved to Vienna, continuing her studies at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna. In
addition, she studied with Vittorio Terranova, Grace Bumbry and Jane Berbié, and participated in masterclasses with Renata Scotto, Mariella Devia, Mirella Freni, Silvana Bazzoni-Bartoli, Sylvia Sass,
Francisco Araiza, Bernd Weikl, and Eric Halfvarson. She appeared on stage in the Theater an der Wien and Konzerthaus Vienna, Prinzregententheater Munich and Kongresshaus Zurich, as well as in Salzburg Residence and Castle Mirabell during the Salzburg Festival, and in concerts and recitals in Italy, Germany, France and the USA (Naples Opera, Chicago, Bloomington). She has sung the title role of Donizetti’s “Lucia di Lammermoor” at the State Opera Odessa and during a concert at Musikverein Wien, as well as Donna Anna in a concert performance of Mozart’s “Don Giovanni” in
Nantes. Hailed as “Belcanto Diva” by the opera magazine “Der Neue Merker”, more recently she appeared as Norma and Anna Bolena in Vienna, and performed as soloist with Varna State Opera
and Sofia State Opera (including the prestigious New Year’s Concert transmitted on TV). Her current recital project “The Glory of Belcanto: Omaggio a Giuditta Pasta” is featuring a concert program
around roles specifically composed for this legendary diva of the Belcanto era, with upcoming recitals in Moscow, Munich, Rome and Bari.