Mezzosoprano Snezhinka Avramova‘s interest in music goes back to the time when she was 15.

"My father used to play the violin and that was how I got interested in classical music. At age 16 I decided to do singing at the Sofia Music School. Later I applied for the Hanns Eisler College of Music in Berlin, where I was admitted immediately. After graduating I stayed on in Germany where I worked. I am the first Bulgarian to have sung at the new Semperoper opera house in Dresden. There I took part in Handel‘s Alcina. I have taken part in musicals, in operettas , I have quite a broad range of knowledge as regards repertoire. My minor was opera directing.“

For almost 25 years Sneshinka Avramova has been singing at the Staatstheater am Gärtnerplatz opera house in Munich. On March 30, at her farewell concert, the Bulgarian singer wasawarded the title of Kammersängerin of Bavaria. „I still can‘t believe it“, she says.

In the autumn she will perform at the theatre she has devoted so many years of her life to. The audience will be able to watch her in Benjamin Britten‘s opera Peter Grimes.

Snezhinka Avramova says it gives her pleasure to tutor young opera singers and to pass on her own klnowledge. Although she has been away from Bulgaria for many years, she has made a contribution to Bulgarian culture. It is not widely known that the mezzosoprano is founder of the Mozart Days festival held in her home town of Pravets. For the festival‘s first edition, the singer opened up her house to the musicians. She provided the props and took charge of the scenic and artistic side of Mozart‘s Cosi fan Tutte which she produced. Here is what Snezhinka Avramova says about the festival:

"Mrs. Angelakova who is artistic director of the forum has done a wonderful job and the festival has asserted itself. For lack of time I am still not taking an active part in its organization. The idea of the forum is to have young Bulgarian singers perform Mozart‘s fantastic music which requires a very high standard of musical skills. Because the simpler the means used to create a musical work, the more difficult it is.“

The audio to this file features the following recordings:

-  Aria of Bradamante from the opera Alcina by Handel with the Berlin Radio symphony orchestra, conductor Hans-Peter Frank;

-  At Dawn by Hugo Wolf, Kaliga Herbert, piano;

-  A charm of Lullabies by Benjamin Britten, Irina Stiglic, piano.

English version: Milena Daynova