The Bulgarian mezzo-soprano Gergana Rusekova talks to Gregor Tassie
Among the outstanding performances of the 2023 Wagner Festival in Sofia were those of the Brünnhilde in Die Walkure and the Kundry in Parsifal given by the young mezzo-soprano Gergana Rusekova. In my review of Die Walküre, I wrote, ‘Immediately, we are aware of the striking vocal gifts and personality of Gergana Rusekova, ‘Vater! Vater! Sage, was ist dir?’ And a couple of weeks later, in Parsifal, she was even more impressive, ‘The Kundry of Gergana Rusekova was world-class in both singing and characterisation – every word was clear and beautiful at times when revealing her plight and in other scenes of her lustful desire.’
Gergana Rusekova was born in the picturesque Bulgarian town of Pazardzhik. She graduated in opera singing at the Pancho Vladigerov State Academy of Music in Sofia. Following her studies with Professor Konstantsa Vachkova, she attended master classes by Jeffrey Gall, Valery Rifkin, Martina Arroyo, Luciana d’Intino, Stefka Evstatieva, and Fiorenza Cossotto. Since 2017, Gergana Rusekova has been a soloist at the Sofia National Opera and Ballet and has become a major star for the company.
Her repertoire includes the roles of Kundry in Parsifal, and Giorgetta in Il tabarro, Dalila in Samson et Dalila, Eboli in Don Carlo, Azucena in Il trovatore, Ulrica in Un ballo in maschera and Salud in La vida breve, the Requiems by Verdi, and Mozart, the Stabat Mater by Pergolesi, Petite messe solennelle by Rossini and the Ninth Symphony by Beethoven. In the 2022-2023 season, she performed with unprecedented success in the title role of Carmen at Sofia Opera.
I spoke to Gergana in between her performances as Brünnhilde in Die Walküre, and her Kundry in Parsifal during the Sofia Wagner Festival in July.
Gregor Tassie: Thank you for your terrific performance as Brünnhilde in Die Walküre. So how did you become an opera singer?
Gergana Rusekova: Thank you for your kind words and being here at our Wagner Festival in the Sofia opera house. My path to music started when I was seven years old. My first teacher at school was looking for musical children who would like to sing in the chorus of our little city. And I really liked her singing and I tried to sing the same way that she was. Then she said that I was admitted, and I sang in this chorus until I was 14 years old. Also my mother, who was really a fan of all the arts, when she was pregnant with me was reading a book about the life of Puccini, and she believed that this book predestined my way as an opera singer.
In regard to my favourite role of Brünnhilde of Die Walkure, it is because as a mezzo-soprano, my voice best suits the writing by Wagner for Brünnhilde in this opera than in Siegfried and Götterdämmerung in which it is for a higher tessitura, so I like this part not only because it suits my voice but also because she is a wilder character and is a warrior with a complex relationship with her father, Wotan. I like this role very much.
GT: Did you come from a musical family?
GR: Really in my family nobody is a musician, but they have very good taste in arts and of course are big fans of classical music. My mother always supported my path in the opera which has been long and not easy with many years of study. Even though I was taking a lot of masterclasses and diverse studies around the world, which was a good experience, I found my voice teacher here in Bulgaria. This is the associate professor Konstanza Vachkova. I think in my profession the most important are the teachers and the character of the singer.
GT: During your studies, did you take part in competitions?
GR: In 2005, I won a scholarship at the Plovdiv International Competition for young opera singers which allowed me to study at Pittsburgh’s Duquesne University in the US. I was a prize winner at the National Opera Competition in Sofia in 2006 and four years later, I won the Grand Prix at the European Competition in Turnovo and made recordings for Bulgarian Radio. The same year, I won the Ghena Dimitrova National Opera Competition in Pleven, and later that year, the third prize at the International Opera Competition in Ercolano, while in 2014, I got second prize at the Viva Verdi Competition in Sofia.
GT: When did you make your debut?
GR: I started here in 2011 singing in Cavalleria rusticana as Santuzza, and in 2012 toured in this role with the Sofia Opera to Japan, and a year later again in Japan as Amneris in Aida. I developed roles as Amneris in Aida in a co-production with Arena di Verona and Sofia Opera, and later in 2015, I was Carmen, and Azucena in Il trovatore, Marcellina in Le nozze di Figaro at Stara Zagora Opera where I worked for two years.
GT: In recent years, many Wagner productions adopt the Konzept form of staging which has been very controversial among critics and audiences. The Sofia Ring is more in a traditional style. What do you think of the new production of this Ring cycle here in Sofia?
GR: I like it very much, and admire the originality of Maestro Kartaloff’s production, I didn’t take part in the first cycle, but I did sing Brünnhilde in Die Walkure when we toured to the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow in 2018. It was very successful there, both the production and our performances. He always seeks something new in his productions, and which is always in accordance with the composer’s ideas and thoughts, rather than the controversial stagings that I have seen in Europe and America.
Maestro Kartaloff works with us the singers very hard on the lyrics and in the nuances of every word and that is helping us a lot to present full-blooded characters on stage. I am very grateful for this in our collaboration.
GT: Are there any singers that you admire?
GR: My favourite operatic singer for all time is the Bulgarian soprano Stefka Evstatieva! I was really happy to see her after the performance of Die Walküre. Of course there are a lot of great Bulgarian singers who I really adore such as Ghena Dimitrova, Nikolai Ghiaurov and many more. Also the Russian mezzo sopranos Olga Borodina and Elena Obraztsova and of course many others..
GT: You have worked with many different conductors in your career, how did you find working with Constantin Trinks in Die Walküre here in Sofia earlier this month?
GR: Well, it was really great collaborating with him, his knowledge of Wagner is astonishing, and he made us work hard without any let up at all. He got the best out of us and made us better singers. For sure Constantin Trinks is my favourite conductor for German repertoire with Maestro Maurizio Arena for Italian repertoire!
GT: In Die Walküre, you made your entry on the figure of a huge red horse, Grane, how did you find this experience ‘riding’ a horse on stage – everyone thought it was a stunning spectacle to see all the red horses in the third act!
GR: I also adore my Grane although it took me a lot of time to get used to the difficult opening with Brünnhilde in this specific body position.
GT: What future plans do you have?
GR: Well, after singing Kundry in Parsifal which I performed in the premiere in 2017, in October I will sing first in Germany Die Walküre again in the same production on tour and then Clytemnestra in Elektra also on tour to South Korea. Also I expect to make my debut in Don Carlo as Princess Eboli.
For reviews of Gergana Rusekova in Sofia Opera’s new Die Walküre click here and in Parsifal click here.
Gregor Tassie