Kremena Dilcheva Biography

Photo of Kremena Dilcheva

Kremena Dilcheva was born in the town of Stara Zagora, Bulgaria. She comes from a family in which music was adored for centuries- her mother, grandmother and great grandmother lived with the passion of music all of their lives. Kremena Dilcheva's first displayed her musical talents at the age of 5 when she started playing piano. Later, from 1985-1993, she excelled as a student at the musical school Christina Morphova in Stara Zagora, during which time her talent in piano brought her a number of competition awards in Bulgaria, as well as participation in numerous recitals and concerts throughout the country. During the same period, she was also a very successful ballet dancer, and she participated in a variety of ballet competitions both in Bulgaria and abroad for more than 10 years. Singing was her passion from her earliest years.


Kremena Dilcheva started her higher education at the Musical Academy in Sofia, with a speciality in opera. She became one of the students of the former Berliner-Staatsoper Kammersangerin Julia Wiener. Kremena graduated with honours the from the Musical Academy in 1998. At the same time, she was invited by the Sofia National Philharmony for a number of performances, as well as by the Sofia National Opera to perform as Sesto in the Opera La Clemenza di Tito by Mozart, co-produced by the Theatre of Ludwigshafen, Germany. The same year her first CD, Mahler's Kindertotenlieder was published by Mega Music, Bulgaria.


Kremena Dilcheva's international career began immediately after her graduation. At the beginning of 1999, Kremena was invited by the Teatro per i cantanti lirici alla Scala di Milano to participate in Giulio Sabino, an opera of G. Sarti which is very seldom performed. The performance was given at the Opera Theatre of Fermo, as well as at the Ravenna Festival, Italy; this was a great success and consequently recorded on CD. The same year Kremena was invited to participate as Annio in Mozart's La clemenza di Tito in Ulm, Germany. The performance was a great success, after which Kremena was nominated as the "best new young opera singer" for her role by the international magazine Opernwelt.


In 2000, Kremena Dilcheva started a two year master class at the Hochschule fur Musik und Theater, Munchen. There she was a student of Professor Daphne Evangelatos. During the same period, Kremena performed frequently in Germany, Italy and Austria. Some of the works that she sang were: Cherubino in Le nozze di Figaro by Mozart, Sesto in La Clemenza di Tito by Mozart, Dorabella in Cosi fan tutte by Mozart, 2 Dame in The Magic flute by Mozart, Orfeo in Orpheus and Euridice by Gluck, Rosina in Il barbiere di Siviglia, Rossini, Annio in Giulio Sabino, G.Sarti, Romeo in Romeo and Julia, Bellini, Orlofsky in The bat by Strauss, Olga in Eugen Onegin by Chaikovsky, Evanco in Rodrigo by Handel, and more. In 2002, Kremena was invited by Teatro Comunale di Firenze to sing 2 Dame in The Magic flute.She also participated at the Hans-otto-Theater, Potsdam, Germany in the main role of Dorina in the Opera La Diavolessa by Galuppi, which was recorded on CD. In 2002-2003 she became a member of the Junges Ensamble der Bayerische Staatsoper. One of her numerous performances was at the Bayerische Staatsoper as Hansel in the opera Hansel und Gretel by Humperdinck.


Kremena first met the conductor James Levine at the beginning of 2003, when she participated in the Opera Moses und Aaron by Schonberg, conducted by Levine. In November 2003, Kremena achieved great success while singing Judith in the Opera Herzog Blaubart`s Castle by Bartok, with the Munchner Philharmoniker under the direction of Levine. The production was recorded live on CD by Oehms Classic, Germany. Kremena has performed 12 concerts with James Levine, among which are: Parsifal, Wagner and Midsummernight`s dream, Mendelssohn the latter of which was performed with great success in front of 8000 people at the Annual Open-air concert at Odeonsplatz in Munchen, Germany.

 

During the years of 2004, 2005 and 2006 Kremena Dilcheva performed a number of successful concerts in Europe. In May, 2006 Kremena participated as Erika in Samuel Barber's opera "Vanessa" in a performance staged by Teatro Massimo in Palermo. In October and November 2006 Kremena participated as Dorabella in Mozart's "Cosi fan tutte" in performances staged in Schloss Theater am Neuen Palais in Potsdam, Germany.


In 2007 /2008 Kremena Dilcheva participated in a different productions and concerts in Germany and in Italy. Among the other perforamnces she was in the role of Rosina ( Rossini,Il Barbiere di Siviglia), Dorabella (Mozart, Cosi fan tutte) and sang Oktavian (R.Strauss,Rosenkavalier).

She performed at the Mozart Gala in Koblenz, followed by a concert performance of Rossini's "L'italiana in Algeri" in Ingolstadt. Later in the season she performed a series of concerts throughout Germany, some of them conducted by Friedrich Haider.


In the summer of 2009 Kremena Dilcheva sang at the Knowlton Festival, Canada the role of Romeo (Bellini's I Capuleti e I Montecchi).


In January, 2010 Kremena Dilcheva participated in a concert production of Verdi's "Macbeth" in Munich, Germany with the Munchner Radio Orchestra and Chorus, under the conducting of Fridrich Haider. The production was recorded on a CD. In March and April, 2010 she sang different concerts in Germany with programs, covering Mahler's "5 Orchester Lieder", Schumann's "Frauen- Liebe und Leben" and others.


In June, 2010 Kremena Dilcheva sang in Gluck's "Le Cinesi", a co-production between Potsdamer Festspiele and China National Peking Opera Company. The opera was performed in Potsdam, Germany and Winterthur, Switzerland and is planned to be presented in the Peking National Opera. During the months of November, December, 2010 and January, 2011 Kremena Dilcheva performed a number of concerts in Spain and Italy.

 

 In September, 2011 Kremena participated in Donizetti Festival, which took place in Bergamo, Italy. She performed the role of Ida in Donizetti's Opera "Gemma di Vergy".

 

 In December, 2011 she participated in a New Year - Gala consert with the Rheiner-Pfalzer Philharmoniy in Germany.

 

 During the months of February and March, 2012, Kremena participated as Nutrice in Hugo de Ana's production of Musorgskij 's opera "Boris Godunov", performed at Teatro Massimo di Palermo under the conduction of George Pehlivanian.


Among Kremena's numerous performances in prestigious European theaters, attention should be paid to an important Asian participation. In October, 2012 the co-production of Gluck's "Le Cinesi" between the Potsdamer Festspiele and the China National Peking Opera Company, in which Kremena took part, was perfomed with great success in the Peking - Mei Lanfang Grand Theater in Peking, China.

Kremena speaks 5 languages: English, German, Italian, Russian and Bulgarian.