Julia Wiener

Birth name of Yulia Wiener-Chenisheva Bulgarian operatic soprano vocals ✰ June 17, 1929, Sofia ✞ October 22, 2010, after a brief illness at the age of 81 Her father was a professor of mathematics at the University of Sofia. 1949 - 1952 graduated the State Academy of Music, Sofia 1951 - won first prize in the International Singing Competition in Sofia, Bulgaria Following her debut in 1951 singing the role of Leonore in Il Trovatore with the Sofia National Opera, became leading soprano vocals for more than 20 years. In her early years with the Opera she met and married opera director Dimitar Chernishev. Since 1961, international guest appearances have taken her to the major opera stages of Berlin, France, Belgium, Holland, Switzerland, Russia, Czechoslovakia, Hungary and the US Major roles in her career included Leonora in Trovatore, Aida, Desdemona, Elisabetta, Lisa and Elisabeth in Tannhäuser. Known as a specialist in the lyric-dramatic characters of the Italian, French and Slavic repertoire, later in her career she added many of the German roles in the operas of Richard Wagner.