Tatar opera singer Albina Shagimuratova: 'Bel canto is my passion'
Having started performing at the age of five accompanied on the accordion by her father, now Albina Shagimuratova is fascinating audiences all over the world. Her latest role is Lucia in Gaetano Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor.
Chicago Tribune tells the story of success of Albina Shagimuratova, a world-famous opera singer and an ethnic Tatar. The 'Russian diva' is performing a central role in Gaetano Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoorat the Civic Opera House, Chicago. This is the most difficult and demanding role in the bel canto(a lyrical style of operatic singing using a full, rich, broad tone and smooth phrasing) repertory, but Shagimuratova considers it to be the most beautiful one as well.
Albina Shagimuratova spent her childhood in Tashkent, where her parents worked as attorneys. Asa child, she sang Tatar folk songs with her father at community concerts. At the age of 14, she moved to Kazan with her family. 'It was a very difficult time for our family,' recalls Shagimuratova. 'We didn't have an apartment. We had to stay in student dormitories. There was no money. The refrigerator was empty.'
Her studies in the Kazan State Conservatory were focused on choral conducting. But when she was 16, a famous Russian tenor suggested that the girl should switch to opera because of her fine voice and great promise. The Moscow State Conservatory refused to enrol her three times, but eventually she succeeded. When she won the Moscow's Tchaikovsky Competition in 2007, all the professors who had voted against her admittance apologised for having made the wrong decision.
Speaking not a word of English, she joined the Houston Grand Opera Studio's apprentice programme in 2006 and spent two years developing her voice and artistry. Then she was engaged in the production of Mozart's Magic Flute by one of the most honoured Italian conductors Riccardo Muti. The production performed at Austria's Salzburg Festival in 2008 marked her European debut and put her on the international radar.
Later Shagimuratova sang the roles of most famous operatic heroines of the nineteenth century including Violetta (in Verdi's La Traviata), Donna Anna (in Mozart's Don Giovanni) and Gilda (in Verdi's Rigoletto). Despite numerous offers from major companies to take on heavier repertory, she prefers to perform Mozart and 19th century Italian operatic roles that have won her an international acclaim: 'Bel canto is my passion, and I really consider myself a bel canto singer.'
Albina's daughter Adelina, born in November 2014, was named after a legendary Italian coloratura soprano Adelina Patti, whom Shagimuratova portrays in Karen Shakhnazarov's upcoming film adaptation of Anna Karenina. The singer's latest concert in Kazan had taken place during the Shalyapin's International Opera Festival in February 2016.