"Primadonna with a heart"
Karajan's Last Diva
"A prima donna with a heart, pure-hearted and humane, a first-class lady without pretence." This is how the world of opera remembers Anna Tomowa-Sintow, this is how she is in her adulthood. On the occasion of her 75th anniversary, the German critic recalls that the Bulgarian soprano was not only one of the great prima donnas from the 1970s to the 1990s, but also that she was "Karajan's last Diva". Maestro Karajan, with whom Anna Tomowa worked for almost 20 years, bequeathed to the Bulgarian soprano the mission of passing on their experience to the future. Something that Maestra Sintow is doing in her maturity of life in different latitudes – from Japan to Great Britain, Germany, all over the world. The German press highlights that Anna Tomowa still sings every day. Because singing for her is a way of life, despite the problems of age, despite the daily care of her sick husband Mr. Albert Sintow, her faithful companion in life.
When Anna called me at the end of 2016 her warm voice sounded somehow very excited. She shared thoughts about her recent masterclasses at the Berlin Staatsoper in September and at the Bayreische Staatsoper Opera Studio in Munich in November. She spoke with particular enthusiasm about her impressions of the generation in their 20s, in which she found many inspiring qualities for the future of opera because she felt it was charged with a different energy from the familiar. In them comes alive the spirit of our time, the spirituality of the 21st century man who, although enchanted by technology, has a need to express himself through the sacrament – the human voice. Simply because there is nothing more beautiful than the human voice. It contains the whole soul.
I remember when we organized with Classic FM the first masterclasses of Anna in our country how she worked with the young people, how she asked them to believe their heart, because it never lies. She led them on the difficult path of getting to know themselves, overcoming their fears. These first masterclasses culminated in the concert performance of "Le nozze di Figaro". Then, in the Mozart year 2006, the acknowledged great Mozart singer wanted to share her experience with the young. She appeared for the first time on her home stage in the title role that launched her career. An event for which I was executive producer and scriptwriter, something that set the beginning of subsequent projects. These were Maestra Sintow's great lessons, lessons not only for the stage but for life.
To communicate with Anna is a real happiness, the joy of a warm human communication and high professionalism that defines the right path to achieve what you want. Something that has been happening in our common projects for years now.
At Anna Tomowa's request, I produced a selection of her star moments from the biggest stages, a video for which she provided me with recordings. We presented the screening for her 65th anniversary at the National Palace of Culture. Few have had the good fortune to experience Anna Tomowa in the great world of opera. This extraordinary journey into the golden years of opera from the stages of the Scala di Milano, the Metropolitan, Salzburg, Tokyo, Geneva takes the tape back to the time when the "prima donna with a heart" received the applause of audiences all over the world. The prima donna with whom Herbert von Karajan created historic performances and recordings bequeathed to the future as the most significant creations born from the unity of two individuals who found their unique spiritual communion in the creation of the masterpieces of human civilization.
Not by chance the ruler of the musical world of the second half of the last century, who outlined and created the new dimensions in the world classics, chose the one born in the ancient lands of Thrace, Anna Tomowa-Sintow. He felt her soul, which carries the spirit of her native land, the intellect that makes possible their communication and mutual enrichment. For to find in the other what one would like to achieve in a common process of work, such as the craft of opera, and to achieve in time what one wants to pass on to the future is true happiness and good fortune. Anna passes on experience and knowledge to the young not only because she promised Karajan to do so, but because she understands this as her mission in life. A mission especially important in today's world.
Art opens people's hearts, awakens faith in the light and the truth. Something Anna Tomowa often shares in conversations. As well as that when she is on stage she feels this magic circle – from heart to heart. Let me remind you that the Bulgarian soprano is one of the most recorded voices in the record and video industry of the last century. Perhaps not only because that "honeyed, warm voice" is enchanting, but also because that warm heart and rich soul suggest emotions that are exhilarating and unforgettable, in dangerously close-up, as in a movie. Anna is an artist who, without any stage pathos, suggests love's ecstasy, pain, anger, joy, the full palette of human emotions, true to life. It's all in her sunny smile, her sparkling blue eyes magically riveting you, everything that springs from her heart. It's no accident that I chose her infectious smile to begin the screening and bow to a packed Metropolitan Opera House at the concert celebrating the centennial of America's first opera house. A commemorative stamp bearing the Bulgarian artist's likeness was then issued, a privilege that signifies more than recognition, it signifies a realisation of her great personality and contributions to world opera.
"A prima donna with a heart, her voice, so characteristic and beautiful, radiating human warmth, infects the audience, the partners and the orchestra." Karajan's words about the human warmth of the great prima donna are an answer for the magic Anna Tomowa, igniting the audience today not only from the screen. Every anniversary is an occasion for reflection, about how you have walked your path in life, what you have given to others and what you would like to do in the future.
Just three years ago, Anna Tomowa accepted the challenge to return to the stage where her career began, the Berlin Staatsoper in a new production of Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov's opera c, staged by Dmitri Cherniakov and conducted by Daniel Barenboim in the role of Domna Ivanova Saburova. A production with which the theatre toured in 2014 at La Scala. The audience in Berlin greeted their favourite with a standing ovation, applauded her for a long time and the critics did not hold back their enthusiasm. "The great Anna Tomowa back on the opera stage... Her voice is brilliant, she turned the performance into a sensational musical event... Her unique timbre and dramatic expression, the result of a 45-year career, was the great return of the opera prima to the Berlin stage." The event in Berlin took place in October 2013, and in March 2014 the Bulgarian soprano was again applauded at La Scala: "Anna Tomova returned to La Scala and was once again frenetically applauded by the audience and the press. The standing ovation of the audience for the great prima donna expressed their deep admiration for Saburova's portrayal..."
Anna Tomowa's great comeback is a real "sensational musical event", something evident from the over-excited tone of the Berlin and Milan critics. This return of the Bulgarian soprano to these two landmark stages also recalls her beginnings on them in the last century.
In the distant 1972, Anna's great career began with the Berliner Staatsoper. It will be recalled that the then great Theo Adam discovered her for the Countess in his production of Mozart's "Le nozze di Figaro". Raised in the spirit of Italian opera, the young singer had her own response to the German operatic tradition, not only Mozart and Richard Strauss, but Wagner and others. She became one of the great interpreters, able to move from style to style. Critics praised her characters from the operas of Richard Strauss. Rodney Milnes described Anna as "a joy for our operatic times... the soprano's brassy brilliance, with her gorgeous low register and soaring pulsating beauty, is a real treasure; she is an unsurpassed interpreter of Richard Strauss..." I'll murmur here that Anna was initially perceived as a mezzo-soprano. This was due to the beauty of the voice in its wide range. It is no coincidence that Herbert von Karajan recorded with the Bulgarian soprano the final monologue of the Countess from "Capriccio" /for the first time/ and Richard Strauss's "Vier letzte Lieder", a recording that won many awards. "Vier letzte Lieder" are considered Anna Tomowa's trademark. According to Karajan, she leaves to the future an exemplary interpretation.
I would like to remind you that La Scala di Milano applauded the debut of the Bulgarian singer in 1975 with Strauss's "Vier letzte Lieder". She was invited to participate in 1981 in La Scala's tour of Japan in Verdi's masterpiece, "Otello". Her partner was Placido Domingo, conductor – Carlos Kleiber. Japanese critics judged Anna's voice to be "a perfect musical instrument". It was not by chance that I chose the final scene from "Otello" for the screening in Stara Zagora. It evoked this memory of the captivating performance, of Anna's Desdemona. It was an exciting experience for the Stara Zagora audience with their Anna.
The success from Japan has been followed by long-running events on Italian stages. For critics, Anna Tomowa is a true "singing aristocrat". It is no coincidence that critics look for definitions of the voice of the Bulgarian soprano between the perception as a "perfect musical instrument" and the suggestion of a true "singing aristocrat". This is because Anna has managed to "tame" her beautiful voice to perfection and to suggest the rich palette of human emotions like a great master who breathes new life into familiar characters from different styles and eras.
I watched the live broadcast of the premiere of La Scala's I watched the live broadcast of the premiere of La Scala's The Royal Engagement on Mezzo. Anna's character, despite the small role, commands attention. The suggestion of her character, proved that a small role can be big when portrayed by a great personality with her own signature. Her voice was indeed amazingly sparkling and awe-inspiring with the way she gave life to her character. There are not many who take the stage at this age. Anna is clearly out of time, out of her age. Not only in spirit but in voice, vocality and suggestion. When the spirit is so vast, then anything is possible. Anna is clearly one of the great masters of the old craft of opera, where she brings out the intricate tapestry of the human soul with skill and affection.
Anna Tomova told the German press on the occasion of her 75th birthday that she was singing every single day. With humour she said that to this day what she learned from her first and unique singing teacher Katya Spiridonova is her daily morning "breakfast".
Let us wish Anna to give joy and faith in life for many more years!
Dr. Magdalena MANOLOVA