Sylvia Geszty Suggest updates
Born Budapest 1934.
Died Stuttgart, 15 December 2018.
Hungarian soprano.
Sylvia Geszty was one of the leading coloratura sopranos of her generation, being particularly noted for her interpretations of Queen of the Night and Zerbinetta. She trained in Budapest at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music, making her operatic debut in 1959. In 1961 she appeared in East Berlin at both the Staatsoper and Komische Oper, after which she took up permanent residence in Berlin. Along with other leading singers such as Peter Schreier and Theo Adam, she benefitted from the unusual freedom to travel to the west generally extended to singers based in East Germany. In 1970 she moved to Stuttgart, with a permanent contract at the Württemburg State Opera. In West Germany she also sang as a guest at the opera houses in Munich and Hamburg.
Her international appearances took her to Paris, Brussels, Moscow, Amsterdam, Vienna, Buenos Aires and Los Angeles.
In Britain she appeared at Covent Garden (Queen of the Night) and at Glyndebourne (Zerbinetta). Her work in Scotland included two visits to the Edinburgh Festival - Queen of the Night with her Stuttgart company and Zerbinetta as a guest with the Hamburg State Opera. She also performed in Henze's Boulevard Solitude when the Stuttgard company visited the newly-restored Theatre Royal in Glasgow.
