Opera Scotland

Sona Cervena Suggest updates

Born Prague, 9 September 1925.

Died 7 May 2023.

Czech mezzo-soprano.

Sona Cervena studied both singing and acting in Prague, and she initially worked as an actress.  After three years she moved to Brno, joining the  Janáček Opera Company.  She also took part in the Prague Spring Festival.

Her international career began at the Berlin Staatsoper (then iin East Berlin) before becoming a member of the Frankfurt Municipal Opera.  Elsewhere in Germany Cervena sang at Munich,  Cologne,  Bayreuth,  Stuttgart and Hamburg.  She also appeared at San Francisco and La Scala, Milan.

Her British debut was at Glyndebourne.  Her appearances in Scotland have all been at the Edinburgh Festival.  They include guest appearances with Scottish Opera (The Rake's Progress,  Elegy for Young Lovers);  Stuttgart Opera (Lulu) and Frankfurt Municipal Opera (Fiery Angel,  Kátya Kabanová).

At the Wexford Festival Cervena sang Kabanicha in 1972, repeating the part when the production was mounted at the following summer's York Festival.  She returned to Wexford to sing the Grandmother in The Gambler (Prokofiev).