also entered and won that year's Neue Stimmen competition. The competition was sponsored by Bertelsmann, which owns BMG Classics label, leading to her exclusive recording contract. In 1991, she made her debut at the Salzburg Festival singing 2 concerts in commemoration of Mozart's 200th death anniversary and as Annio in Mozart's La clemenza di Tito under Sir Colin Davis. In that same year she left Zurich to fulfill her contract at the Vienna State Opera debuting in the role of Rosina in Rossini's The Barber of Seville, and remained with the company for 2 years. Her international career took flight in Salzburg in 1992 when at short notice, she stood in for Marilyn Horne as Tancredi in two concert performances of the Rossini opera. Since then she has been a regular guest at that summer festival, performing in Mozart's La clemenza di Tito, Idomeneo, Così fan tutte, Mitridate, the Mozart pastiche Ombra felice, and Berlioz's La damnation de Faust. She has also performed at other notable opera festivals such as Bregenz, St. Moritz, Glyndebourne, Munich and Pesaro. Kasarova initially specialized in Mozart's operas and works by bel canto composers such as Rossini, Bellini, and Donizetti. By the mid 2000s she became much sought after in Baroque trouser roles such as Orphée in Gluck's Orphée et Eurydice, Ruggiero in Händel's Alcina, and the title role in Ariodante. After her first assumption of Bizet's Carmen in 2008, however, her voice has gained more warmth and size as she adds more dramatic roles to her repertoire. When asked about her repertory change in interviews the singer consistently states her intention to keep singing bel canto roles for as long as possible in order to maintain vocal health as she moves toward the heavier roles of French, Verdi & Wagnerian operas. In 2003 Kasarova collaborated with the Bulgarian composer Krassimir Kyurkchiyski to produce the CD 'Bulgarian Soul'. She sings with the Cosmic Voices from Bulgaria and the Sofia Soloists Orchestra in this compilation of Bulgarian folk songs. "Many people don't know my native land. I would like them to discover the Bulgarian soul," the singer commented. She hosted Deutsche Welle's Euromaxx television series Vesselina Kasarova: Bulgarian Encounters, introducing European audiences to her native Bulgaria. The versatile singer spends her time between performances giving master classes, and, in March 2012, published her first book, Ich singe mit Leib und Seele (I Sing With Heart And