Angela Gheorghiu made her international debut in 1992 at Royal Opera House Covent Garden with La Bohème. In the same year she made her debut at the Metropolitan Opera New York and at the Vienna State Opera. It was in the Royal Opera House Covent Garden that she first sang her much acclaimed La Traviata in 1994, when the BBC cleared out its schedules to broadcast the opera. At one rehearsal the conductor Sir Georg Solti said: “I was in tears. I had to go out. The girl is wonderful. She can do everything.” The performance was also filmed and recorded by Decca. Newspapers and magazines noticed that “A star is born”. Since then Ms Gheorghiu has been in constant demand in opera houses and concert halls around the world: New York, London, Paris, Salzburg, Berlin, Tokyo, Rome, Seoul, Venice, Athens, Monte Carlo, Chicago, Philadelphia, Sao Paolo, Los Angeles, Lisbon, Valencia, Palermo, Balbeck, Amsterdam, Kuala Lumpur, Zürich, Vienna, Salzburg, Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia, Prague, Montreal, Moscow, Taipei, San Juan, Ljubljana.Her first exclusive recording contract was signed in 1995 with Decca for whom she made several recordings: on DVD: La Traviata with the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, L’elisir d’amore with Orchestre de l’Opéra de Lyon, La Boheme with Orchestra del Teatro alla Scala di Milano, and on CD: Arias with the Orchestra del Teatro Regio di Torino, Verdi Heroines with the Orchestra Sinfonica di MIlano “Giuseppe Verdi”, My World and Mysterium with the London Philharmonic Orchestra.Her next exclusive recording agreement was signed in 1998 with EMI Classics. She recorded an album of duets and arias with Roberto Alagna and the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Puccini’s rarely recorded opera La Rondine with London Symphony Orchestra, Gounod’s Romeo et Juliette with Orchestre National du Capitole du Toulouse and for the second album of duets with Roberto Alagna, Verdi per due, she worked together with Berliner Philharmoniker, conducted by Claudio Abbado.
Her recital Casta Diva was followed by a live recording of Classics on a Summer’s Evening, the concert performed alongside with Staatskapelle Dresden, by Verdi’s Requiem with Berliner Philharmoniker and by the recital at the Royal Opera House in 2001, all released both on CD and DVD.
The recording of a recital of Puccini arias in 2008 proved once more Ms. Gheorghiu’s profound musicality.Angela Gheorghiu’s latest releases are the complete opera recordings of L’Amico Fritz by Pietro Mascagni and Fedora by Umberto Giordano (both with Deutsche Grammophon). The live performance of La Rondine in the Metropolitan Opera (2009) as well as Faust from Royal Opera House (2004) were recently released on DVD by EMI Classics. Soon two other ROH productions will be released on DVD: Adriana Lecouvreur (recorded in 2010) and Tosca (recorded in 2011).In November 2011 Angela Gheorghiu releasd Homage to Maria Callas, a collection of beloved opera arias from French and Italian repertoire inspired by Maria Callas’s career and recordings. Marco Armiliato conducts the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.
Among major appearances in the last ten years were the much acclaimed performances of La Rondine and Pagliacci at the Royal Opera House, Romeo et Juliette at the Choregies d’Orange and Salzburg Festival, Faust at the Metropolitan Opera in New York, Royal Opera House and Monte Carlo Opera, Simon Boccanegra at the Royal Opera House. There were also recitals in Salzburg (Salzburg Festival) and in Vienna (Musikverein) and concerts in Amsterdam (Queen Beatrix Jubilee Gala), in New York (the New Year’s Eve concert with the New York Philharmonic), Philadelphia and Los Angeles, Vancouver and Toronto (April 2011), Seoul, Shanghai, Valladolid (May 2011) as well as a gala concert at O2 Arena in London together with Placido Domingo (July 2011). All these appearances earned spectacular reviews.
In July 2011 she sung the title role in Tosca with a stellar cast led by Antonio Pappano. In September 2011 she came back to London for the revival of Faust, performance broadcast live in cinemas.
Ms. Gheorghiu was honoured with “La Medaille Vermeille de la Ville de Paris” and she was appointed an “Officier de l’Ordre des Arts et Lettres” and “Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et Lettres” by the French Ministry of Culture and by her native country Romania. In December 2010 she was awarded the honorific title of “Doctor Honoris Causa” by the University of Arts in Iasi (Romania) and the “Star of Romania”, the highest decoration given by the by the President of Romania.
Future engagements include various concerts in Europe (Paris) as well as opera performances in Hamburg, London, Munich, Milan and San Francisco.