Hulkar Sabirova
Hailed by the press for her “astonishingly rich and open tone” (Financial Times), her “luxury instrument”, “clear, unforced high notes”, a “rich and creamy” voice (Bachtrack), Hulkar Sabirova figures among today’s leading dramatic coloratura sopranos, the rare voice type able to face the most challenging parts written by Bellini, Donizetti, Mozart, Rossini or Verdi.
In the 2022/2023 season, Hulkar Sabirova makes her role debut as Leonora di Vargas in Verdi’s La forza del destino at the Deutsche Oper Berlin, where she also stars as Rosalinde in Die Fledermaus. The role of Rosalinde leads the soprano to three of Germany’s most important opera houses in winter 2022/2023: apart from the Deutsche Oper Berlin, she interprets the part at the Semperoper Dresden and the Staatsoper Hamburg, where she also appears as Konstanze in Die Entführung aus dem Serail. Her schedule also includes a staged new production of Verdi’s Messa da Requiem at the Theater St. Gallen.
Recent highlights include her outstanding debuts as Hélène in a new production of Verdi’s Les vêpres siciliennes at the Deutsche Oper Berlin and as Leonora in Il trovatore at the St. Gallen Festival, Rosalinde in a new staging of Die Fledermaus at the Staatsoper Hamburg and at the Deutsche Oper Berlin, Konstanze in Die Entführung aus dem Serail at the Semperoper Dresden and the Savonlinna Opera Festival, Lucio Cinna in Lucio Silla and Elettra in Idomeneo at the Teatro Real Madrid, Rosina in a new production of Il barbiere di Siviglia and Madama Cortese in a new staging of Il viaggio a Reims at the Bolshoi Theatre.
Further guest engagements led Hulkar Sabirova to the Aalto-Theater Essen, where she had a huge success as Olympia in Les contes d’Hoffmann and as Adele in Die Fledermaus, and to the Rossini Festival in Pesaro, where she sang Contessa de Folleville in Il viaggio a Reims. Of special attraction was Hulkar’s performance in Verdi’s Messa da Requiem with the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra and her highly acclaimed debut as Rosina in Il barbiere di Siviglia at the Arena di Verona.
Hulkar Sabirova began her formal vocal training at the age of sixteen at the Hochschule für Musik und darstellende Kunst in Mannheim, also participating in masterclasses with Ks. Brigitte Fassbaender and winning a special prize at the Anneliese Rothenberger vocal competition. She started her musical education at the age of seven with piano and violin at the State Boarding School for musically talented children in her country of birth Uzbekistan.
As a scholarship holder of the ‚Weisweiler Foundation‘, she started her career at the Deutsche Oper Berlin and quickly became a principal of that company for three seasons, singing roles such as Queen of the Night, Frasquita in Carmen or Soprano 1 in Helmut Lachenmann’s Das Mädchen mit den Schwefelhölzern, a part she subsequently portrayed at the Ruhrtriennale Festival.
With her outstanding interpretations of the title role of Lucia di Lammermoor and the soprano part in a staged version of Verdi’s Messa da Requiem at the Deutsche Oper Berlin, she rapidly established her status as a first-class soprano with corresponding guest engagements. Maintaining a strong relationship to her former principal company, she recently had a huge success there as Rosalinde in Die Fledermaus and Madama Cortese in Il viaggio a Reims. She also was a member of the ensemble at the Staatstheater Kassel for three years, where she made several acclaimed role debuts such as Rosalinde, Iphigénie in Iphigénie en Tauride, Vitellia in La clemenza di Tito, Konstanze and Norma.
Hulkar Sabirova has sung under the baton of conductors such as Ivor Bolton, Marek Janowski, Enrique Mazzola, Pier Giorgio Morandi, Donald Runnicles, Giacomo Sagripanti and Tugan Sokhiev and has worked with stage directors Jan Bosse, Robert Carsen, Claus Guth, Damiano Michieletto and Robert Wilson.
