The Bulgarian soprano Galia Bakalov graduated from a degree in piano at the National School of Arts in Varna, before studying classical singing at the National Academy of Music in Sofia. She enhanced her training under the guidance of singers including Ghena Dimitrova and Montserrat Caballé. She made her debut at the National Opera in Sofia in the title role of Viktor Chuchkov’s The Firefly. Her engagements have taken her to numerous American and European opera houses, where she has appeared in roles such as Xenia (Boris Godunov), Frasquita and Micaëla (Carmen), Papagena (Die Zauberflöte), Gilda (Rigoletto) and Mimì (La bohème). She has won particular acclaim in the role of Violetta (La traviata), which she has sung at the Teatro Lirico Sperimentale in Spoleto, at the Stara Zagora State Opera and in two pre-premiere performances at the Opéra de Monte-Carlo. She has also appeared at the Wexford Festival in the leading role of Giulia in Rossini’s La scala di seta. At the Opéra de Monte-Carlo, where she has held a permanent position since 2007, she has worked with renowned conductors such as Plácido Domingo, Gianluca Capuano, Antonino Fogliani, Kazuki Yamada, Marco Armiliato, Giacomo Sagripanti and Massimo Zanetti. Roles that she has sung in Monte Carlo include the Pale Lady (The Gambler), the First Maid in Menotti’s Amelia al ballo, an Apparition (Macbeth), the Shepherd Boy (Tosca), the Singer (La rondine), the Voice from Heaven (La Damnation de Faust) and the Priestess (Aida). She has also performed as a soprano soloist in Alcina alongside Cecilia Bartoli, and as a soloist in the Christmas concert of the Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte-Carlo.
