Helena Kaupová

Guest of the State Opera Prague

Soprano Helena Kaupová studied piano, singing, dance, and flute. She graduated in concert and opera singing from the Brno Conservatory and from the Academy of Performing Arts in Bratislava. She participated in international courses of singing in Weimar (1983), Siena (1988), Alden Biesen (1989) and Gent (1991). In 1989–1991 she was opera soloist of the Slovak National Theatre. Since 1992 she has been opera soloist of the National Theatre in Prague where she has incorporated a large number of title roles of the young-dramatic type, such as Countess (The Marriage of Figaro), Donna Anna (Don Giovanni), Mimi (Bohème), Nedda (Comedians) or Tatiana (Eugen Onegin), for which she was awarded the Thalia Prize in 1994. From the others let us mention Lisa (The Queen of Spades), Micaela (Carmen), from the Czech repertory Mařenka (The Bartered Bride), Vendulka (The Kiss), Krasava (Libuše), Rusalka, and Jenůfa. Since 1989 she is frequent guest of opera houses in Europe and overseas. In 1989 she impersonated Najade in Strauss Ariadne auf Naxos in Flaamse Oper in Antwerp. In the following years she sang for the audience at the Edinburgh Festival (Šárka in the opera of the same name by L. Janáček), in Toronto (Mimi in Puccini’s La Bohème), in Vancouver (Nedda in Leoncavallo’s Comedians, Countess in The Marriage of Figaro, Donna Anna in Don Giovanni), in Santiago de Chile (Jenůfa), at the Edinburgh Festival (Krasava in Libuše), Concertgebouw Amsterdam (Krista in Janáček’s Makropoulos Affair), Hong Kong Festival (Jenůfa), Lisbon (Jenůfa), Tel Aviv (Katia in the opera Katia Kabanova), the Opera House in Sydney (Slavonic Mass). She gives frequent concerts at home and abroad and cooperates with prestigious Czech and foreign orchestras and conductors.