Biography
Zvetan Michailov studied at the Academy of Music in Sophia and further honed his technique in Milan. In 1987 he won the Belvedere international competition in Vienna, subsequently was engaged in Saarbrücken for the titular role in Verdi’s Don Carlos and debuted at the Opera Colorado in Denver. He has performed on prestigious stages throughout Europe, including in Oslo, Helsinki, Dresden (Semperoper), Venice, Palermo (Teatro Massimo), Torre del Lago (Puccini Festival), Munich, Zurich, Malaga, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Liege, Toulouse, Montpellier and Avignon. At Opéra Bastille in Paris he portrayed Riccardo (Verdi: Un ballo en maschera) to great acclaim. At the Arena di Verona he sang Rodolfo in Puccini’s La bohéme. Under the conductor Marcello Viotti he debuted in this role at the Wiener Staatsoper, where he also appeared as Pinkerton (Puccini: Madama Butterfly), Don José (Bizet: Carmen) and Riccardo (Verdi: Un ballo en maschera). His repertoire also encompasses the roles of Puccini’s Cavaradossi (Tosca) and Calaf (Turandot), Verdi’s Radames (Aida), Manrico (Il trovatore), Stiffelio, Foresto (Attila) and Ernani, Massenet’s Werther, Gounod’s Romeo and Offenbach’s Hoffmann (Les contes d’Hoffmann). His most noteworthy recent performances include Hoffmann (Salzburger Festspiele, Toulouse, Covent Garden in London), Cavaradossi (Naples, Bologna, Hamburg, Palermo, Seoul), Paolo in Zandonai’s Francesca da Rimini (Rome and Paris), Andrea Chénier and Don José (Deutsche Oper in Berlin), Manrico (Bregenzer Festspiele, Arena di Verona, Teatro Regio Torino), Corrado in Verdi’s Il Corsaro (festival in Parma, CD+DVD), Radames (Opéra Royal de Wallonie in Liege) and Pinkerton (Hamburg). Parsifal is Zvetan Michailov’s debut role at the National Theatre in Prague.