Biography
Drahomíra Drobková launched her career at the Banská Bystrica Theatre. Between 1966 and 1983 she was a member of the Ostrava opera ensemble, singing grand mezzo-soprano roles (among others, Eboli in Verdi’s Don Carlos, Amneris in Aida, Azucena in Il Trovatore, Dorabella in Mozart’s Così fan tutte, Ortrude in Wagner’s Lohengrin, Adriana in Rienzi and Octavian in Strauss’ Der Rosenkavalier). In the 1960s she performed as a guest on the stage of Prague’s National Theatre, where she was permanently engaged in 1983. Subsequently, she appeared in operas by Bedřich Smetana (the Maiden Rosa in The Secret, Martinka in The Kiss and Radmila in Libuše), Antonín Dvořák (the Witch in Rusalka), Giuseppe Verdi (for example, Il Trovatore) and Giacomo Puccini (Suzuki in Madame Butterfly), and participated in numerous guest appearances of the ensemble both at home and abroad (at the Savonlinna Festival in 1991 she created the role of the Witch in Dvořák’s Rusalka).
She has also become renowned as a concert, oratorio and song singer. As a soloist she has performed with the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, mainly interpreting works by Czech composers (Jan Dimas Zelenka, Antonín Dvořák, Leoš Janáček). Drahomíra Drobková won the Thalia Prize 1993 for the role of Eboli in Verdi’s Don Carlos. She has also participated in a number of complete opera recordings.