Opera singer Raina Kabaivanska

Bulgarian opera singer Raina Kabaivanska lives and works in Modena, Italy. She is a world renowned soprano.
At a press conference on Dec 7 in Sofia she introduced the cast for the opera „La bohème” by Giacomo Puccini - both Italian and Bulgarian singers all of them students of her master classes. The project is managed by New Bulgarian University in conjunction with Sofia National Opera and Teatro Comunale in Modena.

This year it was the 10th consecutive master class she takes. Kabaivanska has found a fund for talented opera singers. She was also the translator at the presser.

Next to her was the Italian ambassador to Sofia Stefano Benazzo. He had taken patronage over the event.


We are old family friends with Kabaivanska, he said.

She hushed him when he started to praise her too much.

A true star as she is, Kabaivanska was very modest. One of her Italian students said she was like a mother to them, and that she was also a major figure, etc. Don't you translate this, said Kabaivanska to a Bulgarian student who spoke Italian. Later when the Direttore Artistico of Teatro Comunale Aldo Sisillo said a number of very good words about her, she refused to translate that, and she said to the journalists: It's good that you didn't understand what he said.