Ghiaurov was born in the small mountain town of
Velingrad in southern Bulgaria. As a child, he learned to play the violin, piano and clarinet. He began his musical studies at the
Bulgarian State Conservatory in 1949 where he studied under Prof. Cristo Brambarov. Ghiaurov was awarded a state scholarship and from 1950 until 1955 he studied at the
Moscow Conservatory. Ghiaurov's career was launched in 1955, when he won the Grand Prix at the International Vocal Competition in Paris and the First Prize and a gold medal at the
Fifth World Youth Festival in Warsaw. Ghiaurov made his operatic debut in 1955 as Don Basilio in
Rossini's
The Barber of Seville in
Sofia. In 1956 he moved to the
Bolshoi Theater in Moscow, singing his first
Mephistopheles. He made his Italian operatic debut in 1958 in
Teatro Comunale Bologna, before starting an international career with his rendition of Varlaam in the opera
Boris Godunov at
La Scala in 1959. 1962 marked Ghiaurov's
Covent Garden debut as Padre Guardiano in Verdi's
La forza del destino as well as his first appearance in Salzburg in Verdi's
Requiem, conducted by
Herbert von Karajan. Ghiaurov first shared a stage with
Mirella Freni in 1961 in
Genoa. She was Marguerite, he was Mephistopheles in
Faust. Married in 1978, they lived in her hometown,
Modena. They sang together frequently. He made his US debut in
Gounod's
Faust in 1963 at the
Lyric Opera of Chicago, and he went on to sing twelve roles with the company, including the title roles in
Boris Godunov,
Don Quichotte, and
Mefistofele. Ghiaurov made his
Metropolitan Opera debut on 8 November 1965 as Mefistofele. In Ghiaurov's obituary in
Opera News,
Martin Bernheimer remarked: "He commanded a remarkable vocal instrument, strikingly generous in size, warm in timbre, dark in color. He rolled out the resonant tone at his command with generosity, and with special ease at the burnished top." ==Videography==