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The Czech contralto/mezzo-soprano, Věra Soukupová, studied singing at the Prague Conservatory and privately with Luis Kadeřábek and A. Mustanová-Linková. In 1956 she passed her state exam as a music teacher;. She won several competitions, including the international singing competition in Prague (1954), the international singing competition in Toulouse (1958), the competition at the Prague Spring Festival (1960), and the international singing competition in Rio de Janeiro (1963).
Věra Soukupová began her performance career as a concert singer in 1955 and in 1957 made her stage debut at the Divadlo Josefa Kajetána Tyla in Plzeň. In 1960 Soukupová became a principal artist at the National Theatre in Prague, to which she belonged until 1963 and again since 1980 as a member. She has had a brilliant international career. In 1961, she made a tour through Russia; in the same year she performed at the Opera of Bordeaux as Dalila in Camille Saint-Saëns' Samson et Dalila. Concert tours in France and Switzerland, guest performances in Vienna. In 1963 she took part in the tour of the Czech National Theater through West Germany. In 1966 she participated in the Bayreuth Festival as Erda and as the 1st Norn in Der Ring des Nibelungen. She also appeared at the Staatsoper of Berlin and Hamburg (1969-1971) as a permanent guest. At the Salzburg Festival she was heard in 1969 (Glagolitic Mass by Janáček) and in 1971 in concert events. In 1983, she sang at the re-opening of the Prague National Opera Radmila in a festive performance of Smetana's Libussa. In 1985, she received the title of national artist of the CSSR.
The big, expressive alto voice of Věra Soukupová is recorded on Philips (Erda in Der Ring des Nibelungen), DGG (Stabat Mater by Antonín Dvořák), Eurodisc (orchestral Lieder by Gustav Mahler) Denon (Symphony No. 9 by L.v. Beethoven), but above all on Supraphon (including the complete operas Libussa and The Brandenburgers in Bohemia by Smetana, The Bride of Messina by Fibich, Oedipus Rex by Igor Stravinsky and Zuzana Vojírvová by Jiří Pauer and the oratorio Sancta Ludmila by A. Dvořák, arias and songs recording). |
