Podcast in English
Text size
Bulgarian National Radio © 2025 All Rights Reserved

Memorial plaque to great opera singer Elena Nikolai unveiled in Genoa

Photo: mfa.bg

A memorial plaque dedicated to the famous Bulgarian opera singer - mezzo-soprano Elena Nikolai has been unveiled in the Italian city of Genoa. The initiative belongs to the Consulate General in Milan. Elena Nikolai's plaque is situated in the park of the Nikolo Paganini Conservatory in Genoa, where she perfected her musical education.

For her debut in 1934, the singer, who was born Stoyanka Nikolava, adopted the pseudonym Elena Nikolai. For seventeen years she was the diva of La Scala in Milan. For 23 seasons she sang in the oldest theater in Italy and one of the oldest in Europe - "San Carlo" in Naples, as well as on the opera stage in Genoa and others. Elena Nikolai is said to be one of the best mezzo-soprano singers of the 20th century.

She passed away in 1993 in Milan in the Verdi Home, donated by the great composer for use as a home for elderly opera musicians, BNR correspondent in Italy Elena Shahanova reported. The memorial plaque of the singer is the work of sculptor Petko Yordanov.



Последвайте ни и в Google News Showcase, за да научите най-важното от деня!
Listen to the daily news from Bulgaria presented in "Bulgaria Today" podcast, available in Spotify.

More from category

Mohammad Rasoulof

Iranian director Mohammad Rasoulof receives special award at Sofia Film Fest

Iranian film director Mohammad Rasoulof has received the special award of the international film critics FIPRESCI Platinum at the Sofia Film Festival . He was awarded the prize during the Sofia Film Fest before the screening of his new film “The Seed of..

published on 3/18/25 12:00 PM

Photo exhibition to mark 96 years of speleology in Bulgaria

A photo exhibition to mark the 96th anniversary of the beginning of organised speleology in Bulgaria will be opened today on the Lovers' Bridge near the National Palace of Culture (NDK). This was announced by the organisers of the "Pod Raba" (Under the..

published on 3/18/25 7:45 AM
Zdravka Evtimova and Minister of Culture Marian Bachev during the London Book Fair

Zdravka Evtimova's novel published in English

The UK-based publishing house Heloise Press has recently published Zdravka Evtimova's novel A Reserve for People and Wolves , which was published in Bulgaria by Jeanette 45 publishing house in 2022.  The English title of the book is The..

published on 3/15/25 2:35 PM