Maria Agresta and Veronica Simeoni - both of them outstanding stars of the School of Raina Kabaivanska, participate on 20th and 21st of October in the premiere of the opera "Norma" at the Royal Theatre in Madrid. After 102 years this famous work of Vincenzo Bellini is again on the stage of Teatro Real with Davide Livermore as scenographer and Roberto Abbado as conductor: In thesame star cast with the two divas will be Gregory Kunde, Roberto Aronica, Karine Deshayes, Mariella Devia etc.
Maria Agresta, (soprano) graduated from the Conservatorium in Salerno. Since 2009 she has improved her skills under the guidance of Raina Kabaivanska at Vecchi-Tonelli Music Institute in Modena and in the Master Classes at New Bulgarian University. She is a scholarship holder of Raina Kabaivanska Fund at New Bulgarian University and a winner of numerous international competitions. She has presented at all famous stages all over the world: Metropolitan opera New York, Milan La Scala, Arena di Verona, Bavarian State Opera, Vienna Opera, Covent Garden – London, La Fenice Theatre – Venice, Castello dÁrte di Valencia, L’Ópera de Paris etc. Her rich repertoire includes ”Don Juan”, "Norma," "La Boheme," "Turandot", "La Traviata", "Il Trovatore", "Joan of Arc", "Oberto" "Masnadieri", "Vestale" "Puritans", "The two Foscari" "Pagliacci" and many others.
Veronica Simeoni (mezzo-soprano) began in 2004 to work on her music and artistic development with Raina Kabaivanska in Verona and continued at Academia Musicale Chigiana in Siena, in Vecchi-Tonelli Music Institute in Modena, as well as in the Master Classes at New Bulgarian University. V. Simeoni is a scholarship holder of the Fund of Raina Kabaivanska. She performs successfully on the stages of Teatro La Fenice in Venice, Arena di Verona, Rome Opera, Teatro Massimo in Palermo, Teatro Comunale in Bologna, Teatro Reggio in Turin, Zurich Opera etc. Her repertoire includes roles in operas like: "Carmen," "Werther," "Norma," "Anna Boleyn", "The African", “Roberto Devereux", "Bassarids".
In July 2015 both divas appeared in several outstanding performances of "Norma" on the stage of Teatro Reggio in Turin, Italy, where they fascinated the audience and set up a standard for a perfect symbiosis of vocal technique and artistic interpretation.