Anna Netrebko – Musician of the Year

Anna Netrebko has it all. She is not only strikingly beautiful, but has stage presence, glamour, style and, most importantly, breathtaking vocal abilities. Her CDs are selling extremely well, and in Europe her music DVD hit the number one slot on the charts, way ahead of known musical divas Beyoncé and Britney Spears. It is said that she is breathing new life into opera, a musical genre that has been stigmatized as stuffy for years. But Anna Netrebko is luring the youth to embrace her music and create open mindedness in regard to opera.

Born in Krasnodar, in Russia, on 18 September 1971, Anna Netrebko set out to realize her dream as a soprano while studying at the Conservatory of St. Petersburg. To earn an income she worked as a cleaner in the Mariinsky Theatre, where she finally made the decision to audition for the theatre’s company. Valery Gergiev took Netrebko under his wing, and trained her until she made her operatic debut with a part in Le Nozze di Figaro. She went on to perform in various other opera productions, always managing to secure prominent roles.

In 1995, Anna Netrebko debuted in San Francisco which instantly sky rocketed the Russian singer into stardom and demand. She has since performed with various orchestras and companies across the world and often returns to entertain San Francisco audiences with her spectacular voice. She has participated in the Salzburg Festival performed in Covent Garden and taken The Washington Opera by storm.

This year, Anna Netrebko has proven her worth once again by being voted the Musician of the Year for 2008 by the Musical America International Dictionary of the Performing Arts. She will also be appearing on the cover of their 2008 publication, and her name will be remembered together with other great music greats such as Igor Stravinsky and Leonard Bernstein. Anna Netrebko is on the road to a magical career and fans of this phenomenal singer are looking forward to what she will accomplish and future CD releases. No doubt she will be winning over many more hearts in years to come.