Inva Mula: Il bel sogno - Opera Arias

Her performance was a highlight in the mega-blockbuster "The Fifth Element": The science fiction film starring Bruce Willis and Milla Jovovich fascinated with a space opera performance by the blue-skinned alien diva Plavalaguna, who sang, among other things, a passage from the mad scene in Donizetti's "Lucia di Lammermoor". Plavalaguna's voice belongs to the Albanian-born soprano Inva Mula, who now presents her brilliant solo album "Il Bel Sogno." When the music world looked to the Paris Opera in the fall of 2009, it made a repertoire discovery there not only with Gounod's opera "Mireille". The performer of Mireille also attracted international attention. Inva Mula has been present on many international stages for years. In Michel Plasson's "Carmen" recording with Angela Gheorghiu she could be experienced as Micaëla. Now the singer presents herself in a major aria recital. Arias by Puccini, Verdi, Massenet and Gounod's "Faust" are arranged around excerpts from Gounod's rarely performed "Mireille" - precisely the repertoire with which Inva Mula established her reputation as one of today's best lyric sopranos. Born in Tirana, she grew up surrounded by music from the very beginning: Her father was the Albanian singer and composer Avni Mula. Her breakthrough came at the Plácido Domingo Operalia Competition in Paris in 1993, and important stages in her career have included, in addition to Paris, the Vienna State Opera, La Scala in Milan, and the opera houses of Barcelona, Los Angeles, New York, London and Toronto. At the Deutsche Oper Berlin she will appear in February 2010 as Violetta in Verdi's "La Traviata".