True Romania

Leontina Văduva (born December 1, 1964 in Bucharest), famous Romanian soprano. Singing French and Italian roles, she pleases critics and charms audiences wherever she goes...


Daughter of a well-known singer of Romanian folkloric music, Maria Ciobanu, young Leontina studied at the Music Conservatory of Bucharest. Since Leontina Văduva’s debut on the stage of the Toulouse Opera House, in 1987, her rise to success was meteoric: she was acclaimed successively at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden (1988), at Vienna Staatsoper (1991) and again at Covent Garden in 1994. This followed with her American debut with San Francisco Opera in 1996, adding to the series of her performances on the stages of Munich, Paris, Brussels, Barcelona, the La Scala Milano and the New York’s Metropolitan Opera. Her debut at the Metropolitan, in 2000, was in the role of Mimi in La Bohàme. This was followed by the Los Angeles Opera (Marguerite in Gounod’s Faust), in the year 2000 and and again at the Baltimore Opera in 2001.


Leontina Văduva is a resident of France where she was honoured, in 1999, with the Legion d’Honneur - Chevalier de L'Ordre des Arts et Lettres. She won the First Prize at the Singing Contests of Toulouse and S'Hertagenbosch, and for her performance of Manon she received in 1988 the Laurence Olivier Award. Gold and Silver Gala: From the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden (1996), Romeo et Juliette (1995).