| Biography | Leyla Gencer was a Turkish soprano singer. Her mother was a Polish Catholic descended from Lithuanian nobility, her father a Turkish Sunni Muslim. She was brought up as a model young sultana in a grand wooden palace with chandeliers, silverware, servants and a French governess.
She sang for Eisenhower, Tito and Adenauer, and made her debut in the Turkish capital in 1950 as Santuzza in Mascagni's Cavalleria Rusticana. She would reprise the role around the world, including for her Italian debut three years later in Naples before an audience of 10,000. Her debut at the Royal Opera House, London, came in 1962, when she substituted for Gré Brouwenstijn as Elisabeth in Verdi's Don Carlos. She appeared in two seasons at Glyndebourne, in 1962 and 1963, and visited Edinburgh in 1972.
Gencer retired in 1985 with a production of Gnecco's La Prova di un'Opera Seria at La Fenice in Venice. She was still at the height of her vocal powers and continued to give recitals for some years, in particular one in Paris in 1991 that was widely acclaimed. In her native country Gencer was hailed as a role model for women in the arts. The Turkish government issued a commemorative coin bearing her image and also arranges an annual singing competition in her honour and has named an opera house after her. |