Bella Adamova mezzo-soprano

Mezzo-soprano and improviser Bella Adamova navigates through various musical periods, genres, and cultures with natural ease, but the focal point of her artistic interest is the song. Her repertoire ranges from the baroque to contemporary pieces (including works specifically written for her), encompassing German Lieder and Russian romances. With deeply and thoughtfully crafted song recitals, she has performed on significant stages and festivals such as Prague Spring, Heidelberger Frühling, St. Wenceslas Music Festival (SHF), Music is… Festival, and Villa Senar, the Swiss residence of Sergei Rachmaninov.

The young singer has won numerous awards at international competitions: together with pianist Malte Schäfer, they are laureates of the international Franz Schubert and Modern Music competition in Graz in the Lied duo category. She has also received the top prize in the International Robert Schumann Competition (2021), the Walter and Charlotte Hamel Prize at the Bundeswettbewerb Gesang in Berlin, the Czech Song Prize at the Emmy Destinn Awards in London, and the Bohuslav Martinů Foundation Prize at the International Antonín Dvořák Competition. The BBC Music Magazine recently featured her as a rising star.

Bella sings and improvises in a duo with pianist Michael Gees, with whom she released their first joint album, Blooming in 2019. Their second CD titled There is home (2023) explores the concept of searching for home and defining this notion or feeling. The album introduces an unconventional concept where songs by Pavel Haas, Benjamin Britten, Gustav Mahler, and Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky freely intertwine and are organically interspersed with improvisations on selected poems.

Bella also dedicates herself to operatic and oratorio repertoire. In 2022, she won the main prize in the oratorio category at the International Vocal Competition in 's-Hertogenbosch. This season she will sing the alto solos in Mahler's 2nd Symphony with the Prague Symphony Orchestra (FOK) and Tomáš Brauner, de Falla’s El amor brujo with the Bohuslav Martinů Philharmonic and Robert Kružík, and Janáček’s Glagolitic Mass. On the opera stages, she appears at Theater Bielefeld in Carmen as Mercédès, and at the National Theatre in Prague as the Third Woodsprite in a new staging of Rusalka (directed by the SKUTR duo/conductor Tomáš Netopil).

Bella Adamova was born in Grozny and grew up in Prague. She completed her musical studies in London, Cologne, Basel, and Hanover and received additional training at the Tanglewood Music Center, Royaumont Foundation, and Lied Basel. Bella had the privilege of learning from, amongst others, Anne Sofie von Otter, Christoph Prégardien, Thomas Hampson, Simon Keenlyside, Jan Philip Schulze, Dawn Upshaw, Christian Immler, and Kateřina Knežíková.Katerina Knežíková.