Marina Rebeka

Rebeka's maternal grandfather, Juris Jankovičs (1924–2019), was deported to Siberia with his family on 14 June 1941 and only returned more than twenty years later.

Marina Rebeka (born 10 September 1980) is a Latvian soprano, active on both opera and concert stages.

She subsequently went to Italy, studying at the Conservatorio Arrigo Boito in Parma, during which she had her first stage experience in The Barber of Seville (Rosina) for a children audience, and then graduated at the Accademia Internazionale delle Arti in Rome (2006), and Conservatorio Santa Cecilia (2007).

She had also attended Grace Bumbry's masterclass at the International Summer Academy at the Mozarteum University Salzburg.

Educated in Latvia and Italy, she made her professional debut in 2007.

Rebeka made her professional debut in 2007 at the Theater Erfurt as Violetta in La traviata, a role in which she would later sing at the Latvian National Opera, Vienna Volksoper and Finnish National Opera.

Also in 2007, she participated Alberto Zedda's Accademia Rossiniana, portraying Folleville and Madama Cortese in Il viaggio a Reims at the Rossini Opera Festival, where she returned for Maometto II (2008), Stabat Mater (2010).

Other engagements include Agilea in Teseo (Komische Oper Berlin), Britten's War Requiem (Liverpool Philharmonic), Tatyana in Eugene Onegin (Teatro Lirico di Cagliari), Brahms' Ein deutsches Requiem (Latvian National Symphony Orchestra).

After her international breakthrough in Rossini's Moïse et Pharaon at the Salzburg Festival in 2009, she has been performing leading roles with many opera companies, such as the Vienna State Opera, Metropolitan Opera, and Latvian National Opera.

He detailed his camp experience in two books: Skorpiona slazdā ('Scorpio trap', 2009) and Spīta krustceles ('Despite the crossroads', 2012), both published under the auspices of the Museum of the Occupation of Latvia.

She studied at the Grammar School of Nordic Languages.

After attending a performance of Bellini's Norma at the Dailes Theatre with her parents at the age of 13 she was inspired to become a singer.

Having no prior knowledge, she then began her initial musical studies at the music school "Rīdze" in the evening, concurrent to her Gymnasium studies.

At the age of 17, after rejected by the Latvian Academy of Music, she entered the Jāzeps Mediņš Riga Music High School (Jāzepa Mediņa Rīgas mūzikas vidusskola), studying under Natālija Kozlova.

In 2009, she sang Adina in L'elisir d'amore in Riga, and made her La Scala debut in Il viaggio a Reims, before portraying Elettra in Mozart's Idomeneo at the Opéra national de Lorraine.

Her international breakthrough came when she made her Salzburg Festival debut in 2009 in Rossini's Moïse et Pharaon conducted by Riccardo Muti.

She sang in War Requiem with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, at the Usher Hall on 30 April 2010.

In May and June, she performed Micaëla in Carmen in Baden-Baden (dir. Teodor Currentzis), and Valencia (dir. Zubin Mehta).

In July 2010, she made her Royal Opera, London debut by replacing Angela Gheorghiu in La traviata; she only returned to replace Sonya Yoncheva in the same production in 2015.

Later in the year, she sang her first Donna Anna in Don Giovanni in Deutsche Oper Berlin's new production, and was featured in a new staging of Moïse et Pharaon at the Teatro dell'Opera di Roma conducted by Muti.

Rebeka performed in Rossini's Stabat Mater with the NDR Sinfonieorchester in April 2011.

In October 2011, she made her Metropolitan Opera debut in Michael Grandage's new production of Don Giovanni, and subsequently performed in another Moïse et Pharaon, presented by Collegiate Chorale, at Carnegie Hall.

The year 2012 saw her performances in Riga: two solo concerts on 15 January and 28 September, and role debut as Lucia in Lucia di Lammermoor.

She returned to Berlin for Violetta, and then repeated the role in Florence.

Later in the year, she made her Vienna State Opera debut with Donna Anna, and returned in consecutive seasons for Don Giovanni, La traviata, The Tales of Hoffmann (Antonia), and Roméo et Juliette (Juliette).

She sang in two William Tell premiere productions in 2013: Pierre Audi's at De Nederlandse Opera, and Graham Vick's at the Rossini Opera Festival, which was followed by her first Juliette (Verona Arena).

In May 2013, she made her Zürich Opera House debut in Donna Anna, returning in the 2013/14 season for Donna Anna, Leïla (Les pêcheurs de perles), and Fiordiligi (Così fan tutte), in the 2015/16 season for Violetta and Vitellia (La clemenza di Tito).

She made her Lyric Opera of Chicago debut in La traviata, and returned for Robert Falls' new Don Giovanni, which opened the 2014/15 season.

In 2014, she performed in Maometto II in Rome, and a new William Tell production at the Bavarian State Opera, where she would sing Così fan tutte and Don Giovanni in the next two seasons.

Later in the year, she returned to the Metropolitan Opera for Violetta and the following Musetta (La bohème).

In 2015, Rebeka sang Liù in a concert performance of Turandot in Riga, and Rossini's Stabat Mater at the Rheingau Musik Festival.

She later joined the Radio Filharmonisch Orkest in concerts at the TivoliVredenburg and Concertgebouw.

She returned to Latvia for a concert program on 14 November 2015 as part of the opening of the Great Amber Concert Hall.

The year 2016 saw her debut in various roles: Mimì in La bohème (Mannheim National Theatre), title role in Norma (Teatro Lirico Giuseppe Verdi in Trieste), Ginevra in Ariodante (Lausanne Opera).

In summer, she performed in Mozart's Idomeneo in Audi Sommerkonzerte, La traviata in NDR Klassik Open Air, and replaced Sonya Yoncheva in concert performances of Thaïs at the Salzburg Festival, debuting in the title role against Plácido Domingo.

Rebeka has been recording under her own label "Prima Classic" since 2018.

She had previously recorded for Warner Classics and BK-Klassik.

Rebeka was born in Riga, to Belarusian father and Siberian-born Latvian mother.

The family name used to be Rebeko but was changed to Rebeka during the Soviet era; the name was first adopted by her paternal grandfather.

Associated with Violetta in Verdi's La traviata, she performs primarily in the 19th-century Italian and French repertoire, most notably works by Gioachino Rossini, in addition to Donna Anna in Mozart's Don Giovanni, another frequent role.