Chavdar, Yelysaveta

Chavdar, Yelysaveta [Чавдар, Єлисавета; Čavdar, Jelysaveta], b 23 February 1925 in Odesa, d 27 December 1989 in Kyiv. Opera singer (lyric and coloratura soprano). In 1948 Chavdar graduated from the Odesa Conservatory (class of O. Aslanova) and from then on she was a soloist with the Kyiv Theater of Opera and Ballet. Her main roles included Maryltsia and Venus in Mykola Lysenko’s Taras Bulba and Aeneid respectively, Yolan in Heorhii Maiboroda’s Mylana, Gilda and Violetta in Giuseppe Verdi’s Rigoletto and La Traviata, Rosina in Gioachino Rossini’s Barber of Seville, and Lucia in Gaetano Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor. After 1949 she appeared on stage in many European countries, Canada, China, and India. In 1951 she won first prize at the International Competition of Vocal Soloists in Berlin.

[This article originally appeared in the Encyclopedia of Ukraine, vol. 1 (1984).]