Stefka Mineva

She was born in the family of musicians - Minyo Minev and soprano Yovka Bunardzhieva-Mineva. She graduated from the Vocal Faculty of the State Music Academy "Prof. Pancho Vladigerov" - Sofia in the class of prof. Sima Ivanova, and later under prof. Iliya Yosifov (1968-1972).

She made her debut on the Stara Zagora stage in 1972 in the role of Berta from The Barber of Seville by Gioachino Rossini.

In 1974 she specialized at the Opera Studio of the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow under director Boris Pokrovsky. The same year he won the diploma of the International Competition "P. И. Tchaikovsky" in Moscow. In 1976 he was a prize-winner at the Sixth International Competition for Young Opera Singers in Sofia. In 1977, at a competition in Ostend, Belgium, she was awarded third prize of the jury and the audience prize. At the international competition in Rio de Janeiro in 1981, she won first prize.

Since 1978 she has been a member of the Sofia Opera and Ballet Company. She has appeared in the opera houses of Paris, the Metropolitan Opera, the Milanese Scala, Rome and Zurich with Renato Bruzon, Mara Dzampieri, Bonaldo Giaotti, Anna Tomova-Sintova, Gena Dimitrova, Nikolai Gyaurov, Piero Cappuccili, Ruggiero Raimondi, Rosaline Plowright, Evgeny Nesterenko and others. He has worked with conductors James Conlon, Gennady Rozhdestvensky, James Levine, and Mstislav Rostropovich.

In 1993 she was awarded the International Prize named after Hristina Morfova in Stara Zagora. In 1999 she was awarded the title of Honorary Citizen of Stara Zagora.

In recent years, Stefka Mineva has been leading an opera studio and has been a vocal consultant for the Stara Zagora Opera.

Repertoire:
Azucena ("Il Trovatore")
Berta (The Barber of Seville)
The Countess ("Dame of Spades")
Carmen ("Carmen")
Leonora ("The Favourite")
Lubasha ("The Tsar's Betrothed")
Marina Mnishek ("Boris Godunov")
Maria ("Ivaylo")
Marfa ("Jovanshchina")
Precisiola ("The Power of Fate")
Princess Eboli ("Don Carlos")
The Gypsy ("Janina's Nine Brothers")
Fenena ("Nabucco")
Ulrika ("Masked Ball")