site.btaExhibition Honouring Operatic Bass Nicola Ghiuselev to Be Displayed at Sofia's Sredets Gallery

An exhibition honouring Bulgarian operatic bass Nicola Ghiuselev will be showcased at Sofia’s Sredets Gallery. The opening of the exhibition will take place on December 3, the organizers added.

Art historian Prof. Axinia Dzurova has said that both art and singing were integral parts of Nicola Ghiuselev’s life from an early age, with the two talents often competing for dominance. "Although he won a competition at the age of 16 for performing the Aria of Ivan Susanin, Ghiuselev went on to enroll at the Academy of Arts, where he graduated in 1960," Dzurova said.

"Alongside Christo Javacheff, Ghiuselev was considered one of the most promising talents of the Academy of Arts upon graduation. Behind the precise brushstrokes, the depicted psychological state of the subjects and the masterful play of light and shadow in both early sketches from 1955 and later portraits and self-portraits featured in the exhibition, one can see Nicola Ghiuselev’s consuming passion for painting, which stayed with him until the very end," Dzurova added.

Nikola Ghiuselev (1936-2014) graduated from the Academy of Arts in 1958 with a degree in painting. Starting in 1955, he studied singing with opera singer Iliya Yosifov and later with Hristo Brumbarov in 1960. Ghiuselev made his debut at the Sofia National Opera on June 27, 1961.

During his time at the Sofia National Opera, where he performed until 1993, Ghiuselev took on more than 70 roles. In 1968, he made his debut at the Teatro Regio di Parma, Italy, playing Attila in Giuseppe Verdi's opera of the same name. In 1994, he was awarded the Golden Verdi Prize in Parma for his outstanding contributions to the world of opera. Over the years, he performed at major opera houses across Europe, North and South America, and Japan. From 1994 to 1996, Ghiuselev served as the director of the Boris Hristov Bulgarian Academy of Art and Culture in Rome, where he mentored two generations of young singers.

In addition to his operatic career, Ghiuselev expressed his artistic talent through numerous oil and tempera paintings, pencil sketches, and portraits of family and friends.