Born in Budapest at the height of World War II, Eva Marton made her professional debut with the Hungarian State Opera in a production of Rimsky-Korsakov's Le Coqd'Or in 1968. She left Hungary for West Germany in the early 1970s, where she began enthralling audiences with performances at the Frankfurt Opera and the Hamburg State Opera.
She began to make waves on the opposite side of the Atlantic in the 1980s. And between 1981 and 1986, the soprano was selected three times by the New York Times as Artist of the year.
While Marton has appeared in countless productions both in Europe and North America, it has been her performances in the title role of Puccinis final opera, Turandot, that have been the most memorable.
Her performances in this role with nearly every major opera house, including the Metropolitan Opera, La Scala, Arena di Verona and the San Fransico and Barcelona Operas have led to her being dubbed "the Turandot of today."
The Turandot of today she may be, but Marton and her far-from-little voice haven't limited themselves solely to opera. In 1998 she teamed up with Hungarian pop star Miklos Varga to record Europa, the hymn for that year's European Athletics Championships held in Budapest.
In addition to her one-off Taiwan performance, the diva will also be giving a lecture. Aspiring opera stars will also have the opportunity to quiz the soprano tomorrow.
Eva Marton will be performing under the baton of conductor Laszio Kovacs at the National Concert Hall (國家音樂廳) at 7:30pm tonight. Tickets cost between NT$400 and NT$1500 and are available at the door. For further information about the lecture, call (02)2343-1639.
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