18 Facts About Leyla Gencer

Ayse Leyla Gencer was a Turkish operatic soprano.

Leyla Gencer was a notable bel canto soprano who spent most of her career in Italy, from the early 1950s through the mid-1980s, and had a repertoire encompassing more than seventy roles.

Leyla Gencer's made very few commercial recordings; however, numerous bootleg recordings of her performances exist.

Leyla Gencer's was particularly associated with the heroines of Donizetti.

Leyla Gencer was born in Polonezkoy to a Turkish father and a Polish mother.

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Leyla Gencer's grew up in the Cubuklu neighbourhood of Istanbul, on the Anatolian side of the Bosphorus strait.

Leyla Gencer's began to study singing at the Istanbul Conservatory but dropped out to study privately in Ankara with her teacher the Italian soprano Giannina Arangi-Lombardi.

Leyla Gencer's sang in the chorus of the Turkish State Theater until 1950, when she made her operatic debut in Ankara, as Santuzza in Cavalleria Rusticana.

In 1953, Leyla Gencer made her Italian debut at the Teatro di San Carlo in Naples as Santuzza.

Leyla Gencer's returned to Naples the following year for performances of Madama Butterfly and Eugene Onegin.

Leyla Gencer's went on to appear regularly at La Scala, performing nineteen roles between 1957 and 1983 including Leonora in La forza del destino, Elisabetta in Don Carlos, the title role in Aida, Lady Macbeth in Macbeth, the title role in Norma, Ottavia in L'incoronazione di Poppea and Alceste.

Leyla Gencer's sang in other American opera houses as well, but never at the Metropolitan Opera, despite discussions about her being engaged to sing Tosca there, in 1956.

Leyla Gencer's sang Chopin's Polish songs in Paris with Nikita Magaloff, a Liszt-Bartok concert at La Scala, and a concert involving 'operas about Turks' in the Venetian carnival at La Fenice, showing her innovative character as an opera singer.

Leyla Gencer's was still active as of 2007, and had recently been appointed by La Scala's music director Riccardo Muti to run its school for young artists.

Leyla Gencer's appeared in many rarely performed operas, including Smareglia's La Falena, Rossini's Elisabetta, regina d'Inghilterra, Spontini's Agnese di Hohenstaufen, Pacini's Saffo and Gluck's Alceste.

Leyla Gencer rose to international stardom in a short time, singing under some of the greatest Italian maestros, such as Vittorio Gui, Tullio Serafin, Gianandrea Gavazzeni, and Riccardo Muti.

Leyla Gencer's contributed to the 'Donizetti Renaissance' with her great performances of Donizetti's forgotten operas.

In 2019, IKSV commissioned a film, Leyla Gencer: La Diva Turca, written by Zeynep Oral, which was screened at the Grimeborn Festival at the Arcola Theatre.