The world-renowned bass-baritone Guenko Guechev has fervently applied his natural aptitude for music and his gift of linguistic fluency to the specialty of operatic vocal styles from the 19th and early 20th centuries.
Professor Guechev was born in Stara Zagora, Bulgaria. He obtained his bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree in performance from the State Conservatory of Music Pancho Vladigerov, in Sofia, as a student of Resa Koleva. After graduation, he continued his vocal studies with renowned professor Sergei Afanasiev at the Tchaikovsky Conservatory in Moscow. In 1993, he was chosen from hundreds of young singers to study with the legendary bass operatic Boris Christoff in Rome, Italy.
He sang main roles from Baixo in several European companies. He appeared in productions by Carmen, Nabucco, Boris Godunov, Don Giovanni, Barbiere di Seviglia, Aleko, Macbeth, I Puritani, Il Trovatore, La Boheme, Tosca, La Traviata and un balloon in Maschera in the countries of Austria (at the festspielhaus of Salzburg), Bulgaria, Germany (Frankfurt, Munich, Hamburg, Berlin), Switzerland, Greece, Belgium and the Netherlands, Norway, Luxembourg, France, Denmark, the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland. Shortly after moving to the United States, Professor Guechev debuted in the American opera with the Rigoletto de Verdi, with the Pittsburgh Opera in 1999. Since then, he has acted in Tsar und Zimmerman of Lortzing, Don Giovanni, of Mozart, Il Trovatore, De Verdi, Madama Butterfly, by Puccini, and Albert Herring, by Britten, with the Delaware Opera, the Central City Opera, the Opera of Syracuse and the Natchez Opera Festival.
In his singing studio, Professor Guechev works with the students the fundamental vocal technique and a wide area of the repertoire. His true passion and expertise reside in the development and guidance of substantial operatic voices capable of singing Verdi, Puccini and Wagner.
Professor Guechev is the founder and director of Lirica Roma, a summer singing program at the Duquesne University, based in Rome, Italy. He is also the Director of Education at the Baltimore Interatlantic Foundation for Music and the International Voice Competition Puldin sponsored by the Foundation. In 2003, Guenko Guechev became the representative for North America (Oper Network Europe), a network of thirty opera houses and opera festivals in Europe.