Nicolai Ghiuselev

Nicola Ghiuselev (Bulgarian: Никола Гюзелев) (also Gyuzelev; 17 August 1936 – 16 May 2014) was a Bulgarian operatic bass, particularly associated with the Italian and Russian repertories. Ghiuselev was born on 17 August 1936 in Pavlikeni. He was the son of Nicolai Ghiuselev and Elisaveta Ghiuseleva. He studied painting at the Academy of Arts in Sofia, and later voice at the school of the National Opera of Sofia, with Christo Brambarov. He made his stage debut with that company, as Timur in Turandot, in 1960. In 1965, with the Sofia Opera, he toured Germany, the Netherlands and France, and made his debut at the Metropolitan Opera of New York, as Ramfis in Aida, quickly followed by King Philip II in Don Carlo, and the title role in Boris Godunov. In two seasons with the Met, he sang as Raimondo in Lucia di Lammermoor, the Commendatore in Don Giovanni, Colline in La bohème.

Important debuts followed at the Berlin State Opera, La Scala in Milan, the Vienna State Opera, the Monte Carlo Opera, the Palais Garnier in Paris, the Liceo in Barcelona, the San Carlo in Naples, the Royal Opera House in London, the Verona Arena, the Salzburg Festival, the Holland Festival, he also appeared in Moscow, Saint Petersburg, Prague, Budapest, Warsaw, Marseille, Toulouse, Chicago, Houston, among others.Other notable roles include; Narbal in Les Troyens, Mephistopheles in Faust, Creonte in Medea, Padre Guardiano in La forza del destino, Banquo in Macbeth, Zaccaria in Nabucco, Silva in Ernani, Enrico in Anna Bolena, Galitzky in Prince Igor, the four villains in The Tales of Hoffmann, Mosè in Mosè in Egitto, Marcel in Les Huguenots, Gremin in Eugene Onegin, etc.

He died on 16 May 2014, aged 77.