Eva Blahova-Mezzo-Soprano (Slovakia)

Eva Blahova was born into a family of opera singers, her father being the renowned opera singer Dr. Janko Blaho. Consequently, the theatre became her second home from an early age. After graduating from a mathematics and physics secondary school, she studied at the Academy of Performing Arts (VŠMU) in Bratislava, where she was a fellow student of Lucia Popp in the class of Associate Professor Anna Hrušovská. She made her debut with the Slovak Philharmonic in 1965 and continued her studies at the Vienna Academy of Music under Professor Robert Schollum.

Alongside her artistic career, she began her teaching career at VŠMU in Bratislava, initially as an external lecturer in 1969 and subsequently as a full-time professor from 1971 until 2000. She then continued her pedagogical work at the Academy of Arts in Banská Bystrica, where she taught until 2021. As a vocal pedagogue, she has worked in almost every European country, as well as in Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong, Australia, North and South America, Canada, Russia, Armenia, Georgia, Azerbaijan and Ukraine. In recognition of her outstanding artistic and pedagogical achievements, she has received prestigious state honours from the Presidents of Austria, Finland and Slovakia.

Graduates from her vocal studio have performed on some of the world’s most renowned opera stages, including the Metropolitan Opera in New York, the Royal Opera House Covent Garden in London, Teatro alla Scala in Milan, the Salzburg Festival, and the State Operas in Berlin and Munich, such as

Magdalena Kožená–The world-famous Czech mezzo-soprano studied with Blahová at Bratislava’s Academy of Performing Arts / Drama College (graduating in 1995) and continues to collaborate with her, Piotr Beczała – The prominent Polish tenor, and Sonja Runje – The acclaimed mezzo-soprano (notable for Salzburg Festival engagements and international opera roles) who studied with Blahová in Bratislava.

From 2011 to 2015, she served as Director of the Janáček Opera in Brno. Since 1994, she has been the Director of the International Mikuláš Schneider-Trnavský Singing Competition in Trnava. She is also a member of the juries of numerous international singing competitions in Canada, the United States, Russia and across Europe.