Beňačková, Gabriela (1947– )

Czech soprano. She made her opera debut in Prague in 1970, as Prokofiev's Natasha. She has sung the totle role in Jenůfa and other roles by Janáček in Prague and Vienna, and Tatyana in Moscow and at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, London, where she made her debut in 1979. In 1984 she was acclaimed as Smetana's Libuse at the National Theatre in Prague. Her Marguerite, in a production of Faust at the Vienna Staatsoper by Ken Russell, was well received. Her other roles include Desdemona, Fidelio (which she sang at Salzburg in 1990), and Káta Kabanová (performed at the New York Metropolitan Opera House in 1991).