Artist database

4 March 1944 Budapest

She started her music studies at the age of six, beginning to play the piano. She sat her final examination in the Blanka Teleki Secondary School in Budapest, and then she was accepted to the Béla Bartók Secondary School for Music, where she became pupil of Istvánné Balassa and Istvánné Kapitánffy.

In 1967 she contracted with the Opera House as private singer. In 1972 she came in first place at the UNESCO Singing contest (Bratislava). She’s been starring at world premieres and Hungarian premieres of numerous works. She is a famous concert singer as well, performing frequently in major operetta and musical roles. She’s been guest performer in Germany, Sweden, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Bulgaria, the USA, Italy, Norway, Austria, Switzerland, France, England, Belgium, Cuba, Canada, Serbia, Croatia, Singapore and Australia. Magda Kalmár has released fifteen opera- and fifteen oratorio records and many operetta and song albums.

Her major roles are: Susanne, Cherubin (Mozart: Le nozze di Figaro), Pamina (Mozart: Zauberflöte), Despina (Mozart: Die Entführung aus dem Serail), Marcellina (Beethoven: Fidelio), Gilda (Verdi: Rigoletto), Oscar (Verdi: Un ballo in maschera), Rosina, Berta (Rossini: Il barbiere di Seviglia), Fiorilla (Rossini: Il Turco in Italia), Clorinda (Rossini: La Cenerentola), Norina (Donizetti: Don Pasquale), Adina (Donizetti: L'elisir d'amore), Gara Mária (Erkel: László Hunyadi), Micaela (Bizet: Carmen); French princess, Stepmother (Pongrác Kacsóh: János vitéz), Sophie (R. Strauss: Der Rosenkavalier), Lady (Britten: Albert Herring), Girl (Kodály: Székely fonó), Lulu (Alban Berg); Nyilas Misi (Ferenc Szabó: Légy jó mindhalálig, world premiere), Ilma (Attila Bozay: Csongor és Tünde) and Mária Magdolna (Sándor Szokolay: Ecce homo).

Throughout her career, Magda Kalmár has been awarded many times. She received the Liszt Prize and the Mihály Székely Memorial Plaque (1973), the Pro Urbe Award of Budapest (1975), the Golden Orpheus Prize in Paris (1976), the Prize of the French Academy (1977), the Budapest Music Award (1979), the title Merited Artist (1980), the title Excellent Artist (1987), the EmeRTon Prize (1988), the Déryné Prize and the Erzsébet Prize (1989), the Déryné Memorial Plaque (1993), the Lyra Award (1994), the György Melis Memorial Plaque (1999) and the Kossuth Prize (2003). Magda Kalmár has been eternal member of the Hungarian State Opera House (since 1998) and the Society of Immortals (since 2006).