- Violetta Villas
Violetta Villas (real name Czesława Cieślak) was born June 10,
1938 in Liège,Belgium , to Polish emigrants. She is a Polish and international singer and actress. [citation|title=Violetta Villas w szpitaluJedynka |publisher=Polskie Radio|date= January 7, 2007|url= http://www.radio.com.pl/jedynka/muzyczna/muz_wydarzenia.aspx?id_wydarzenia=354&c=0]Early life
In
1948 she returned with her parents toPoland and settled inLewin Kłodzki where she began studying music. She continued her artistic education inSzczecin andWrocław . In 1959 she began receiving classic vocal lessons fromEugenia Falkowska inWarsaw . Her 4-octave vocal range and timbre conditions were significant, worthy of a promising operatic career, but she had decided to pursue more contemporary forms of music, touring and giving vocal performances on stage. Soon Villas released her debut songs onPolskie Radio and her first album. She received her first noteworthy prize at the Sopot Festival in1961 .International career
In the early 1960s Violetta Villas toured many countries in Europe. In
1965 , at the 3rd Festival International des Variétés et Music-Halls inRennes ,France Villas received her Grand Prix International d'Interpretation. She toured theUSSR ,Czechoslovakia ,Bulgaria andRomania .In 1966 in
Paris she was approached byFrederick Apcar , who invited her to Las Vegas. She was to perform with the renowned starLine Renaud , but just after few weeks Villas outshone her, with her name in neon lights over theCasino de Paris . She sang withFrank Sinatra ,Paul Anka , andCharles Aznavour . InCarnegie Hall she received a standing ovation. In New York her concert was sold out. She featured in two movies, as the female lead in "Dzięcioł" ("The Woodpecker", 1970) and as principal vocalist for "Mój Nikifor" ("My Nikifor", 2004). She was offered a lucrative 8-year contract withParamount Pictures but turned it down.Later in the 1970s Violetta Villas had to return to Poland to her dying mother. Communist regime authorities confiscated her passport and she was forced to stay in
Poland for more than a decade; however she was not completely banned from the media and could pursue her local career. In1985 she had her great comeback, just a few years after martial law ended. All the tickets were sold out, even a few weeks before her concerts. Authorities granted her passport back, and she could return to her international career. She later toured the USA and Australia.Voice characteristics
In her best years Violetta Villas was a
mezzo-soprano whose voice had an extraordinary register and a very wide range of vocal color. It covered four octaves from thetenor middle D3 to thesoprano E7. Villas' best range was from C4 to C6. In her songs she showed a remarkable ability for naturally assimilative styles, and for eliciting a multiplicity of voices. Villas could perform at times as atenor ,alto ,mezzo-soprano , andsoprano , a unique attribute amongst singers of any gender, in the fields of both classical and popular music.References
External links
* [http://violettavillas.feedle.com/ A page containing a lot of photos, fragments of songs, and articles (in Polish) about Violetta Villas]
* [http://www.filmpolski.pl/fp/index.php/116340 Short Biographic note and filmography in Polish]
*
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