Maestro Nicola Ghiuselev in a new role

After nearly half-century glamorous career at the world’s opera stages, today the celebrated Bulgarian bass soloist Nicola Ghiuselev – “the vocal that can do anything it wants”, is acting in a new field. 15 years ago the Maestro added “vocal pedagogue” to his professional card next to certificated painter and opera artist. “The voice that sculptures” took the challenge of a new role – to model young opera talents. He devoted to it with his typical selflessness, with all his heart and soul. Now Maestro Ghiuselev tells about his “bottega”, as he calls his studio and about his work with the young basses and baritones.

THE LEGACY OF BORIS HRISTOV
“I faced the challenge to do with teaching in 1993 after a remarkable meeting with our great bass Boris Hristov. He took my hands and held them tight. Where did he find this strength in himself?! We parted speechless. Probably I wouldn’t continue his deed if this so strongly felt moment didn’t happen. I felt the succession. Soon after that Boris Hristov died. So far I admired the selflessness of my teacher Prof. Hristo Brambarov and some other prominent singers who sang and taught. But I could not be like them – to part myself between two things, each of them I believed to need all my fund of artistic powers. It had happened some young singer or colleague to ask me for advice. I never refused helping. But obviously yet it was not the right time …

THE BEGINNING
Then I lived in Rome. After arranging some administrative matter I took the Roman Academy of Boris Hristov as a director and lecturer. For two years two classes of talented Bulgarian young opera singers leant the secrets of the Bel Canto. This is how my lecturer activity started. Together with my work in the Academy I worked also with Italian singers. There were Japanese and a Corean among my students.
THE BEST OF THE FIRST STUDENTS
From my fist students, I must point out the baritone Vladimir Stoyanov. In 1999 he made his debut in the La Scala Opera House in Milan, and now he is having a wonderful career all around the world. We have been partners with him in Bulgaria and abroad. We also recorded 5 duets from Verdi’s operas. He has a voice, sensuality, musicality, and a sense for arts. I think, and so do the other experts, right now Vlado is the world’s best baritone.

THE SOFIA FOLLOW-ON
After I came back to Bulgaria I kept on working with some of the post graduate students in Rome. Other people came too. Some of them – for short, others stayed longer. One of them was the bass soloist Nikolay Karnolski now singing around the world. A lot of singers, I can’t even count then now, passed through my “bottega”.

THE MAESTRO’S “BOTTEGA”
The woodworker could be good, but the timber could not go. Not everyone is made for bright great artist, but the voice mastery is very important. It is 15 years now that I work open-heartedly. I am quite demanding but broad-minded. Now I have an experience and my explanations are simplified. For many singers I try to find a way to correct the mistakes made during their academy study. I treat each of the individually. It could be said that in this sense I have made a lecturer career.

THE ASSISTANT
The rehearsal pianist Yolanta Smolyanova is like an assistant to me. She has a good technique, sensuality, and plays off the top of her head. She is quite experienced now. She puts all her efforts, and is tireless, very diligent, and concentrated. She works very seriously. A real professional.

THE CONCERT
The concert proposal came from the director of the National Art Gallery Associate Professor Boris Danailov. I was happy to accept the invitation. Yet I am a painter as well. The Gallery offered another, different atmosphere. And so the boys – basses and baritones, who were free at the moment gathered and we prepared ourselves. And the date happened to be on my birthday. It turned that the young singers – “my successors”, as Ass. Prof. Danailov called them, sang in my honour. This was their greeting for my holiday. I started the prominent “Slander Aria” from Rossini’s “The Barber of Seville” and it was continued gorgeously by the seven “Dons Basilio”.

THE SEVEN “DONS BASILIO”
Some of them are soloist of operas in Bulgaria and abroad. Others perform on concert stages. Together with Biser Georgiev we have sang on the stage of the Sofia Opera in “Don Carlos” yet before he became my student. Marian Yovanoski and Igor Durlovski come from Macedonia. The youngest one, the 19-years-old bass Vladimir Popov, started studied opera singing with me. I just direct him. As he is tall, thin, shot up and well-mannered he would be a great Don Quixote in the homonymous opera.
In November Orlin Nevenkin will sign for Bulgaria at the song competition “Boris Gmiria” in Kiev, and I will a part of the jury.

THE STUDENTS ABOUT THE TEAHCER

Biser Georgiev: “He works with us according to the individual problems and talent of each one in a way to filter out the best. Control, direction for cleaning the wrong habits and making new ones such as musical interpretation of particular phrases. I trust him entirely for each remark.”
Dobromir Momekov: “Quite an interesting person. We talk about different topics. We discuss the things that the author wrote: notes, lyrics, remarks. You learn a lot of things about the interpretation if you know how to listen him, and he is one of the greatest interpreters of the Italian, French and Russian operas.”

THE MAESTRO’S ANSWER
I don’t have any doubts about their honesty. I have always tried to teach them to be honest to everything they do, not to afraid and to do it with love since this is a difficult art. I am glad I’ve made it.