IMG Artists is delighted to welcome mezzo-soprano Bella Adamova to our roster for general management. She is represented by Senior Vice President Thomas Walton from the London office.
With “a voice that apparently can do anything” blessed with a “warm, sumptuous timbre” (Classica), “different, immediately recognisable, and exceptional” (Aktualne.cz), and whose “interpretation presents a captivating kaleidoscope of vocal expressive possibilities” (Opera Plus), mezzo-soprano Bella Adamova’s artistic commitment on the concert and operatic stage ranges widely across musical periods, genres, and cultures from the baroque to the contemporary with natural ease, with a particular focus on the art-song repertoire, showcased in deeply and thoughtfully crafted recital programmes.
She has released two critically acclaimed albums with pianist Michael Gees – Blooming (2019) and There is Home (2023) which explores the concept of searching for, and defining the feeling of home and belonging, through songs by Pavel Haas, Benjamin Britten, Gustav Mahler, and Modest Mussorgsky freely intertwined and organically interspersed with improvisations on selected poems by Anna Akhmatova, Pablo Neruda, Heinz-Albert Heindrichs, Marie Howe, Klára Goldstein, and Adamova herself. Textura.org welcomed “A vocal recital album with a difference…rewarding, with the treatments of the composers’ material gripping and the duo’s flights of fancy as riveting. They’ve intermingled the improvisations and four works to create something of a transformational travelogue. As spontaneous as the performance is, it’s anything but directionless; as the two work their way through the material, it unfolds with a naturalness and clarity that makes it seem more pre-structured than something birthed in the moment. …in each case the improvisation impresses as thoughtfully responsive to the text. As illustrated by the duo’s wildly theatrical reply to Howe’s words in “What the Angels Left” and her Sprechstimme-like handling of Neruda’s in the blues-tinged “The Queen,” it’s in the improvs that the recital partners seem most liberated and receptive to wherever their impulses lead.”
Recent highlights include her BBC Proms and Dvořákova Praha debuts with Jakub Hrůša and the Czech Philharmonic in Janáček’s Glagolitic Mass, her debut at the Prague Spring Festival in a solo recital, de Falla’s El amor brujo with the Bohuslav Martinů Philharmonic and Robert Kružík, Mahler’s 2nd and 8th symphonies with the Prague Symphony Orchestra (FOK) and Tomáš Brauner, Mozart’s Requiem with the West Bohemian Symphony Orchestra and conductor Alena Hron, and Berlioz’ Les nuits d’été with the Baborák Ensemble. On the opera stage, she appeared at Theater Bielefeld as Mercédès in Carmen, and at the National Theatre in Prague as the Third Woodsprite in Rusalka (directed by the SKUTR duo/conductor Tomáš Netopil).
Thomas said, “I’m very happy to welcome Bella to the roster at IMG Artists. She possesses a beautiful voice, a distinctive and inquisitive artistic personality, and a natural communicativeness with audiences, and I look forward to helping bring those qualities to the international stage!”
Bella said, “I am thrilled to be working with Thomas Walton, who shares my vision and passion for storytelling through music! There is always so much repertoire to discover, and I am truly excited to share my art with audiences worldwide with the support of the entire IMGA family.”
Bella Adamova was born in Grozny, Chechnya, and grew up in Prague. She completed her musical studies in Cologne, Hanover and at London’s Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance, studied improvisation at the Basel Academy of Music, and received additional training at the Royaumont Foundation and the Tanglewood Music Center.
Bella Adamova is represented for the Czech Republic and Slovakia by Martina Výrková of Makropulos Classical Music Agency.
Photo: Celina Friedrichs
