Born in Varna/Bulgaria, Valentina Kutzarova had her first musical training in her hometown, before she graduated from the Music Academy of Sofia.
After Engagements in Pleven (Bulgaria) and the International Opera Studio in Zurich, she became a member of the ensemble of the theatres in St. Gallen (Switzerland) and Linz (Austria) from 1993-99. During this time, she made her debut in many of the most important roles for mezzo-soprano: Charlotte (Werther), Annio (La Clemenza di Tito), Dorabella (Così fan tutte), Hänsel (Hänsel und Gretel), Cherubino (Le Nozze di Figaro), Amastre (Serse, Händel), Prinz Orlofsky (The Bat), Rosina (Il Barbiere di Siviglia), Octavian (Der Rosenkavalier) or Niklausse (Les Cotes d'Hoffmann), as well as the title roles in Carmen and Rossini's "L'Italiana in Algeri".
In 1995 Valentina Kutzarova won the Grand Prix of the Jury and the First Price of the Audience in the International Voice Competition in Rocca delle Macie in Siena, as well as in 1997, the Second Price and the Special Price for the best interpretation of Songs by Grieg in the International “Queen Sonja” music competition in Oslo.
Since then, guest engagements with roles like Cherubino, Adalgisa, Romeo (I Capuleti e I Montecchi), Oktavian, Angelina, Elisabetta (Maria Stuarda), Rosina (Il Barbiere di Siviglia), Zerlina, Giulietta (Les Contes d’Hoffmann), Suzuki or Donna Elvira, have taken her to the important opera houses such as the Bavarian State Opera of Munich, State Opera of Hanover, Teatro La Fenice in Venice, Teatro San Carlo in Napoli, Teatro Verdi in Sassari, the Grand Théâtre de Genève, the Theatre of Basel, Theatre St. Gallen, Opéra National du Rhin (Strasbourg), The Grand Théâtre de Bordeaux, Opéra de Montpellier, Opéra d’Avignon, the Theatre of Las Palmas and the one of Bilbao, the Bregenz Festival, the Croatian National Theatre in Zagreb, the NCPA in Bombay and the Festival de Mayo in Guadalajara (Mexico).
Valentina is also in great demand as a concert singer: Her repertoire goes from baroque to Beethoven and Mahler reaching out into contemporary music. A close work relationship with the conductor Sascha Goetzel has recently taken her to sing Oktavian in a concert version of “Rosenkavalier” in Istanbul with the Borusan Philharmonic Orchestra, followed by Mahler’s “Songs of the Earth” in Padova. This coming season, he invited her to sing among others “Nuits d’Été” by Berlioz with the Kuopio Symphony Orchestra in Finland and again “Songs of the Earth” with the Orchestre de Bretagne.
Valentina has already cooperated with conductors like Giovanni Antonini, Maurizio Barbacini, Wolfgang Bozic, Frans Brüggen, Dennis Russel Davies, Adam Fischer, Reinhard Goebel, Alain Guingal, Julia Jones, Jiri Kout, Marko Letonja, Andrea Marcon, Günter Neuhold, Roberto Rizzi-Brignoli, Nello Santi, Martin Sieghart, Laurent Wagner, Johannes Wildner, Marco Zambelli, David Zinman and Directors such as Philippe Arlaud, Giancarlo del Monaco, Francesco Esposito, Nicholas Hytner, Brigitte Jacques-Wajeman, Barrie Kosky, Christof Loy, Reto Nickler, Pier Paolo Pacini, Leonard Prinsloo, Olivier Tambosi, Paolo Trevisi, Francesca Zambello.
Her most recent CD-recording (Ferdinando Paer: „Passione per il Santo Sepulcro“, Orchestra di Padova e del Veneto, Dir.: Sergio Balestracci) will soon be released with the cpo label.