English BIOGRAPHY
Soprano Viera Schausch was born in Bratislava, Slovakia, and is a graduate of the Conservatory and the Academy of Performing Arts in Bratislava, studying under professor Ida Černecká whose students include international opera stars Peter Dvorský, Miroslav Dvorský and Jozef Kundlák. In school performances, Ms Schausch, under her maiden name of Viera Krpatová, sang Susanna (Le Nozze di Figaro), Pamina (The Magic Flute), Servilia (La clemenza di Tito) and Rusalka to enthusiastic reviews. Her promising talent was proven in a number of singers' contests, including the victory in the International Conservatories Competition (Bratislava, 1976), the Best Performance in the Antonín Dvořák Singing Competition (Karlovy Vary, 1977), and the finals of the Mikuláš Schneider-Trnavský International Vocal Competition (Trnava, 1985).
As a regular member of the opera company in Banská Bystrica, Slovakia, in 1986-1990, the soprano sang several lyrical roles in operas and operettas, including Musetta in Puccini's La bohéme, the Soubrette in Cimarosa's L'impresario in Angustie, Kitchen Boy in Rusalka, Countess Stasi in Die Csárdásfürstin/The Gipsy Princess. Her contract with the Chamber Opera Bratislava in 1991 resulted in the extremely taxing lead role in Poulenc's La voix humaine/The Human Voice, a role which she performed in an opera festival in Bulgaria. Guest performances brought the soprano to the opera stages in Olomouc (Jitka in Smetana's Dalibor) and Brno (Dvořák's Rusalka) and to numerous concert events in Germany and Austria.
In 1994, Ms Schausch was invited to join the operetta company in the National Moravian-Silesian Theatre in Ostrava, the northeast of the Czech Republic, quickly becoming the principal singer of the company and singing lead roles in operettas by Emmerich Kálmán (Sylva Varescu - Die Csárdásfürstin/The Gipsy Princess), Franz Lehár (Hanna Glawari – Die Lustige Witwe/The Merry Widow, Angela Didier – Der Graf von Luxemburg/The Count of Luxembourg, Anna Elisa – Paganini, Giuditta), Johann Strauss (Countess Gabriela – Wiener Blut/The Viennese Blood, Lejla – Tausend und eine Nacht/A Thousand and One Nights, Barbara – Eine Nacht in Venedig/A Night in Venice), Czech composer Oskar Nedbal (Wanda – Polenblut/Polish Blood, Julja Lela – Winzerbraut/The Vineyard Bride), Jacques Offenbach (Eurydice - Orpheus in the Underworld), Paul Abraham (Madeleine – Ball im Savoy/Ball at the Savoy) and, most notably, Rosalinde in Die Fledermaus/The Bat by Johann Strauss, a role she first sang in 1996 and repeated to a great acclaim in 2010, giving a performance of technical virtuosity with a voice of a remarkably heartwarming and darkly melancholic timbre.
Ever since graduating from the university, Ms Schausch has been an enthusiastic vocal teacher, holding several teaching positions in schools in Slovakia and giving private coaching to promising young talents.