Eva Urbanová

Eva Urbanová (born 20 April 1961) is a Czech operatic soprano who has had an active international career since 1987. She has been a principal artist at the National Theatre in Prague since 1990 and has appeared as a guest artist at many of the world's best opera houses, including La Scala in Milan and the Metropolitan Opera in New York City. She has made several recording on the Supraphon music label and was honored with a Thalia Award in 1993. In 2003 she was presented with the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the Government of France.

Born in Slaný, Urbanová studied singing with Ludmilla Kotnauerová in Plzeň. She made her professional opera debut on 18 April 1987 at the Divadlo Josefa Kajetána Tyla in Plzeň, remaining at that theatre for the next three years. Among the roles she portrayed at that house include Amelia in Giuseppe Verdi's Un ballo in maschera, Julie in Antonín Dvořák's The Jacobin, and Milada in Bedřich Smetana's Dalibor.

Urbanová made her debut at the National Theater in Prague on 16 March 1990 as Milada under the baton of conductor Zdeněk Košler. She became a member of that company the following September and the theatre continues to be he principal home to this day. Among the many roles she has sung in Prague are Amneris in Aida, Eboli in Don Carlos, Elisabeth in Tannhäuser, the Foreign Princess in Rusalka, Kostelnička Buryjovka in Jenůfa, Leonora in La forza del destino, Mařenka in The Bartered Bride, Minnie in La fanciulla del West, Ortrud in Lohengrin, The Princess in The Devil and Kate, Santuzza in Cavalleria Rusticana, and the title heroines in Adriana Lecouvreur, La Gioconda, Libuše, Zdeněk Fibich's Šárka, Janáček's Šárka, Suor Angelica, Tosca, and Turandot among others. In November 2009 she is scheduled to sing the title role in Richard Strauss's Salome under the baton of conductor Thomas Netopil.