Anna Krauja Čena (born 1981) is a lyric soprano from

Latvia Latvia ( or ; lv, Latvija ; ltg, Latveja; liv, Leţmō), officially the Republic of Latvia ( lv, Latvijas Republika, links=no, ltg, Latvejas Republika, links=no, liv, Leţmō Vabāmō, links=no), is a country in the Baltic region of ...

. Born in

Riga Riga (; lv, Rīga , liv, Rīgõ) is the capital and largest city of Latvia and is home to 605,802 inhabitants which is a third of Latvia's population. The city lies on the Gulf of Riga at the mouth of the Daugava river where it meets the Ba ...

, Anna Krauja was elected ''International Mini Miss'' in a competition at the

Latvian National Theatre The Latvian National Theatre ( lv, Latvijas Nacionālais teātris) is one of the leading professional theatres in Latvia. The building is in the Eclectic style and is an architectural and artistic monument. The country of Latvia was proclaimed ...

in 1993 and was the first Latvian child to win this award. At her appearance she sang a song by Latvian composer Imants Kalniņš and received also the audience award. This success encouraged her already in childhood to become a singer. Anna Krauja studied at the Latvian music academy ''Jāzepa Vītola Latvijas Mūzikas akadēmija'' with Kristīne Gailīte and at the Sibelius Academy with Marjut Hannula. In 2007 she performed at the Latvian National Opera the role of Achille in the opera Deidamia under the conductor Māris Kupčs auf. At the Aleksanterin Teatteri in Helsinki she performed in 2009 the role of Dalinda in the Opera Ariodante under Markus Lehtinen. As a soloist, chamber musician and tutor she was invited to the

Beigang International Music Festival The Beigang International Music Festival () is a project of the Beigang Philharmonic Association (Chinese: 雲林縣北港愛樂協會) and takes place in Beigang, Yunlin County, Taiwan. Since its inception in 2006, the festival has grown and dev ...

in Taiwan in 2009. Besides her classical singing she performed also in

musicals Musical theatre is a form of theatrical performance that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance. The story and emotional content of a musical – humor, pathos, love, anger – are communicated through words, music, movement ...

in 2008. At the '' Dailes-Theater'' she played the role of the narrator in ''

Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat ''Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat'' (often colloquially known as ''Joseph'') is a sung-through musical with lyrics by Tim Rice and music by Andrew Lloyd Webber, based on the character of Joseph from the Bible's Book of Genesis. Thi ...

''. In 2010 Anna performed a solo concert in Riga. Performance was held in Golden Sal of Latvian Community.

References

1981 births Living people Musicians from Riga Latvian operatic sopranos 21st-century Latvian women opera singers {{Opera-singer-stub