Inva Mula (also Inva Mula-Çako or Inva Mula-Tchako, born 1963) is an opera singer born in Tirana, Albania. She is perhaps best-known to the American pop culture as the soprano voice behind the Diva (the very tall, blue space alien singing Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor) in the film The Fifth Element (where she is credited as Inva Mulla Tchako). She comes from an artistic family and began her opera career at a very early age. Her father, Avni Mula, is a famous Albanian singer and composer.
In 1987 she won the “Cantante d’Albania” competition in Tirana and in 1988 the George Enescu Competition in Bucharest. In 1992 she won the “Butterfly” Competition in Barcelona. She received an award at Plácido Domingo’s first Operalia contest in Paris, 1993. A CD of the event was released.
She later performed in various concerts with the famous tenor at the Opéra Bastille in Paris, and in Brussels for “Europalia Mexico”, in Munich, and in Oslo. In 1996 she performed Luigi Cherubini’s opera Médée (which was taped for TV) at Compiègne in France. She then returned for Georges Bizet’s opera La Jolie fille de Perth (released CD, filmed for TV, and released DVD in Japan) in 1998. After this she recorded Puccini’s La Rondine with Angela Gheorghiu for EMI and for 2005’s stage production she took Gheorghiu’s place in the leading role of Magda during performances in Toulouse and Paris.
In the film The Fifth Element (released 1997) she performed an aria from Donnizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor (the mad scene), and “The Diva Dance” song. Director Luc Besson adored Maria Callas, but her 1950s recording of “Lucia” wasn’t clear enough to use on a film soundtrack, so the producer who had just helped Mula record La Rondine introduced her to Besson. Some of the vocal parts in “The Diva Dance” were thought to be physically impossible to produce, but musicians are well aware that they are, depending on singer, and it was stated in the movie’s Special Edition that her voice was not digitally altered.
Then she performed Bizet’s Ivan IV concert version, which had its recital debut at Salle Pleyel in Paris, and a live recording was released as CD. In 2001, she was busy in Italy, performing Verdi’s Falstaff at the Teatro alla Scala and Rigoletto at the Arena di Verona, both of which were taped for TV then released on DVD.
Mula is a regular performer at La Scala, where she has sung in Lucia di Lammermoor, La bohème, and Manon, among others. She is also a renowned Violetta in La Traviata, and has sung the role in many cities around the world, including Tokyo, Bilbao, Orange, Trieste, and Toronto. In 2007, she will perform first Norina in L’elisir d’amore at Toulouse.
Her husband Pirro Çako is a well-known singer and composer from Albania, so she used the spelling Tchako rather than Çako. However, after mid-1990 she began using the name Inva Mula, and never returned to the old one.
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