Inva Mulla Tchako

The soprano Inva Mula-Tchako was born in Tirana, Albania in 1963 and studied singing and piano in her native city. In September 1987, she won first prize in the Singer of Albania competition. As prizewinner in the George Enescu Competition in Bucharest in September 1991, she found herself launched on an international career, carrying off numerous awards in the various competitions in which she has since taken part, notably the Grand Prix Madama Butterfly in Barcelona in May 1992 and the Concours Internationale de Voix d'Opera Placido Domingo in Paris in May 1993. Inva Mula-Tchako has already performed in many in many different countries, including the United States, Italy, France, Japan, Austria, Norway, Spain, South Korea and Turkey. Her repertory includes Violetta in La Traviata, Mimi in La Boheme, Gilda in Rigoletto, Rosina in Il Barbiere di Siviglia and Leila in Les Pecheurs de Perles. In addition to her stunning performance in the Fifth Element (Aria from Donnizetti's Lucia Di Lammermoor and "The Diva Dance") Inva Mula-Tchako can be heard live on the "The First Placido Domingo International Voice Competition - Gala Concert (Sony 46 691). She performs an aria from Bellini's I Puritani ("Qui la voce sua soave") (3'52), and duets with Placido Domingo from Donnizetti's L'elisir d'amore ("Caro elisir, sei mio...Esultri pur la barbara") (8'07), Mozart's Don Giovanni ("La ci darem la mano") (3'27) and Verdi's La Traviata ("Libiamo, ne lietti calici") (3'15). Movie Roles The only role that I've ever heard of Inva starring in is in the movie The Fifth Element as the singing voice of the Diva Plavalaguna, who was actually played on the screen by French actress Maïwenn Le Besco. During the movie, Inva sang an aria of Gaetano Donizetti's opera Lucia Di Lammermoor. Except it looks like Maïwenn is singing it, because -- you get the idea. Until I saw the credits I thought that she did sing it. Ms. Tchako's voice is also used in the later part of the opera, known as The Diva Dance...it's the funky techno-ish part when Leeloo is bashing hell out of a bunch of Mangalores.