Elena Gaja

{{short description|Romanian mezzo-soprano opera singer (born 1946)}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2025}}

{{BLP sources|date=April 2010}}

Elena Gaja (born 26 October 1946 in Braşov, Romania) is a Romanian mezzo-soprano opera singer.

She graduated from the Ciprian Porumbescu Music Academy in Bucharest where she studied under Magda Ianculescu.[http://www.agenda.ro/images/editions/1/1051_15622.pdf Învăţământ Cultură] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090509204102/http://www.agenda.ro/images/editions/1/1051_15622.pdf |date=9 May 2009 }}, Agenda, 25 April 2009, p.8

In December 1982, she won joint first prize in the Concorso Internazionale "Vincenzo Bellini" per Cantanti Lirici in Italy, becoming the first Romanian singer to have won this prize.{{Cite web |url=http://www.concorsobellini.eu/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=13 |title=Concorso Internazionale "Vincenzo Bellini" per Cantanti Lirici: Winners list |access-date=19 April 2010 |archive-date=3 December 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131203000258/http://www.concorsobellini.eu/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=13 |url-status=dead }}

She was a soloist of the Romanian National Opera in Timișoara[http://www.ram.ac.uk/emuweb/pages/ram/Display.php?irn=1794&QueryPage=Query.php Playbill, Opera Romana Timisoara, Wednesday 16th - Sunday 20 April 1980], Royal Academy of Music Library and toured throughout Europe as well as performing at the George Enescu Festival.[http://www.festivalenescu.ro/rom/1985.html George Enescu Festival 1985] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100720070717/http://www.festivalenescu.ro/rom/1985.html |date=20 July 2010 }}

She retired from the stage in 1996 but continued to give concerts and opera recitals with a repertoire that includes opera arias, sacred arias, oratorio, lied to tango, zarzuelas and film music. She also taught at the Faculty of Music at the Timișoara University of the West.{{Cite web |url=http://www.agenda.ro/old/2002/42-02-14.htm |title=Timișoara Agenda, Nr. 42/19 October 2002 |access-date=19 April 2010 |archive-date=22 July 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110722015600/http://www.agenda.ro/old/2002/42-02-14.htm |url-status=dead }}