Diamanda Galás

A fiercely confrontational avant-garde performer noted for her wailing, four-octave vocal range, Diamanda Galas was born and raised in San Diego, California. The daughter of Greek Orthodox parents, her singing was roundly discouraged, although her prowess as a classical pianist was nurtured; ultimately, her strict upbringing resulted in a reckless, drug-fueled youth prior to her entrance into the University of California's music and visual arts program.



Galas made her performing debut in 1979 at France's Festival d'Avignon, which led to an invitation to assume the lead role in composer Vinko Globokar's politically-charged opera Un Jour Comme un Autre. In subsequent solo performance-art pieces like Wild Women With Steak Knives and Tragouthia apo to Aima Exon Fonos, Galas further honed her unique, shattering vocal style, inspired by the Schrei ("shriek") opera of German expressionism (a form employing a system of four microphones and a series of echoes and delays).

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