Google Turkey pays tribute to Gencer

ISTANBUL

Google Turkey made its doodle opera singer Leyla Gencer yesterday. Gencer passed away on May 2008.

One of the legendary sopranos of the 20th century, the late Leyla Gencer, was featured on search engine Google’s daily “doodle” on Oct. 10, in a tribute to “La Diva Turca” on her 85th birthday. Leyla Gencer played dozens of roles on the leading opera stages of the world and also contributed to the education of many young opera singers. The singer, who held the post of president of the Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts Board of Trustees, died in 2008. Google prepared a special doodle for the 85th anniversary of the diva’s birth, which could be seen by all visitors on www.google.com.tr .

Doodles and Google logo

Doodles are changes that are made to the Google logo to celebrate holidays, anniversaries, and the lives of famous artists, pioneers, and scientists. In the past, Google has also created special doodles for Barış Manço, Piri Reis, Sabiha Gökçen, and Mevlana.

Leyla Gencer is acclaimed as the last of the legendary divas of the 20th century. She enjoyed an illustrious career on major opera stages around the world, especially at La Scala, where she was the prima donna for nearly 25 years, with an immense repertoire that embraced 72 roles ranging from lyric soprano to dramatic coloratura. Her many performances are still taken as references throughout the world and she also came to be known as the pioneer of the Donizetti Renaissance for her outstanding performances of the composer’s forgotten operas. Leyla Gencer died on May 10, 2008.