Alketa Cela studied singing at the Academy of Lyric Art in Tirana, Albania, her hometown, with Professor Suzana Frasheri. Ms Cela is a laureate of international singing competitions.
After performing in Albania and Italy, Alketa Cela continued her career in France and elsewhere in Europe. From 1996 to 1999 she collaborated with Jean-Pierre Brossmann, director of the Opera National de Lyon. Noticed for her dulcet tone and musicality, in Lyon she sang Pamina (Die Zauberflöte), Susanna (Le Nozze di Figaro), Princess (The Child and the Spells), Chiarella (L'Osteria di Marechiaro Paisiello), Mozart's Mass in C led by Sir Neville Marriner, and a recital of Italian songs broadcasted on France Musique. She also sang Pamina in Treviso under Peter Maag and Cavalli Orione (Aurore) at Teatro La Fenice in Venice in 1998.
Her eclectic musicality and the potential of her voice allow her to interpret roles from Gluck to Verdi, traditional Albanian melodies and French repertoire by Ravel, Duparc, D'Indy, Gounod, as well as operas by Puccini, Meyerbeer and Strauss. She has shared the stage with Rockwell Blake, Vladimir Galouzine, Ian Storey, Jean-Luc Viala, performed under conductors such as Peter Maag, Kazushi Ono, François-Xavier Roth, Cyril Diederich, Yurkevych, and appeared in productions by Yannis Kokkos, Jean-Louis Grinda, Laurence Dale, Jean-Claude Berutti, Andreas Homoki, Laurent Pelly, Jean-Louis Pichon, Alain Garichot, Numa Sadoul, or Mariusz Treliński.
She achieved great success singing Mimi (La Bohème) at the National Opera of Nancy in December 2002 and later at the Opéra-Théâtre de Metz. Her sang Gita (Una Cosa Rara Vincente Martine y Soler) at the Teatro La Fenice in Venice; Donna Anna (Don Giovanni) at the Royal Theater of La Monnaie, the National Opera of Montpellier, Nancy and Rennes; Fiordiligi (Cosi fan tutte) at the Opera Theater of Avignon and Marseilles Opera; Mozart's and Verdi's Requiems at the Mogador Theater, Paris; Violetta (La Traviata) in Lyon; Liù (Turandot) at the National Opera of Bordeaux and Montpellier; Manon at the Opera de Tours; Valentine (Les Huguenots) at the Opéra-Théâtre de Metz; Nedda (Pagliacci) at the Opera Royal de Wallonie; and Tosca at the Opera Theater of Saint Etienne.
Alketa Cela sang concert of arias by Mozart at the Saou sings Mozart festival and Puccini arias in Lyon. She made her debut in Germany in the role of Iphigenia (Iphigénie en Tauride) at the Komische Oper, Berlin and at the Opera of Bielefeld and Hamburg State Opera in 2009–2010. In September 2011 Alketa Cela sang Micaela (Carmen) at the Opera National de Bordeaux and Vier Letzte Lieder (R. Strauss) in Lyon. She sang the soprano part in Mahler's Second Symphony with ONB directed by Hans Graff. The soprano performed with great success the leading role in Madama Butterfly at the Opera National de Bordeaux in 2011. The following year she returned to the Grand Theater de Bordeaux for a recital. She then sang Madama Butterfly again for the Teatr Wielki – Polish National Opera in November and December 2012. Alketa Cela returned to Warsaw to sing Madama Butterfly in the spring of 2014. In December that year she performed arias by Verdi and Puccini during a gala at the National Opera of Albania. In the spring of 2015 she again triumphed as Madama Butterfly in Warsaw.
In March 2016 she sang during a concert at the Grand Temple de Lyon. Later in the 2016/17 season she will come back on opera stage to perform in Manon Lescaut, Madama Butterfly, Adriana Lecouvreur by Cilèa, Lodoletta by Mascagni, and La Traviata at the Teatr Wielki – Polish National Opera. She will also appear in a concert of Puccini and Verdi music with the symphonic orchestra of Dubrovnik led by Maestro Noorman Widjaja.
