Diamanda Galas

Diamanda Galás
Galás performing in 2008.
Background information
Born	August 29, 1955 (1955-08-29) (age 53)
Genre(s)	Avant-garde, punk jazz
Occupation(s)	Vocalist, keyboardist, composer
Website	diamandagalas.com/

Diamanda Galás (born August 29, 1955) is an American-born avant-garde performance artist, vocalist, keyboardist, and composer of Greek heritage.

Known for her expert piano as well as her distinctive, operatic voice, which has a three and a half octave range, Galás has been described as "capable of the most unnerving vocal terror". Galás often shrieks, howls, and seems to imitate glossolalia in her performances. Her works largely concentrate on the topics of suffering, despair, condemnation, injustice and loss of dignity. Critic Robert Conroy has said that she is "unquestionably one of the greatest singers America has ever produced", and comparisons are frequently made between her and another singer of Greek origin, Maria Callas.

She has worked with many avant-garde composers, including Iannis Xenakis, Vinko Globokar and John Zorn. She made her performance debut at the Festival d'Avignon in France as the lead in Globokar's opera, Un Jour Comme Un Autre. The work was sponsored by Amnesty International.