Opera Singer. A mezzo soprano, she shall be remembered for her career of more than 30 years with the Vienna State Opera. Born Margarita Lilowa at Tscherwen Briag, she trained at the Sofia Music Academy and made her 1959 operatic debut at Varna as the prostitute Maddalena from Verdi's "Rigoletto". After refining her art Margarita bowed at London's Covent Garden in 1962 as Amneris in Verdi's "Aida" and used the same role on January 1, 1963, for the first of her 1,135 Vienna State Opera performances. Singing 46 different parts her signature piece, which she assayed 143 times, was Marcellina in Mozart's "The Marriage of Figaro", though a fairly close second with 115 was Annina of Richard Strauss' "Der Rosenkavalier". Heard in Cologne, Paris, Berlin, Montreal, and other major cities, she was a regular in San Francisco for 11 seasons, making her 1968 bow as Anna in Hector Berlioz' "Les Troyens", appearing as Waltraute, Fricka, and Erda in Wagner's "Ring" as well as as Azucena in Verdi's "Il Trovatore", and giving her 1979 final performance in the City by the Bay as "La Cieca" from Ponchielli's "La Gioconda". Margarita appeared at the Salzburg Festival from 1965 until 1973, won the Berlin Critics Prize in 1969, made her 1973 La Scala Milano debut as Ulrica from Verdi's "Un Ballo in Maschera", received the honourary title Kammersangerin which entitled her to use the initials "KS" in front of her name in 1984, and in 1986 gave performances in Japan as both Marcellina and Annina. A faculty member at the Vienna Academy of Music from 1992 on, she remained in her adopted city as a respected teacher following her 1995 final performance as Nicklausse from Jacques Offenbach's "The Tales of Hoffman". At her death following a protracted illness a number of her recordings both "live" and studio remained available.