Kathleen Battle

Kathleen Battle

The opera world loves a good controversy, and Kathleen Battle certainly provided one! Born in 1948, Battle first appeared on the operatic stage as Rosina in Michigan Opera Theater’s 1975 production of Rossini’s Il barbiere di Siviglia. Two years later she made her Met debut, playing the Shepherd in Wagner’s Tannhäuser. During the 1980s, Battle became a renowned interpreter of lyric and coloratura soprano roles.

Kathleen Battle

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Maria Callas

Maria Callas

The quintessential diva, Maria Callas was renowned not just for her beautiful singing, but also for her superb acting. The short-lived Greek-American star was born in New York City in 1923. She studied music in Greece and first emerged on the operatic stage in Italy. Callas is widely regarded as one of the great interpreters of the 19th-century bel canto technique, singing virtually all the major Donizetti, Bellini, and Rossini soprano roles. A recording of her singing the title role of Puccini’s Tosca in 1952 is still considered the gold standard. In fact, the recording itself has a Wikipedia page.

“Nearly thirty years after her death, she’s still the definition of the diva as artist—and still one of classical music’s best-selling vocalists.” -Opera News, 2006

Maria Callas is “the Bible of opera.” -Leonard Bernstein

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