Renata Scotto
Soloist, Soprano, Director
She was born on 24/02/1934 in Savona, Italy. She studied singing in Milan under Emilio Girardini and Mercedes Llpart. She made her debut in 1952 in Savona as Violetta (La traviata). She became known upon replacing Maria Callas in the role of Amina (La sonnambula) at the Edinburgh festival (1957). She rose to one of the most significant sopranos of her generation internationally. She sang at some of the most important opera houses around the world such as: New York’s Metropolitan Opera, the Lyric Opera of Chicago, the Fenice Opera in Venice, London’s Royal Opera House, the Colon Opera in Buenos Aires etc. Her repertory includes, among others, the roles of Gilda (Rigoletto), Cho-Cho San (Madama Butterfly), Musetta (La bohème), Liu (Turandot), Adina (L’elisir d’ amore), Neda (Pagliacci), Leonora (Il trovatore), Gioconda (La Gioconda), Charlotte (Werther), Fedora (Fedora), Kundry (Parsifal), Louisa Miller, Norma etc. She directed the operas Madama Butterfly, La bohème (Lyric Opera of Chicago), La Sonnambula (Michigan, Miami), La traviata (Miami, New York), Norma (Helsinki), La Wally (Bern), Lucia di Lamermoor (Thessaloniki Megaron Concert Hall, 2004), Tosca (Florida) etc. She taught at the Julliard School and the Mannes College of Music, at Yale University, The Russian Opera Centre in Moscow, and the Bastile Opera. In 1997 she founded the Renata Scotto Vocal Academy in Italy and in 2003 a department of the academy in New York. She has been honored with numerous awards. The number of her recordings is vast (CD, DVD). She collaborated with the Greek National Opera (GNO) once, when she directed the opera Turandot (Athens Festival, Odeon of Herodes Atticus, 2007-08).