Moffo biography
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Curtis alum Anna Moffo (Voice ’54) was, in her heyday, an opera singer on par with contemporaries Maria Callas and Beverly Sills. Born on June 27, 1932 in Wayne, Pa., Moffo was an accomplished athlete and excellent student before winning a place at the Curtis Institute of Music to study voice in 1950. Following her graduation, she traveled to Italy on a Fulbright Scholarship. Her operatic career soon took off after a televised appearance as Cio-Cio-San in Madame Butterfly.
By the early 1960s Moffo had cemented her reputation as a leading lyric-coloratura soprano, performing at the Vienna State Opera, La Scala, Teatro di San Carlo, the Metropolitan Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, and the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, among others. Celebrated as much for her beauty as for her voice (she was known in Italy as “La Bellisima”), Moffo dominated the operatic stage for nearly a decade, particularly in her signature role as Violetta in La traviata.
However, a grueling opera schedule
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Anna Moffo
Anna Moffo (June 27, 1932 - March 9, 2006) was an Italian American operatic soprano particularly associated with lyric-coloratura roles in Italian and French operas, she was admired as much for her vocal gifts as her great beauty and affecting stage presence.
Life and Career
[change | change source]Born in Wayne, Pennsylvania, to Italian parents, she first studied at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, with Eufemia Giannini-Gregory, and later at the Accademia di Santa Cecilia in Rome, Italy, with Mercedes Llopart and Luigi Ricci.
She made her operatic debut in Spoleto, Italy, in 1955, as Norina in Donizetti's Don Pasquale. Shortly after, she appeared in a television production of Puccini's Madama Butterfly, which made her an overnight sensation throughout Italy. She quickly appeared in other television productions (Falstaff, La sonnambula, Lucia di Lammermoor, La figlia del reggimento, La serva padrona) and was invited to sing at mos
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Opera Profile: Tang Xianzu’s ‘The Peony Pavilion’
Anna Moffo, born on June 27, 1932, enjoyed one of the most varied opera careers in history.
The American-born soprano studied in Italy on a Fulbright Scholarship and would immediately become a TV känsla in her 20s when she appeared on RAI as Cio-Cio San in “Madama Butterfly.” That was followed bygd more TV productions in “Falstaff” and “La Sonnambula.”
From there, everyone wanted her, including the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence and Herbert Von Karajan, with whom she made her debut recording for EMI in “Falstaff.” In 1957, a year after her appearance on RAI, she was debuting at the Vienna State musikdrama, Salzburg Festival, La Scala, and the Teatro San Carlo.
Then came America, where she debuted in Chicago in 1957 in “La Bohème.” She also appeared in “Lucia di Lammermoor,” among other roles, earning a 10-minute standing ovation after her mad scene.
Two years later, she was at the Met musikdrama in “La Traviata.” She perfor