Greatest Female Opera Singers
by roidefranceetnavarre | created - 17 Apr 2013 | updated - 10 May 2013 | PublicThese are in my humble opinion the greatest operatic soprano singers of all time.:)
1. Maria Callas
Soundtrack | Ghost in the Shell
This volatile opera diva was born Sophie Cecilia Kalos in New York City to Greek émigrés on December 2, 1923. Her father set up a pharmacy and changed the family name from Kalogeropoulos to Callas. As a child Maria studied the piano. When her parents separated (she was 14 at the time), her mother ...
La Divina
2. Joan Sutherland
Actress | Live from the Metropolitan Opera
Joan Sutherland was born on November 7, 1926 in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. She was an actress, known for The Metropolitan Opera Presents (1977), Spectre (2015) and Carlito's Way (1993). She was previously married to Richard Bonynge. She died on October 10, 2010 in Montreux, Switzerland.
La Stupenda
3. Leontyne Price
Soundtrack | Romeo + Juliet
Leontyne Price was born on February 10, 1927 in Laurel, Mississippi, USA. She is an actress, known for Romeo + Juliet (1996), The Metropolitan Opera Presents (1977) and NBC Television Opera Theatre (1949). She was previously married to William Warfield.
4. Birgit Nilsson
Soundtrack | Army of Thieves
Birgit Nilsson was born on May 17, 1918 in Västra Karup, Skåne län, Sweden. She was an actress, known for Army of Thieves (2021), Da 5 Bloods (2020) and Tristan und Isolde (1974). She was previously married to Bertil Niklasson. She died on December 25, 2005 in Västra Karup, Skåne län, Sweden.
La Nilsson
5. Rosa Ponselle
Soundtrack | Deux frères
Rosa Ponselle was born to Neapolitan immigrants in Conneticut. She was a natural-born singer and launched a career first in Vaudville, where she was working in 1918, when Enrico Caruso discovered her and persuaded her to join the Metropolitan Opera. Her debut occurred in Verdi's "La Forza del ...
6. Kirsten Flagstad
Soundtrack | The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Born in Stranstuen, Hamar, Norway, Norwegian soprano Kisten Flagstad's father was a conductor, and her mother was a singing coach and pianist as well as her first teacher. Flagstad continued her studies in Oslo with Ellen Schyte-Jacobsen and in Stockholm with Dr. Gillis Bratt. While still a student...
7. Anna Moffo
Actress | Lucia di Lammermoor
The dark and smoldering American soprano Anna Moffo was born in Wayne Pennsylvania, on June 27, 1932, and, following graduation at Radnor High School, studied at Philadelphia's Curtis Institute of Music and in Rome, Italy on a Fulbright scholarship at the Conservatorio di Santa Cecilia. At one time...
La Bellissima
8. Montserrat Caballé
Soundtrack | La vita è bella
Montserrat Caballé was born on April 12, 1933 in Barcelona, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. She was an actress, known for Life Is Beautiful (1997), Norma (1974) and Happiness (1998). She was previously married to Bernabé Martí. She died on October 6, 2018 in Barcelona, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain.
La Superba
9. Victoria de los Ángeles
Soundtrack | Rat Race
Victoria de los Ángeles was born on November 1, 1923 in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. She was an actress, known for Rat Race (2001), Speed 2: Cruise Control (1997) and Atonement (2007). She was previously married to Enrique Magriñá Mir. She died on January 15, 2005 in Barcelona, Barcelona, Catalonia...
10. Elisabeth Schwarzkopf
Soundtrack | Closer
Elisabeth Schwarzkopf was born on December 9, 1915 in Jarotschin, Prussia, Germany [now Jarocin, Wielkopolskie, Poland]. She was an actress, known for Closer (2004), Der Rosenkavalier (1961) and Nacht ohne Abschied (1943). She was previously married to Walter Legge. She died on August 3, 2006 in ...
11. Beverly Sills
Actress | Live from Lincoln Center
This vibrant, fine-humored coloratura was able to accomplish what most others of her ilk could or would not do -- she humanized opera and made it approachable to the masses. There were no diva-like traits in this star and the public absolutely adored her for it. Dubbed "America's Queen of Opera" in...
12. Lily Pons
Soundtrack | I Dream Too Much
Of Italian and French ancestry, famed operatic soprano Lily Pons was born Alice Josephine Pons near Cannes, France in 1898. She studied the piano as a child and entered the Paris Conservatoire at age 13. At the onset of World War I in 1914, which interrupted her education, Lili moved to Cannes with...
13. Jessye Norman
Soundtrack | Wild at Heart
Jessye Norman was born on September 15, 1945 in Augusta, Georgia, USA. She was an actress, known for Wild at Heart (1990), The Hours (2002) and Choke (2008). She died on September 30, 2019 in New York City, New York, USA.
14. Kathleen Battle
Soundtrack | Shi mian mai fu
Kathleen Battle was born on August 13, 1948 in Portsmouth, Ohio, USA. She was the youngest of seven children in the African-American family, with a good tradition of singing spirituals. She graduated from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music in Ohio (1971) and taught music to ...
15. Renata Tebaldi
Soundtrack | Moonstruck
Renata Tebaldi was and is surely one of the best Spinto soprano voices that any century has ever heard. She made her operatic debut, through bombed streets in 1944 in Mefistofele, as Elena. Then was hand picked for the reopening of La Scala, 46 by Toscanini. It was there that the legendary "Voice ...
16. Edda Moser
Actress | Don Giovanni
Edda Moser was born on October 27, 1938 in Berlin, Germany. She is an actress, known for Don Giovanni (1979), Das Rheingold (1978) and Die Zauberflöte (1982).
17. Nellie Melba
Soundtrack | Country Life
Nellie Melba was born on May 19, 1861 in Richmond, Victoria, Australia. She was previously married to Charles Frederick Nisbett Armstrong. She died on February 23, 1931 in Darlinghurst, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
18. Kiri Te Kanawa
Soundtrack | A Room with a View
Kiri Te Kanawa studied voice in New Zealand, where she was a popular singer as a teenager. She enrolled in the London Opera Center in 1966, and had her Covent Garden debut 1 December 1971. Although her acting ability is highly regarded on the operatic stage, she has made few theatrical films.
19. Renata Scotto
Actress | La Gioconda
Renata Scotto was born on February 24, 1934 in Savona, Liguria, Italy. She is an actress, known for La Gioconda (1979), The Metropolitan Opera Presents (1977) and The January Man (1989).
20. Lucia Popp
Soundtrack | Bicentennial Man
Lucia Popp was born on November 12, 1939 in Uhorska Ves, Slovakia. She was an actress, known for Bicentennial Man (1999), Philadelphia (1993) and The Legend of Bagger Vance (2000). She was previously married to Peter Seiffert and Gyorgy Fischer. She died on November 15, 1993 in Munich, Bavaria.
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