1965
A champion of bel canto, she turned heads when she stepped in for Maria Callas in 1952. Olivier Bergeron tells us about her storied career
On October 21, 2022, Romanian soprano Virginia Zeani was inducted into Opera America’s hall of fame alongside distinguished colleagues Reri Grist, Marlena Malas and Charles MacKay. After an international singing career that spanned nearly 35 years followed by an even longer distinguished voice teaching career of nearly 40 years, it seemed fitting to honour her. Perhaps not a household name for most like some of her contemporaries, which included Maria Callas, Joan Sutherland and Renata Tebaldi, in part due to her lack of commercial recordings and relatively few performances in North America; her contribution to opera is significant. She left her mark not only thanks to her beautiful instrument and great presence on stage, but for the part she took in the revival of operas in addition to the creation of new works she premiered. This is a tribute to one of the
