Renata Scotto

The Italian opera singer Renata Scotto (born February 24, 1934) is a soprano widely admired for both her musical and dramatic gifts. Since retiring from the stage as a singer in 2002, she has turned to directing opera as well as teaching at her own opera academy in Italy and New York.

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Renata Scotto was born in Savona, Italy. She made her operatic debut on Christmas Eve of 1952 at the age of 18 at the Teatro Nuovo in Milan as Violetta in La Traviata.

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In 1953, Scotto auditioned at La Scala for the role of Walter in Catalani's La Wally with Renata Tebaldi and Mario del Monaco. After her audition, one of the judges, the conductor Victor de Sabata, was heard to say, "Forget about the rest." La Wally opened on December 7, 1953 and Scotto was called back for fifteen curtain calls.

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Scotto's major breakthrough came in 1957. In Edinburgh, La Scala had performed Bellini's La Sonnambula with Maria Callas as Amina. The production had been so successful that La Scala had decided to add another performance. Callas refused to participate. With two days notice, Scotto learned the role of Amina and replaced her. The performance was a great success, and 23-year-old Scotto became an international opera star.

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On October 13, 1965, Scotto made her Metropolitan Opera debut as Cio-Cio-San in Madama Butterfly. She sang at the Met regularly through 1987 and settled to live in nearby Westchester County.

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Scotto had a broad repertoire including some forty-five roles. She is best known for her performances as Violetta in La Traviata, Adina in L'Elisir d'Amore, Cio-Cio-San in Madama Butterfly, Mimi (and occasionally Musetta) in La boh?me, Lucia, Lady Macbeth, all three leading soprano roles in Puccini's Il Trittico and Francesca in Rachmaninoff's Francesca da Rimini. Scotto's opening night Norma in 1981 was less than a great success as she was booed by Callas fans. Her subsequent performances at the Met during the 1981-82 season were very successful as they were on the tour.

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In more recent years, she took on the roles of Fedora, the Marschallin in Der Rosenkavalier in 1992, Kundry in Parsifal in 1995, La Voix Humaine, The Medium and Klytemnestra.

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Italian: Italian may refer to:...

Opera: Opera refers to an European art form consisting of a dramatic stage performance set to music. Comparable art forms from other parts of the world are usually prefaced with an adjective indicating the region; examples include Chinese opera and Beijing opera....

February 24: February 24 is the 55th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. There are 310 days remaining, 311 in leap years. By Roman custom February 24 is the day added to a leap year, and the occurrence of February 29 is merely a consequence of this....

Renata Scotto related Images and Photos (experimental)

Vincent Scotto and Marcel Pagnol on The Set of Jofroi 1933