Rosanna Carteri

Rosanna Carteri, one of the most emotional divas in my experience, is heard in material from Adriana, Lodoletta,Turandot, Mme.Butterfly (w.Carlo Bergonzi), Suor Angelica, La Traviata, La Boheme (w.Giuseppe Taddei). Bio to follow   (69 min.)

Rosanna Carteri (born December 14, 1930) was an Italian soprano primarily active in the 1950s through the mid-1960s.

Rosanna Carteri was born in Verona and studied with Cusinati and started singing in concert at the age of twelve. She won a RAI singing contest in 1948 which led to her operatic debut at the Baths of Caracalla in Rome as Elsa in Lohengrin in 1949, aged only 19. She made her La Scala debut in 1951. Other debuts were at the Salzburg Festival as Desdemona in Otello in 1952 under the direction of Wilhelm Furtwängler, San Francisco as Mimi in La Bohème in 1954, the Lyric Opera of Chicago as Marguerite in Faust in 1955, the Arena di Verona as Mimi in 1958, Covent Garden as Tosca in 1960, Opéra de Paris in 1961 as Violetta in La Traviata.

Carteri made a few recordings for Cetra early in her career, such as Matilde in Guglielmo Tell, opposite Giuseppe Taddei, La Bohème with Ferruccio Tagliavini and Suor Angelica. She also recorded La Traviata for RCA Victor with Cesare Valletti and Leonard Warren under the direction of Pierre Monteux. She participated in several television productions for RAI such as Le nozze di Figaro, La Traviata, Otello and Falstaff.

Carteri also participated in the creation of some contemporary works such as Ifegenia by Ildebrando Pizzetti in 1950, Proserpine e le straniero by Juan Jose Castro in 1952, Calzare d'argento again by Pizzetti in 1961 and Il mercante di Venizia by Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco also in 1961.

Rosanna Carteri decided to retire from singing in the mid-1960s while still only in her thirties to devote herself to her family.