Renata Scotto

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Renata Scotto

Renata Scotto (born February 24, 1934 in Savona ) is an Italian opera singer ( soprano ) and opera director . She is considered to be the most important Italian soprano alongside Renata Tebaldi and Mirella Freni in the second half of the 20th century.

Life

Scotto studied with the famous Spanish singer and vocal teacher Mercedes Llopart. After studying singing in Milan , Scotto made her debut in 1954 as Violetta Valéry in La traviata at Milan's Teatro Nuovo. Shortly thereafter, she made her first appearance at the Teatro alla Scala as Walter in La Wally with Renata Tebaldi and Mario del Monaco .

In 1960 Scotto made his American debut as Mimi in La Bohème at the Lyric Opera of Chicago . This was followed by Cio-Cio-San in Madama Butterfly in 1964 at the Teatro Colón and in 1965 at the New York Metropolitan Opera .

While Scotto concentrated in previous years more on the repertoire of bel canto (she jumped in 1957 in Edinburgh successful for Maria Callas as Amina in Bellini's La sonnambula a) she turned in her later career years, especially the more dramatic roles Giuseppe Verdi and Giacomo Puccini to . One of her star roles was Madama Butterfly , which she immortalized in two famous recordings (1966 under Sir John Barbirolli and 1978 under Lorin Maazel ). She is considered one of the best interpreters of this role.

Since Renata Scotto was increasingly displaced at La Scala in Milan by the presence of Mirella Freni ( Giorgio Strehler played Amelia in his legendary Scala production of Verdi's Simon Boccanegra on Mirella Freni in 1976 , who replaced the initially planned Renata Scotto) She shifted her career more and more to the USA and there in particular to the New York Metropolitan Opera , whose favorite she became.

Scotto took up a second residence with her family in Westchester County and New York City and sang numerous important roles and premieres there until 1987 (including Madama Butterfly (1965/1985), La Bohème (1976), Luisa Miller (1979), Manon Lescaut (1980), Norma (1981), Francesca da Rimini (1984)). In contrast to her famous colleague Mirella Freni , Renata Scotto's role portraits were scenically more interesting and sung more dramatically. She took more risks in her career and - like Maria Callas - did not shy away from going beyond the possibilities of her voice in favor of musical and dramatic expression.

In 1977 she even recorded the dramatic role of Abigaille in Verdi's Nabucco under Riccardo Muti and appeared at the MET as Lady Macbeth, both roles that are not necessarily associated with her vocal subject, that of soprano lirico spinto .

She also sang Umberto Giordano's Fedora (Barcelona) and Amilcare Ponchielli's La Gioconda (San Francisco) with great success. In her final years on stage, Renata Scotto sang roles that were unusual for her, albeit in smaller houses, such as Marschallin in Rosenkavalier (Spoleto Festival 1992), Klytämnestra in Elektra (Baltimore 2000) and Kundry in Parsifal (Schwerin 1995) .

Renata Scotto has been married to the Italian violinist Lorenzo Anselmi since 1960, with whom she has two children: a daughter, Laura Anselmi (born 1969), and a son, Filippo Anselmi (born 1972).

In 2002 Scotto ended her career as a singer and turned to opera directing and vocal training, especially in the form of master classes. Her discographic legacy is very extensive with around 50 different recordings.

Directorial work

  • Madama Butterfly (Metropolitan Opera, Arena di Verona, Florida Grand Opera, Palm Beach Opera)
  • Bellini's Il pirata (Belliniano Festival, Catania, 1993) and La sonnambula (Catania, 1994), Emmy Award
  • La traviata (New York City Opera, 1995)
  • Norma (Finnish National Opera)
  • Adriana Lecouvreur (Santiago, 2002)
  • Lucia di Lammermoor (Music Hall of Thessaloniki, 2004)
  • La Wally ( Dallas Opera , City Theater Bern )
  • La Bohème (Lyric Opera of Chicago, 2007 and Palm Beach Opera, 2009)
  • Turandot (Athens, 2009)
  • La sonnambula (Miami and Michigan Opera Theaters , 2008)

Discography (selection)

DVD

Student (selection)

literature

  • Scotto: More Than a Diva by Renata Scotto and Octavio Roca , Doubleday & Company, Inc, 1984. ISBN 0-385-18039-X
  • Konrad Dryden : Riccardo Zandonai, A Biography , Renata Scotto, Peter Lang Inc, 1999 0-8204-3649-6
  • Umberto Bonafini. Renata Scotto. LIRICA, le interpretazioni indimenticabili collana diretta da Giorgio Gualerzi , Fabbri Editori, 1987, pp. 69-75.

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Scotto, Renata
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Italian opera singer (soprano) and opera director
DATE OF BIRTH February 24, 1934
PLACE OF BIRTH Savona