Gianna D'Angelo

Gianna D'Angelo (born November 18, 1929, some sources say 1934), is an American coloratura soprano, primarily active in the 1950s and 1960s.

Born Jane Angelovich in Hartford, Connecticut, she studied first at the Juilliard School in New York City with Giuseppe De Luca. In the early 1950s, she moved to Venice, Italy, where she became a pupil of Toti Dal Monte, who also advised her to italianize her name.

She made her debut in 1954 at the Baths of Caracalla in Rome asGilda in "Rigoletto", a role that would remain one of her greatest success throughout her career. She was rapidly invited at all the major opera houses of Italy, Naples, Florence, Bologna, Trieste, Parma, Milan, etc., or Barcelona opera house. She also made appearances at the Paris Opera and the Glyndebourne Festival as Rosina in "Il barbiere di Siviglia" and at the Edinburgh Festival as Norina in "Don Pasquale".

She made her debut at the San Francisco Opera on March 8, 1959, in the title role of "Lucia di Lammermoor", and at the Metropolitan Opera in New York, on April 5, 1961 as Gilda, and remained there for eight seasons, appearing in roles such as: Lucia, Amina, Rosina, Norina, Zerbinetta, The Queen of the Night. She also appeared in Philadelphia, Houston, New Orleans, etc.

D'Angelo made a few commercial recordings most notably as Musetta in "La bohème" with Renata Tebaldi, Carlo Bergonzi and Ettore Bastianini under Tullio Serafin. Other recordings include "Il barbiere di Siviglia" and "Rigoletto" both with baritone Renato Capecchi. A live performance of "I puritani" from Trieste in 1966, has also been recently released on DVD.

After retiring from singing, she turned to teaching at the Jacobs School of Music, from 1970 to 1997.

Sources

* "The Metropolitan Opera Encyclopedia", edited by David Hamilton, (Simon and Schuster, New York 1987). ISBN 0-671-16732-X
* "Hardy Classic Video Biography".