Magda Olivero

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Magda Olivero is considered by many to be one of the greatest sopranos of the verismo-school of singing. She was born in Saluzzo, Italy on March 25, 1910. Her early teachers found her voice wanting. Yet, she persevered, eventually studying with Luigi Gerussi. Olivero made her operatic debut in 1932 on Turin radio in Cattozzo’s oratorio I misteri dolorosi. She performed widely and increasingly successfully until 1941, when she married and retired from performing. She returned to the stage ten years later, at the request of Francesco Cilèa, who asked her to sing the title role in his opera Adriana Lecouvreur.

From 1951 until her final retirement, Olivero sang in opera houses around the world. With her return to the stage, her voice seemed even more passionate and nuanced, as well as considerably more powerful, than it had previously seemed. Among her most renowned interpretations were the leading parts in Adriana Lecouvreur, Iris, Fedora, La bohème, La fanciulla del West, La traviata, La Wally, Madama Butterfly, Manon Lescaut, Mefistofele, and Turandot (Liù.)

She sang in Cherubini's Medea in Dallas in 1967, a remarkable performance. In 1975, already an international star for two decades, she made her début at the Metropolitan Opera House in Tosca. Her last performances on stage were in March 1981 in the one-woman opera, La voix humaine by Poulenc. Thus, her stage career ended at age 71 and spanned nearly 50 years. She continued to sing church music locally and, well into her eighties, made a recording of several arias. This recording shows that, despite the aging of the voice, her interpretive skills and technical aplomb never deserted her. Fortunately, recordings exist of many of her great performances of both full operas and arias and scenes.

Olivero’s voice is at once rich and beautiful though perhaps difficult to appreciate at first. She did not always strive to make sounds conventionally beautiful, but they were always expressive. Expressivity was always her first concern. The range of her tone amazes for its ability to capture every emotion with individual intensity. She, perhaps more than almost any other singer, could color the tone of her voice to the meaning of the words. As with Maria Callas and Leyla Gencer, this ability to meld drama and music into one seamless whole made Magda Olivero one of the greatest singers of all time. Her acting style, though traditional, is equally intense.