Caterina Mancini

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Caterina Mancini (born on November 10, 1924, in Genzano di Roma) is an Italian dramatic coloratura soprano, primarily active in Italy in the 1950s.

Mancini made her debut in 1948, as Giselda in I Lombardi, in Florence. In 1950, she appeared in Bologna and Venice, in Norma, and made her debut at La Scala in Milan, in Lucrezia Borgia, in 1951.

The same year, she sang in many Verdi operas on radio broadcast (RAI) to commemorate Verdi's 50th death anniversary. Many of these broadcasts have been released by the record company Cetra, notably, Nabucco, Ernani, Attila, La battaglia di Legnano, Il trovatore, and Aida.

She sang mostly in Italy, notably as Anaide in Mosè in Egitto in Florence (1955), and as Amelia in Il duca d'Alba, in Verona (1956). She made occasional appearances in France and Spain. Other notable roles included: Amelia, Elisabetta, Gioconda, Santuzza, Tosca.

Mancini was a dramatic coloratura soprano, possessing a large and powerful, yet surprisingly flexible voice, which made her an excellent exponent of early Verdi operas. Health problems in the early 1960s led her to withdraw little by little from the stage.

Her career was in many ways similar to the one of Anita Cerquetti, both were dramatic coloratura sopranos, a rarities in the 1950s, both had short but brilliant career, and both were more of less eclipsed by Maria Callas, and nowadays almost forgotten.