Lucia Valentini Terrani

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Lucia Valentini Terrani (August 28, 1946, Padua - June 11, 1998, Seattle) was an Italian coloratura mezzo-soprano, particularly associated with Rossini roles.

[edit] Life and career

Born Lucia Valentini, she studied first at the Padua Music Conservatory, and later at the Accademia Benedetto Marcello in Venice. She made her stage debut in Brescia, as Angelina in La cenerentola, a role she will remain closely associated with throughout her career. She made her debut at La Scala in 1973, again as Angelina, and quickly established herself in the Rossini repertoire, singing in L'italiana in Algeri, Il barbiere di Siviglia, Il viaggio a Reims. She also sang the many "trouser roles" such as Tancredi, Malcolm in La donna del lago, Pippo in La gazza ladra, Calbo in Maometto secondo, Arsace in Semiramide, Isolier in Le comte Ory, etc. She also sang a few roles of the baroque repertory, notaby Monteverdi 's L'Orfeo, and Bradamante in Handel 's Alcina. However, she did not restrict herself to the belcanto and expanded her repertoire to include roles such as Dorabella, Eboli, Quickly, Mignon, Octavian, Charlotte, Dulcinée.

She enjoyed a very successfull international career, appearing in Paris, London, Moscow, Buenos Aires, Chicago, Los Angeles, Washington, etc. She made her Metropolitan Opera debut in 1974, as Angelina (Cenerentola).

Valentini married Italian actor Alberto Terrani in 1973, and added his surname to hers. She was diagnozed with leukemia in 1996, and went to the famous Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle for treatment, where her colleage and friend José Carreras was treated for the same affliction. Sadly she was not as lucky as Carreras, and died of complications following a bone marrow transplant at the age of 51.

One of the leading contemporary Italian coloratura mezzo, she had a rich, creamy and agile voice used with fine musicianship, and had a good stage presence.

[edit] Sources

  • Le guide de l'opéra, les indispensables de la musique, R. Mancin & J-J. Rouvereux, (Fayard, 1986), ISBN 2-213-01563