Renata Scotto (24 February 1934 – 16 August 2023) was an Italian soprano, opera director, and voice teacher. Recognised for her sense of style, her musicality, and as a remarkable singer-actress, Scotto is considered to have been one of the preeminent opera singers of her generation.

For more than 40 years, she performed in some 45 roles, first in Italy, then as a leading soprano of the Metropolitan Opera (Met). She is remembered especially for the title roles of Verdi's La traviata, performed for her stage debut in Milan in 1952, and Puccini's Madama Butterfly, which was her first role at the Met and her last there in 1987, but also for belcanto works such as Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor. She appeared in the first telecast from the Met in 1977, as Mimi in Puccini's La bohème, alongside Luciano Pavarotti and conducted by James Levine. She later expanded her repertoire by roles such as the Marschallin in Der Rosenkavalier by Richard Strauss, Elle in Poulenc's La voix humaine, and Madame Flora in Menotti's The Medium. As opera director she worked for the Met, the Arena di Verona, and other leading opera houses.

Life and career

Scotto was born in Savona, an industrial town and port on the Ligurian Sea, on 24 February 1934. Her father was a police officer and her mother a seamstress. During World War II, her mother took her and her sister to the nearby mountains, taking sewing jobs from the fascists, the Nazis, and the Americans. as a mezzo-soprano.

United States

Scotto's American debut was as Mimì in Puccini's La bohème at the Lyric Opera of Chicago in 1960. On 13 October 1965, Scotto made her Metropolitan Opera debut as Madama Butterfly, with John Alexander as Pinkerton. becoming the first woman at the house to stage an opera and star in it. Her director credits also include productions of this opera in the Arena di Verona, Florida Grand Opera, and Palm Beach Opera), Bellini's Il pirata (Festival Belliniano, Catania, 1993) and La sonnambula (Catania, 1994); an Emmy Award-winning telecast of 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, Theater Bern); La bohème (Lyric Opera of Chicago, 2007 and Palm Beach Opera, 2009); Turandot (Athens, 2009); La sonnambula (Florida Grand Opera and Michigan Opera Theatre, 2008), and Verdi's Un ballo in maschera (Lyric Opera of Chicago, 2010).

The Metropolitan Opera remembered after her death:

  • Duffie, Bruce: Interview with Renata Scotto, 21 January 1988.
  • 2005 Now Playing at the D.M.V.: Renata Scotto The New York Times 19 June 2005
  • Renata Scotto / Stage Director – In Memoriam (management) piperartists.com 2023
  • Disparition de Renata Scotto (in French) Diapason 16 August 2023