Anna Moffo

Anna Moffo June 27 1932 - March 9 2006 Was An Italian-American Lyric-Coloratura Soprano Admired For Her Warm And Radiant Voice And Great Beauty. Anna Moffo Was Born In Wayne Pennsylvania USA To Italian Parents Nicola Moffo A Shoemaker And His Wife Regina Cinti. After Graduating From Radnor High School She Turned Down An Offer To Go To Hollywood And Went Instead To The Curtis Institute Of Music In Philadelphia Where She Studied With Eufemia Giannini-Gregory Sister Of Soprano Dusolina Giannini. In 1954 On A Fulbright Program Scholarship She Left For Italy To Complete Her Studies At The Accademia Nazionale Di Santa Cecilia In Rome Where She Was A Pupil Of Mercedes Llopart And Luigi Ricci. Moffo Made Her Official Operatic Debut In 1955 In Spoleto As Norina In Don Pasquale. Shortly After Still Virtually Unknown And Little Experienced She Was Offered The Challenging Role Of Cio-Cio-San In An Italian Television RAI Production Of Madama Butterfly. The Telecast Aired On January 24 1956 And Made Moffo An Overnight Sensation Throughout Italy. Offers Quickly Followed And She Appeared In Two Other Television Productions That Same Year As Nannetta In Falstaff And As Amina In La Sonnambula. She Appeared As Zerlina In Don Giovanni At The Aix-En-Provence Festival And Made Her Recording Debut For EMI As Nannetta Falstaff Under Herbert Von Karajan And As Musetta In La Bohème With Maria Callas Giuseppe Di Stefano And Rolando Panerai. The Following Year 1957 Saw Her Debut At The Vienna State Opera The Salzburg Festival At La Scala In Milan And The Teatro San Carlo In Naples. Moffo Returned To America For Her Debut There As Mimì In La Bohème Next To Jussi Björling's Rodolfo At The Lyric Opera Of Chicago On October 16 1957. Her Metropolitan Opera Of New York Debut Took Place On November 14 1959 As Violetta In La Traviata A Part That Would Quickly Become Her Signature Role. She Performed At The Metropolitan Opera For Seventeen Seasons In Roles Such As Lucia Gilda Adina Mimi Liù Nedda Pamina Marguerite Juliette Manon Mélisande Périchole The Four Heroines Of Les Contes D'Hoffmann Etc. In The Late 1950s She Recorded Susanna In Le Nozze Di Figaro Opposite Elisabeth Schwarzkopf And Giuseppe Taddei Conducted By Carlo Maria Giulini And Recitals Of Mozart Arias With EMI. She Then Became An Exclusive RCA Victor Artist..With Whom She Recorded Most Of Her Best Operatic Roles. Moffo Was Also Invited At The San Francisco Opera Where She Made Her Debut As Amina On October 1 1960. During That Period She Also Made Several Appearances On American Television While Enjoying A Successful International Career Singing At Most Major Opera Houses Around The World Stockholm Berlin Monte Carlo Mexico City Buenos Aires Etc. . She Made Her Debut At The Royal Opera House In London As Gilda In A Franco Zeffirelli Production Of Rigoletto. Shortly After The Italian Tenor Sergio Franchi Joined The RCA Recording Family In America They Recorded A Popular Album Of Operetta Duets The Dream Duet Which Peaked At Number Ninety Seven On The Billboard 200 In 1963. Later That Year Franchi And Moffo Collaborated In Recording The Great Moments From Die Fledermaus With The Vienna State Orchestra And Chorus Oskar Dannon Conducting. In 1999 This Album Was Re-Mastered And Re-Issued In High Performance Stereo. Moffo Remained Particularly Popular In Italy And Performed There Regularly. She Hosted A Program On Italian Television "The Anna Moffo Show" Two Series The First In 1964 The Second In 1967 And Was Voted One Of The Ten Most Beautiful Women In Italy. She Appeared In Film Versions Of La Traviata 1968 And Lucia Di Lammermoor 1971 Both Produced With The Italian TV Director Sandro Bolchi And Directed By Her First Husband Mario Lanfranchi As Well As A Few Non-Operatic Films. In The Early 1970s She Began Appearing On German Television And In Operetta Films Such As Die Csárdásfürstin And Die Schöne Galathee. She Also Recorded With Eurodisc The Title Roles In Carmen And Iphigenie In Aulis As Well As The Role Of Hansel In Hänsel Und Gretel. Such A Heavy Workload However Led To Physical Exhaustion And A Serious Vocal-Breakdown In 1974 From Which She Never Fully Recovered. Although She Was Able To Resume Her Career In 1976 She Appeared Only Sporadically. Her Last Appearance At The Met Was During The 1983 Centennial Celebrations Where She Sang The Sigmund Romberg Duet "Will You Remember?" With Robert Merrill. After Retiring From Singing Moffo Remained Active In The Opera Community As A Board Member Of The Metropolitan Opera Guild And By Hosting Several Tributes And Giving Occasional Masterclasses. Moffo Was Married Twice First To Stage And Film Director Mario Lanfranchi On December 8 1957. The Couple Divorced In 1972. Her Second Marriage Was To RCA Executive Robert Sarnoff On November 14 1974. Sarnoff Died On February 22 1997. Anna Moffo Spent The Last Years Of Her Life In New York City Where She Died Of A Stroke At Age 73 Following A Decade-Long Battle With Breast Cancer. She Is Interred With Sarnoff At Kensico Cemetery Valhalla New York. read less