Millo, Aprile (Elizabeth)

Millo, Aprile (Elizabeth), talented American soprano; b. N.Y., April 14, 1958. Her father was a tenor and her mother a soprano. After living in Europe, Millo’s family moved to Los Angeles when she was 11; during her high school years she studied voice with her parents and augmented her training by listening to recordings of the great divas. In 1977 she won 1^st place in the San Diego Opera competition, received the Géraldine Farrar Award, and sang in the opening concert of the new opera center there. In 1978 she won 1^st prize in the Concorso Internazionale di Voci Verdiane in Busseto and received the Montserrat Caballe Award at the Francisco Vinas competition in Barcelona. In 1981 she sang with the N.Y.C. Opera and also joined the Metropolitan Opera’s Young Artists Development Program; later studied with Rita Patane. On Jan. 4, 1983, she made her first appearance at La Scala in Milan as Elvira in Emani, a role she repeated with the Welsh National Opera in 1984. She made her Metropolitan Opera debut in N.Y as Amelia in Simon Boccanegra on Dec. 3, 1984, substituting for the ailing Anna Tomowa-Sintow. In 1985 she received the Richard Tucker Award. Subsequently she appeared at the Metropolitan Opera in such roles as Elisabetta in Don Carlos, Liù in Turandot, Luisa Miller, Leonora in II Trovatore, Desdemona in Otello, and Aida. She also sang in concert performances with the Opera Orch. of N.Y, appearing as Giselda in I Lombardi alla prima crociata (1986) and as Lida in La battaglia di Legnano (1987). In 1992 she made her San Francisco Opera debut as Maddalena, a role she later sang at the Metropolitan Opera and in Rome in 1996.

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis Mclntire