Ricciarelli, Katia
Ricciarelli, Katia
Ricciarelli, Katia , Italian soprano; b. Rovigo, Jan. 18, 1946. She studied at the Venice Cons., making her operatic debut as Mimi in Mantua in 1969. After winning the Giuseppe Verdi Award for Young Singers in Parma (1970) and the New Verdi Voices Contest (1971), she pursued a successful career in the major Italian music centers. She made her U.S. debut as Lucrezia in I due Foscari in Chicago (1972); her first appearance at London’s Covent Garden was as Mimi (1974), a role she also chose for her Metropolitan Opera debut in N.Y. (April 11, 1975). In 1979 she made her debut in recital at the Salzburg Festival. In 1985 she sang Desdemona in Zeffirelli’s film version of Verdi’s Otello. In 1985–86 she sang Rossini roles in Pesaro, returning there in 1988. She appeared as Desdemona at the Metropolitan Opera and at Covent Garden in 1990. In 1997 she sang Handel’s Agrippina in Palermo. Among her other fine roles were Amelia Boccanegra, Suor Angelica, Luisa Miller, and Elisabeth de Valois.
—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire