Biography:

Virginia Zeani Commendatore OMRI^[1] (born Virginia Zehan; 21 October 1925 – 20 March 2023) was a Romanian-born opera singer who sang leading soprano roles in the opera houses of Europe and North America.

As a singer, she was known for her dramatic intensity and the beauty, wide range, and suppleness of her voice which allowed her to sing a repertoire of 69 roles ranging from the heroines in belcanto operas by Rossini and Donizetti to those of Wagner, Puccini and Verdi. She also created roles in several 20th-century operas, including Blanche in Poulenc’s Dialogues of the Carmelites.

Zeani made her professional debut in 1948 as Violetta in La traviata, which would become one of her signature roles; she has since sung the opera over 640 times.^[2]

After her retirement from the stage in 1982, she became a well-known voice teacher. She was married to the Italian bass Nicola Rossi-Lemeni from 1957 until his death in 1991. A Distinguished Professor Emerita at Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music where she taught for many years, Zeani lived in Palm Beach County, Florida and continued to teach singing privately.^{[3][4][5][6][7][8]}

Credits: