Virginia Zeani
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Virginia Zeani (born Virginia Zehan, October 25, 1925, in Transylvania, Romania) was one of the greatest operatic sopranos of the 1950s and '60s. Her career was focused in Italy, where she sang in every major opera house and with every great tenor from Beniamino Gigli and Ferruccio Tagliavini right up to Luciano Pavarotti and Plácido Domingo. Like Leyla Gencer, her fame today rests on numerous "pirated" or live recordings. They show one of the most versatile and supremely gifted sopranos of the century.
Zeani was a particular favorite of Francis Poulenc, who chose her to sing the lead role in the world premiere of his "Dialogue of the Carmelites."
A biography of Zeani by Roger Beaumont and Witi Imihaera is currently in preparation, as is "The Twilight of Belcanto" by Leonardo Ciampa, which contains a chapter dedicated to her career.
Zeani continues to teach at the University of Indiana, where she and her late husband, Nicola Rossi-Lemeni, were both Distinguished Professors.
Among her successful pupils is Angela Brown, who had her first major lead singing role playing the title character of Aida at the Metropolitan Opera in 2004 with such great success that she made it to the front page of the New York Times shortly after.