The Maid of Orleans
Freni extended her repertoire and style during the 1990s with Italian Verismo, taking on the title roles of Francesco Cilea's "Adriana Lecouvreur" in Milan, Paris, Barcelona and New York, and Umberto Giordano's "Fedora" in London, Milan, New York, Torino, Barcelona and Zürich. In 1997, she performed Giordano's "Madame Sans-Gêne" at the Teatro Massimo Bellini. During this time she sang in Russian operas, such as Tchaikovsky's Tatiana in "Eugene Onegin", Lisa in "The Queen of Spades", and Ioanna in "The Maid of Orleans". Freni ended her professional career on stage, performing teenager Ioanna at the age of 70 at the Washington National Opera on 11 April 2005.