caption website years_active spouse image article_title citizenship occupation
virginia zeani -lrb- 1963 -rrb- -lsb- http://www.virginiazeani.com virginiazeani.com -rsb- 1948 -- present nicola rossi-lemeni virginia zeani.jpg virginia zeani
 romanian , italian , american operatic soprano
virginia zeani

virginia zeani , commendatore omri -lrb- born 21 october 1925 -rrb- is a romanian dramatic coloratura soprano , regarded as one of the great sopranos of the 20th century and one of the great musical personalities in the history of romania .
the venetian arts society named her `` one of the most vocally and artistically gifted of the grand divas of the golden age '' and a `` super star in the history of opera '' .
known both for her golden voice and her impeccable technique , virginia zeani is also famous for being one of the most beautiful opera singers of all time .
federico fellini said that virginia zeani personified for him `` the beauty of the opera singer '' and confessed in a letter that he used to secretly admire her in the mornings when she was making vocalizations .
maria callas 's former husband , giovanni battista meneghini , once told zeani : `` virginia , i have to tell you , you are one of the very few sopranos my wife is frightened of ! ''
she is one of the greatest interpreters of the role of violetta valéry -lrb- from verdi 's `` la traviata '' -rrb- in recorded history , being often called by the press and opera lovers `` violetta supreme '' .
she is also the artist with the greatest number of performances in the role of violetta ever , with an estimated 648 interpretations .
in addition to her success as violetta , zeani was one of the first sopranos in the world to sing all three principal soprano roles of `` the tales of hoffmann '' in a single performance and the first one to do so in the history of la scala .
for a quarter of a century , from 1981 to 2004 , zeani was a professor at indiana university in bloomington .
besides her native language , romanian , zeani also speaks italian , french , spanish and english .
