Elena Souliotis

Elena Souliotis (spelled Suliotis in the early part of her career; Greek: Έλενα Σουλιώτη; 28 May 1943 – 4 December 2004) was a Greek operatic soprano.

Elena Souliotis was born in Athens, Greece, of Greek and Russian parents but moved with her family to Argentina at an early age. She studied with Mercedes Llopart, who also taught Renata Scotto, Anna Moffo, Fiorenza Cossotto, Ivo Vinco, Alfredo Kraus, and Francisco Kraus. She made her debut in 1964 as Santuzza in Mascagni's Cavalleria rusticana in Naples. She made her United States debut at the Lyric Opera of Chicago during the 1965-66 season as Elena in Boito's Mefistofele; her colleagues in that performance were Renata Tebaldi, Alfredo Kraus and Nicolai Ghiaurov. Other roles that she went on to sing soon afterwards were Luisa Miller, Amelia in Un ballo in maschera and the title role of La Gioconda. A partial list of other operas in which she sang during the first part of her career (1964–1974) include Verdi's Aida and La forza del destino, Donizetti's Anna Bolena, Puccini's Manon Lescaut, Catalani's Loreley, Bellini's La straniera, Zandonai's Francesca da Rimini, and Susanna in Mussorgsky's Khovanshchina. She gave a recital at Carnegie Hall in 1976 and disappeared from the scene shortly after that.

The role for which she is best known is Abigaille in Verdi's opera Nabucco. She made a recording of this role for Decca/London in 1965 (opposite Tito Gobbi, and conducted by Lamberto Gardelli), and gave a performance of the role on opening night of La Scala's 1966-67 season. Within the next couple of years, she also recorded Santuzza (with Mario del Monaco and Gobbi, 1966) and the title role in Norma (with del Monaco, 1967), the latter in an abridged recording that was much maligned when it was initially released.