Euphrosyne Parepa-Rosa

Euphrosyne Parepa-Rosa (7 May 1836 – 21 January 1874) was a British operatic soprano who established the Carl Rosa Opera Company together with her husband Carl Rosa. Parepa's aristocratic father died soon after her birth, and her mother turned to the stage to support them. Parepa made her operatic debut in 1855, at age 16, and soon earned enthusiastic reviews in the major London opera houses. In 1867, the widowed Parosa married the violinist and conductor Carl Rosa in New York and founded an opera company with Parepa as the leading lady; they toured successfully in America for several years. After their return to Britain with ambitious plans for their opera company, Parepa fell ill and died in 1874 at only 37 years of age.

Euphrosyne Parepa was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, to the soprano Elisabeth Seguin (b. 1812, sister of basso Arthur Edward Seguin) and the Wallachian boyar Demetrius Parepa, Baron Georgiades de Boyescu of Bucharest. Her father died when Parepa was an infant, leaving her young mother impoverished. Parepa's mother turned to the stage to support her child and herself and trained the girl in singing.

Her operatic début was in 1855 at the age of 16 in Malta as Amina in La Sonnambula, followed by engagements in Italy, Spain and Portugal. She gave her first London performance at the Lyceum Theatre, in the role of Elvira in I Puritani, with the Royal Italian Opera company, with whom she spent the 1857 season. The Royal Italian Opera company held their 1856–57 season at the Lyceum because the Royal Opera House was being remodeled after a fire. See Obituary: "Madame Parepa Rosa", The Times, 23 January 1874, p. 10</ref> The critic of The Observer wrote of this introduction: "Parepa possesses a soprano voice of excellent quality and remarkable compass. She acts and sings well. Her version of "Son vergine vezzosa" elicited applause terminating in a recall, and … she was again called for. … "Qui la voce" … was correctly and brilliantly executed; and the artiste was again summoned back to the stage to receive the homage of the audience."