Nelly Miricioiu

Nelly Miricioiu (born 31 March 1952) is a Romanian-British operatic soprano singing a large repertoire ranging from bel canto to verismo.

Born in Adjud, Romania, Miricioiu started singing at 5 and was hailed as a child prodigy. At 9 she started studying piano and at 14 she won her first singing contest, "Young Talents, Great hopes". At 18 she sang in Pergolesi's La serva padrona and joined the Conservatory of Iași where she continued her studies with Tibi Popovici. In 1972 she was the youngest contestant in the Francisco Vinas Musical Competition in Barcelona and in 1975 she won the first prize at the very first Maria Callas Grand Prix in Athens. More first prizes followed at competitions in Geneva, Paris, Sofia, Oostend.

Miricioiu made her operatic debut in Mozart's The Magic Flute, as the Queen of the Night at Iaşi Romanian Opera, and continued to sing at Brasov Opera House between 1975 and 1978 in roles such as Mimì in La bohème, Micaëla in Carmen and Rosalinde in Die Fledermaus.

In 1981, she fled the communist regime and months later she debuted in Glasgow at the Scottish Opera as Violetta in La traviata; Manon Lescaut and Tosca followed. The following year she made her debut at the Royal Opera House in London as Nedda in Pagliacci, opposite Jon Vickers, Piero Cappuccilli and Thomas Allen. She later appeared as Marguerite in Gounod's Faust, Antonia in The Tales of Hoffmann and Valentine in Les Huguenots. In 1983, she made her debut at La Scala in Milan in the title role of Lucia di Lammermoor, and thereafter appeared at most major opera houses of Europe: Amsterdam, Brussels, Rome, Hamburg, Geneva, Munich, Vienna, Salzburg, Paris, Madrid, Barcelona, earning considerable acclaim for her interpretation of Violetta in La traviata, amongst many other roles such as Mimì in La bohème, Cio-Cio San in Madama Butterfly, Silvana in Respighi's La fiamma, the title role in Cilea's Adriana Lecouvreur and the title role in Zandonai's Francesca da Rimini.