Nelly Miricioiu is a Romanian opera singer and one of the most remarkable sopranos. She was highly acclaimed in the roles of different bel canto characters.

By Alexandra Fodor

Nelly Miricioiu was born in 1952 in Adjud, Romania. At the age of 9 she started studying piano and five years later she won her first singing contest, Young Talents, Great hopes.  She made her debut in Mozart's Magic Flute, as the Queen of the Night at the Iasi Opera House and in 1981 she made her international debut in Glasgow at the Scottish Opera, as Violetta in La Traviata.

In 1989, she made her debut at the Metropolitan Opera in New York as Mimi in La Boheme. Later in 1996 she played the title role in the Tosca production. This was a huge success that established her as one of the best Tosca's seen on stage.

Nelly Miricioiu gave concerts on the stages of the most important opera houses in Europe such as Amsterdam, Bruxelles, Rome, Hamburg, Berlin, Geneva, Munich, Vienna, Salzburg, Paris, Madrid, and Barcelona. She has worked with famous artists such as Jose Carreras, Jose Cura, Neil Schicoff, Placido Domingo, Franco Bonisolli, Roberto Alagna, Renato Bruson, and Alfredo Kraus.

Her opera repertoire includes roles such as Marguerite in Faust, Antonia in Tales of Hoffman, Valnetine in Les Huguenots, Violetta in La Traviata (a role which she has reprised more than 350 times), Mimi and Musetta in La Boheme, Cio Cio San in Madame Butterfly, Silvana in La Fiamma, Magda in La Rondine and many more.

Her discography includes albums such as Recital at Wigmore Hal – Duparc, Granados, Respighi, Proch, Puccini&Catalani (1986) Puccinii: Tosca (1995), Live At the Concertgebouw (1997), Pacini: Maria, Regina D’Inghilterra (1998), Rossini Gala (2000), Bel Canto Portrait (2001), Mercadante: Emma D’Antiochia (2004).

In 2007, she made her debut at New York City Opera as Agrippina. Nelly has also traveled to South America, where she sang at the famous Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires.

In 2009, she held a series of public master classes as well as a recital at the Guildhall School of Music&Drama in London. The same year she gave a concert at St John’s Smith Square that is a one of London’s well-known concert venues.  In 2010, Nelly Miricioiu performed at the opening concert of London Master Clasess and during the STORIONI Festival in Netherlands.

Read more about Nelly Miricioiu on her website.

alex@romania-insider.com