Miriam Gauci

Miriam Gauci (born 3 April 1957) is a Maltese operatic soprano, particularly associated with lyric Italian roles. Born in Malta, where she began her voice training, she completed her studies in the Conservatorio Giuseppe Verdi of Milan, Italy. After winning a few international prizes, she made her professional debut in Bologna in Francis Poulenc's La voix humaine, in 1984. Her well-managed voice, unified from top to bottom, of moderate volume and fine quality, fitted her well for the lyric Italian repertory and she was soon in demand throughout Europe. She made her La Scala debut in 1985, in the role of Proserpina in the first modern revival of Luigi Rossi's Orfeo. In the following season, she returned in Die Frau ohne Schatten and La Sonnambula. She also appeared in Hamburg, Geneva, and at the Wexford Festival, and sang both Marguerite and Elena in Boito's Mefistofele at the Vienna State Opera. Other roles have included; Donizetti's Anna Bolena, Verdi's Violetta in La Traviata, Gilda in Rigoletto, and Luisa Miller, Donizetti's Adina in Elisir d'Amor, Mozart's Donna Elvira and Illia, and Massenet's title role in Manon. By 1992, Miriam Gauci was already a favourite in Vienna, Munich, Hamburg and Santa Fe. She has collaborated with Riccardo Muti (Mefistofele and Verdi's Requiem at the Salzburg Festival), Georges Prêtre (Verdi's Requiem), Claudio Abbado (Lohengrin at La Scala), Franz Welser-Möst (Don Carlo in Cleveland), Aldo Ceccato, Gianluigi Gelmetti, Zubin Mehta (Don Carl…