Opera Scotland

Suzanne Danco Suggest updates

Born Brussels, 22 January 1911.

Died Fiesole, 10 August 2000.

Belgian soprano.

Suzanne Danco had notable careers as a recitalist and as an operatic soprano. She was equally adept in the major roles of Mozart and in French repertoire.

She studied in Prague with Fernando Carpi, and made her debut at Florence in Dallapiccola's Volo di notte, moving on to Genoa in 1941 as Fiordiligi. She continued to live in Italy for the rest of her life. At La Scala in 1947 she was Ellen Orford in the local premiere of Peter Grimes.  At the San Caarlo in Naples she sang Marie in Wozzeck in 1949. She was a frequent performer at the Festival in Aix-en-Provence.

Her first operatic appearance in Britain came at the 1948 Edinburgh Festival, where she sang Fiordiligi as a member of the Glyndebourne company. She did not appear at Glyndebourne itself until 1951, when she sang Donna Elvira and Fiordiligi. The same year she made her Covent Garden debut as Mimì.

As well as Donna Elvira and Fiordiligi, her Mozart parts included Cherubino, Countess Almaviva and Donna Anna. Her Italian repertoire embraced roles both comic (Rosina, Adina, Norina) and serious (Violetta, Desdemona). She also sang French roles such as Mélisande, Concepciòn and L'Enfant.