Opera Scotland

Margherita Carosio Suggest updates

Born Genoa, 7 June 1908.

Died Genoa, 10 January 2005.

Italian soprano.

Margherita Carosio had a long and successful career at the major Italian houses. She made her debut at Novi Ligure in 1927 as Lucia, and made rapid progress. Appearances at La Scala from 1929 include the creation of the role of Egloge in Mascagni's Nerone (1935) and the title role in the first Scala performance of Menotti's Amelia al ballo (1954). She also worked abroad from Barcelona to Cairo.

Her first appearances in Britain were at Covent Garden in 1929 as Musetta. She also sang Xenia in Boris Godunov, with the Boris of Shalyapin. She returned to Covent Garden in 1946 as a member of the Naples San Carlo company, in a repertoire including Violetta, Rosina and Nedda. When the company from La Scala came to the Royal Opera House in 1950 she sang Adina. She later joined Eugene Iskoldoff's Italian company that toured the British provinces in autumn 1954. The dates included Bournemouth, Bristol, Liverpool, Glasgow, Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Newcastle, Manchester, Leeds and Streatham. On this tour she sang Mimì, Adina and Massenet's Manon. Whether she came on the Scottish leg of the tour is yet to be confirmed.

Her recordings include Menotti's Amelia al ballo as well as L'elisir d'amore. The latter was recorded in 1952 at the Rome Opera with Nicola Monti, Tito Gobbi and Melchiorre Luise, conducted by Gabriele Santini..