Besanzoni, Gabriella

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Besanzoni, Gabriella

Besanzoni, Gabriella , Italian mezzo-soprano; b. Rome, Sept. 20, 1888; d. there, June 6, 1962. She studied with Hilde Brizzi and Alessandro Maggi. In 1911 she made her operatic debut as a soprano in the role of Adalgisa in Viterbo; in 1913 she sang in Rome as Ulrica; appeared at the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires from 1918. On Nov. 19, 1919, she made her Metropolitan Opera debut in N.Y. as Amneris, singing there for only one season. From 1923 to 1932 she appeared at Milan’s La Scala, making her farewell appearance in Rome in 1939 in her finest role, Carmen. Among her other roles were Isabella, Cenerentola, Dalila, and Mignon.

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire