Cossotto, Fiorenza

views updated

Cossotto, Fiorenza

Cossotto, Fiorenza , distinguished Italian mezzo-soprano; b. Crescentino, April 22, 1935. After training at the Turin Cons., she studied in Milan at the La Scala opera school with Ettore Campogalliani. While still a student, she sang at La Scala before making her formal operatic debut there as Sister Mathilde in Les Dialogues des Carmelites on Jan. 26, 1957; continued to sing there regularly until 1973, winning special praise for her Verdi roles and as Donizetti’s Leonora. In 1958 she commenced an international career with her appearance in Wexford as Donizetti’s Giovanna Seymour; she then made debuts at the Vienna State Opera (as Maddalena, 1958), London’s Covent Garden (as Neris in Medee, 1959), and the Chicago Lyric Opera (as Donizetti’s Leonora, 1964). On Feb. 6, 1968, she made her Metropolitan Opera debut in N.Y. as Amneris, and continued to sing there with distinction in succeeding years in such roles as Adalgisa, Eboli, Mistress Quickly, Laura, and Carmen. In 1958 she married Ivo Vinco.

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire

More From encyclopedia.com