Diana Vico

[2] She specialized in portraying male characters on stage, and appeared in the world premieres of operas by prominent composers of the Baroque period, including works by Antonio Vivaldi and George Frideric Handel among others.

[1][2] She began performing professionally as an opera singer in Venice in 1707; making her debut in Girolamo Polani [ca]’s Vindice la pazzia della vendetta.

[2] Other Italian cities in which Vico appeared in operas included Verona(1708), Ferrara (1711), Padua (1712 and 1718), Mantua (1714), Bologna (1718 and 1721), Genoa (1718 and 1724), Florence (1718–19), Turin (1719), Reggio nell’Emilia (1718–20), Modena (1720) and Milan (1720, 1722, 1726, 1729 and 1732).

[1][2] Her penchant for crossing and challenging gender lines both on and off stage, led the London impresario Owen Swiny to dismiss her as "some He-she-thing or other".

[2] She was engaged by Maximilian II Emanuel, Elector of Bavaria for performances at the Bavarian court in 1720, and returned frequently to Munich over the next decade.