Elena Cernei

In 1963, she was made Artistă Emerită (Honoured Artist) of the Republic of Romania and in 1999 received the degree of Doctor Honoris Causa from the National University of Music Bucharest for her contributions to the field of musicology.

Outside of Romania she sang at La Scala, the New York Metropolitan Opera, Opéra National de Paris, Bolshoi Theatre, Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona, La Monnaie in Brussels, and the Palacio de Bellas Artes in Mexico City.

She performed with the company from 1965 to 1968 where in addition to Dalila, she sang Amneris in Aida, Maddalena in Rigoletto, Princess di Bouillon in Adriana Lecouvreur, and the title role in Carmen.

Other roles which she sang during her career included: Azucena in Il trovatore, Clytemnestra in Iphigénie en Aulide, Arsace in Semiramide, Rosina in The Barber of Seville, Ulrica in Un ballo in maschera, Princess Eboli in Don Carlos, Laura and La Cieca in La Gioconda, Cherubino in Le nozze di Figaro, Jocaste in Œdipe, and Orfeo in Orfeo ed Euridice.

She settled in Rome with her husband, the physician and musicologist Stephan Poen, and in her later years taught voice and served on the juries of several singing competitions in Italy and Romania.