[8] In 1856 after the death of her mother, she continued her education in a Montreal convent-school, run by the Dames du Sacré-Coeur where her father had obtained the position of Music Master.

On 24 August 1860 she and Adelina Patti were soloists in the world premiere of Charles Wugk Sabatier's Cantata in Montreal which was performed in honour of the visit of the Prince of Wales.

[4] However, she was ultimately unable to finance a musical education in Quebec, where singing and acting were considered unsavoury careers for a woman, and her family moved to Albany, New York in 1865.

Her father was unable to give her the training which her very fine voice deserved, but she obtained a place in the cathedral choir, where her singing attracted much attention, as it did in concerts, in which she not only sang but played on both the piano and harp.

[11] Under the guidance of her elocution instructor, Signor Delorenzi, she changed her name to the simpler Emma Albani, which sounded more European.

She later recalled: I was literally loaded with flowers, presents, and poetry, the detached sheets of which were sent fluttering down in every direction on the heads of the audience; and among the numberless bouquets of every shape was a basket in which was concealed a live dove.

They had painted it red, and the dear little bird rose and flew all over the theatre.She returned to Milan after her contract in Messina had expired, to resume her instruction by Lamperti.

[13] Further roles followed in Florence and Malta, with parts in La sonnambula, Lucia di Lammermoor, Robert le diable, The Barber of Seville and L'Africaine.

Before her London contract began, she returned to Italy to study with Lamperti at Lake Como,[15] and then appeared at the Teatro della Pergola in Florence, giving one last series of nine performances in ten days in the title role of Ambroise Thomas's Mignon, a part she studied with the composer in Paris prior to her making her debut in the role.

At Covent Garden, she developed an interest in oratorio after being introduced to it by Sir Julius Benedict and Josiah Pittman, who encouraged her to explore it.

[19] For the 1872–1873 winter season she performed with the Italian Opera at the Salle Ventadour in Paris, where she made her debut as Amina with Victor Capoul as Elvino.

[20] Her second season in London included performances in the roles of Ophelia in Ambroise Thomas' Hamlet and the Countess in Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro.

[22][23] In the fall of 1874, she undertook a tour of the United States, visiting New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington, D.C., Chicago and Albany.

After the season, she performed at the Norwich Festival, where she sang in Mendelssohn's "Hymn of Praise" Symphony-Cantata and Julius Benedict's oratorio The Legend of St. Cecilia.

[8] Afterward she went to Paris and sang at the Théâtre des Italiens, where she was well received, and gave a special performance at the Élysée Palace for Maréchal MacMahon.

[30] On 26 June 1880 she performed Isabella in Ferdinand Hérold's Le pré aux clercs at Covent Garden, a production that was mounted especially for her.

More than ten thousand people showed up to greet her upon her arrival, and at a reception the poet Louis-Honoré Fréchette read a poem that he had written in her honour.

[8] Albani made her debut with New York's Metropolitan Opera on 20 November 1891 as Valentine in Meyerbeer's Les Huguenots, a performance which took place while the company was on tour in Chicago.

Other appearances with the Met in Chicago included another as Valentine, Gilda in Rigoletto, Violetta in Act 1 of Verdi's La traviata (on a double bill with Mascagni's Cavalleria rusticana, in which Emma Eames's sang Santuzza) and Elsa in Wagner's Lohengrin.

[35][36] Further performances in New York included four appearances as Valentine (a role she also performed on tour in Louisville, Albany, Brooklyn, Philadelphia, and Boston), three as Donna Elvira in Mozart's Don Giovanni, three as Eva in Wagner's Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, one more as Gilda, one as Desdemona, one as Elsa, as well as a single appearance as Marguerite in Gounod's Faust.

Albani was not vocally perfect, yet it had so many excellences that her hearers must have been inclined to forgive the departures from the pitch which seem to have become an inseparable accompaniment of her singing of late.

The greatest triumph of her career came on 26 June 1896, when she sang Isolde in Wagner's Tristan und Isolde, with Jean de Reszke in his first London Tristan, Louise Meisslinger as Brangäne, David Bispham as Kurwenal, Édouard de Reszke as King Marke, and Luigi Mancinelli conducting.

[8] Madame Selitsky, the prima donna who performs in Lucy Maud Montgomery's Anne of Green Gables (1908) was inspired by Albani.