Eugenia Burzio

Eugenia Burzio (20 June 1882 – 16 May 1922) was an Italian operatic dramatic soprano known for her vibrant voice and passionate style of singing.

She made her professional début as Santuzza, in Pietro Mascagni's Cavalleria rusticana, at the Teatro Vittorio Emmanuel, Turin in 1899.

She went on to enjoy a highly successful career throughout her homeland as a lyric-dramatic soprano, although her ardent, larger-than-life mode of vocalism was not calculated to appeal to the taste of more conservative British and American audiences and she never sang at Covent Garden or the Metropolitan Opera.

Burzio was a magnetic actress and she became particularly associated with the music of the verismo school of composers, exemplified by Mascagni, Catalani, Leoncavallo, Umberto Giordano and, to a certain extent, Puccini.

She was a star performer with a fanatical following at Italy's pre-eminent opera house, La Scala, Milan, during the first two decades of the 20th century.