Giulietta Simionato

In 1933 she won the first "bel canto competition" in Florence against 385 competitors and got an audition at the Teatro alla Scala, Milan.

The result was positive, but the artistic director Fabbroni found her voice still immature and invited her to return a few years later.

[2] In 1959 she made her debut at the Metropolitan Opera, as Azucena in Il Trovatore, with Carlo Bergonzi, Antonietta Stella, and Leonard Warren.

[6] Simionato had a large repertory including Rossini's Rosina and Cinderella, Charlotte in Werther, and Carmen.

She also excelled in the Verdian repertoire, as Amneris, Eboli and Azucena, and as Santuzza in Mascagni's Cavalleria rusticana.

She was a major recording artist, and in addition many of her performances gained live radio broadcast or were captured on film.