Continuing her studies with Lotte Leonard [de] and Pierre Bernac in Paris,[1] her final training was with Elena Gerhardt in London,[1] under whom she graduated from the Royal College of Music in 1950.
[1][2] She achieved international recognition when she appeared in the title role of Angelina in Rossini's La Cenerentola at the 1952 Glyndebourne Festival,[1][3][4] conducted by Vittorio Gui.
In 1956 she first appeared at the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires in the world premiere of Juan José Castro's opera Bodas de Sangre.
[1] After her marriage (1959) to the Italian industrialist Giancarlo Villa, and the birth of their daughter Beatriz in 1961, her career took second place in her life[1] – although she did achieve a major success in Pretoria during 1964, with performances as Azucena, Carmen, and Amneris in Verdi's Aida.
[7] Nevertheless, her small legacy of commercial recordings (supplemented by many off-air performances) assures her a significant place amongst the finest 20th-century operatic mezzo-sopranos.