Rita Streich (18 December 1920 – 20 March 1987) was a German opera singer, regarded as one of the most admired and recorded lyric coloratura sopranos of the post-war period.

Rita Streich was born in Barnaul, southern Siberia, in the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (RSFSR), to a Russian mother, and a German father who had been a prisoner of war there during the first World War.

Three years later she secured her first engagement at the Staatsoper Unter den Linden in Berlin, where she sang until 1952.

Her repertoire included roles in Idomeneo, Così fan tutte, Die Entführung aus dem Serail, The Magic Flute, The Marriage of Figaro, Don Giovanni, Der Rosenkavalier, Siegfried (the Forest Bird) and others.

Her recording of Puccini's "O mio babbino caro" with the Deutsche Oper Berlin Orchestra conducted by Reinhard Peters, was heard in the 2007 film "Mr. Bean's Holiday" with Rowan Atkinson lip-synching.