Maria Callas

Maria Callas stands among the most enduring figures in twentieth-century opera, her renown extending well beyond the confines of classical performance and fueling multiple films along with the acclaimed Broadway drama “Master Class.” Her vast recorded legacy continues to provoke strong admiration and debate among listeners on both sides of the divide.

Although born in the United States as Maria Anne Sofia Cecilia Kalogeropoulos to Greek parents, Callas moved at thirteen with her mother back to Greece amid the economic strains of the Great Depression. There she trained at the Royal Academy of Music in Athens under the guidance of Spanish coloratura soprano Elvira de Hidalgo, advancing swiftly enough to portray Santuzza in a student staging of Cavalleria rusticana; her first professional appearance, at sixteen, came in a supporting part in von Suppé’s Boccaccio.

While remaining in Athens through World War II, she delivered her initial Tosca in 1942. Returning to the United States in 1945, she gave several auditions that yielded no immediate engagements. Her 1947 Verona portrayal of La Gioconda drew the notice of Tullio Serafin, who thereafter served for many years as her principal musical guide, coach, and frequent conductor.

The operatic world was taken aback in 1949 when, already committed to Brünnhilde in Die Walküre in Venice, she accepted the role of Elvira in Bellini’s I Puritani and alternated the two demanding parts within the same week. Later that year she journeyed to Buenos Aires for Turandot and Norma. In 1950 she appeared as Aida at the Teatro alla Scala, though she did not join the company on a regular basis until 1952. That same summer in Mexico City she sang Norma, Aida, Tosca, and Il trovatore across a single month. During this formative period she undertook nearly every part offered, among them Isolde, Leonore in La forza del destino, Constanza in Mozart’s Die Entführung aus dem Serail, and Elena in I vespri siciliani.

With greater experience she narrowed her focus to a select group of works—Cherubini’s Medea, Bellini’s Norma, Puccini’s Tosca, Bellini’s La Sonnambula, and Donizetti’s Anna Bolena—while most other roles received only isolated runs. After 1959 she seldom returned to the operatic stage, limiting herself to concert appearances across America and Europe. Her final staged performances occurred in June 1965 in Paris, again as Norma. She emerged from retirement in 1973 for a worldwide recital tour alongside Giuseppe di Stefano; although lucrative, the venture added little to her artistic standing. In 1971 she conducted a well-received series of masterclasses at the Juilliard School of Music in New York. She died suddenly of a heart attack in her Paris apartment in 1977.

Callas remains one of the most polarizing vocal artists of the last century. Possessing a range that extended from high E down to the F below the staff and an instinctive grasp of bel canto idiom, she distinguished herself above all by the fierce dramatic conviction she brought to her characterizations, an approach seldom matched before her time.

In 2018, photorealistic video projection technology restored Callas to the stage for a fresh tour. The production Callas in Concert presents an interactive likeness of the singer performing some of her signature recordings with a live orchestra.