The Italian soprano Renata Scotto, one of the most important voices of Italian opera and considered its last diva, has died at the age of 89 after a very long career that led her to sing in the best theaters in the world, as well as to direct and teach in recent years.
The great Maria Callas, whom she replaced with notable success in 1957; Luciano Pavarotti, José Carreras and Alfredo Kraus were some of Scotto's scene partners (Savona, 1934), who since 2011 was the widow of the violinist Lorenzo Anselmi. In 2012 she received the Gold Medal from the Liceu.
She made her debut at a very young age, in 1952, in the theater of her native town in the role of Violetta in Traviata and a year later she made her debut at La Scala in Milan alongside Renata Tebaldi and Mario Del Monaco.
In his long career, in which his Spanish teacher Mercedes Llopart was essential, he sang on the main operatic stages of the world, such as the Metropolitan in New York, the Bolshoi in Moscow and the Royal Opera House in London, among others.
He also dedicated himself to directing opera: the first was Madama Butterfly in 1986 at the Metropolitan Opera and later he took it to the Verona Arena, the Miami Opera and Genoa, while in 1995 he directed La Traviata, also in New York.
The soprano, who since 1997 has been a member of the National Academy of Santa Cecilia, has lived in the United States in recent years, where she taught at the Juillard School of Music in New York and at Yale University.
