Maria Callas

About Maria Callas

Maria Callas Commendatore OMRI (born Maria Anna Cecilia Sofia Kalogeropoulos, Greek: Μαρία Άννα Καικιλία Σοφία Καλογεροπούλου) was an American-born Greek soprano who was one of the most renowned and influential opera singers of the 20th century. Many critics praised her bel canto technique, wide-ranging voice and dramatic interpretations. Her repertoire ranged from classical opera seria to the bel canto operas of Donizetti, Bellini, and Rossini, and further to the works of Verdi and Puccini, and in her early career to the music dramas of Wagner. Her musical and dramatic talents led to her being hailed as La Divina ("The Divine One").

Born in Manhattan, New York City, to Greek immigrant parents, she was raised by an overbearing mother who had wanted a son. Maria received her musical education in Greece at age 13 and later established her career in Italy. Forced to deal with the exigencies of 1940s wartime poverty and with near-sightedness that left her nearly blind onstage, she endured struggles and scandal over the course of her career. She underwent a mid-career weight loss, which might have contributed to her vocal decline and the premature end of her career.

The press exulted in publicizing Callas' temperamental behavior, the alleged Callas-Tebaldi rivalry, and her love affair with Greek shipping tycoon Aristotle Onassis. Although her dramatic life and personal tragedy have often overshadowed Callas the artist in the popular press, her artistic achievements were such that Leonard Bernstein called her "the Bible of opera", and her influence so enduring that, in 2006, Opera News wrote of her: "Nearly thirty years after her death, she's still the definition of the diva as artist—and still one of classical music's best-selling vocalists.

Callas has been portrayed on Broadway by Zoe Caldwell (1995), Patti LuPone (1996), Dixie Carter (1997), and Tyne Daly (2011). Caldwell won a Tony Award for her performance. Faye Dunaway starred in the 1996 national tour.

"La diva", on Celine Dion's 2007 French language album D'elles is about Maria Callas. The track samples the 1956 recording of La bohème.

Monica Bellucci played Callas for an evocation telling the singer's story through her own letters and words in a theater show directed by Volf, Maria Callas' Letters and Memoirs, which began at the end of November 2019 at the Théâtre Marigny in Paris

In October 2022, Angelina Jolie was announced to star in an upcoming biopic, Maria directed by Pablo Larraín. Jolie will portray Callas in the 1970s during her decline.