Pellegrini, Maria

 (Anna) Maria Pellegrini. Soprano, b Pretoro, Italy, 15 Jul 1943, naturalized Canadian 1965. Emigrating to Canada in 1958, she studied 1960-4 withErnesto Vinci at theRCMT, then in London with Joe Macko. She sang with theCOC first (1963) as the High Priestess inAida, then (1965, her debut in a major role) as Gilda inRigoletto. Further COC roles have included Nedda inI Pagliacci (1966), Cio-Cio-San inMadama Butterfly (1971 and 1975), and Violetta inLa Traviata (1974 and 1978). She was a 1967Metropolitan Opera auditions winner and made her debuts at Covent Garden (1968) and Sadler's Wells (1969) as Gilda and Cio-Cio-San respectively.

Specializing in the Puccini repertoire, she has appeared with the Edmonton, Manitoba, Quebec, Southern Alberta (Calgary), and Vancouver operas andOpera Hamilton, and has sung in Genoa, Trieste, Parma, and Catania in Italy, in Pittsburgh and New Orleans in the USA, in Santo Domingo, and with the Welsh National Opera. She appeared in the 1977 CBC TV production ofMadama Butterfly withPierre Duval,Bernard Turgeon,Judith Forst, and a CBC orchestra conducted byJean Deslauriers, and was Musetta in the 1980 production ofLa Bohème in Ottawa.

After her performance in the title role of Opera Hamilton's 1982 production ofMadama Butterfly, Arthur Kaptainis wrote 'Chief among a strong and even cast was Maria Pellegrini... [who] waltzed through all the coquettish fan-fluttering motions with balletic ease. But her performance was still fresh and immediate, thanks to acting that conveyed innocence, an appearance that conveyed youth, and singing that was handsome and intense from beginning to end' (TorontoGlobe and Mail, 18 Sep 1982).