Leontina Văduva (born 1 December 1960) is a Romanian

soprano A soprano () is a type of classical singing voice and has the highest vocal range of all voice types. The soprano's vocal range (using scientific pitch notation) is from approximately middle C (C4) = 261 Hertz, Hz to A5 in Choir, choral ...

. Born in Roșiile, she studied at the

Bucharest Conservatory The National University of Music Bucharest (, UNMB) is a university-level school of music located in Bucharest, Romania. Established as a school of music in 1863 and reorganized as an academy in 1931, it has functioned as a public university since ...

with

Ileana Cotrubaș Ileana Cotrubaș (; born 9 June 1939) is a Romanian operatic soprano whose career spanned from the 1960s to the 1980s. She was much admired for her acting skills and facility for singing opera in many different languages. Life and career Cotru ...

, and debuted in the title role of ''Manon'' at Toulouse in 1987. A recipient of the Laurence Olivier Opera Award, she has often appeared at

Covent Garden Covent Garden is a district in London, on the eastern fringes of the West End, between St Martin's Lane and Drury Lane. It is associated with the former fruit-and-vegetable market in the central square, now a popular shopping and tourist sit ...

, in ''Rigoletto'' (opposite Ingvar Wixell and Jerry Hadley, 1989), ''Carmen'' (as Micaëla, 1991 and 1994), and ''Roméo et Juliette'' (1994). Leontina Vaduva is the daughter of the Romanian popular music singer Maria Ciobanu. In 2000, Vaduva appeared at the

Metropolitan Opera The Metropolitan Opera is an American opera company based in New York City, currently resident at the Metropolitan Opera House (Lincoln Center), Metropolitan Opera House at Lincoln Center, situated on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. Referred ...

, in six performances of ''La bohème'' (as Mimì, with Luis Lima). The soprano has also sung with the companies of Buenos Aires, Barcelona, Chicago, Cologne, Vienna, and Paris. Her discography includes ''Rigoletto'' (1993), ''Les contes d'Hoffmann'' (as Antonia, with

Roberto Alagna Roberto Alagna (; born 7 June 1963) is a French operatic tenor. He obtained French citizenship in 1981, while also retaining his previous Italian citizenship. Early years Alagna was born in Clichy-sous-Bois, outside the city of Paris, in 1963 t ...

, conducted by

Kent Nagano Kent George Nagano (born November 22, 1951) is an American conductor and opera administrator. Since 2015, he has been ''Generalmusikdirektor'' (GMD) of the Hamburg State Opera (until 2025). Early life and education Nagano was born in Berkeley, ...

, 1994–96), ''La bohème'' (again with Alagna, led by Sir

Antonio Pappano Sir Antonio Pappano (born 30 December 1959) is an English-Italian conductor and pianist. He is currently music director of the Royal Opera House and chief conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra. Early life Pappano was born in Epping, Esse ...

, 1995), and an album of "Opera Arias," conducted by

Plácido Domingo José Plácido Domingo Embil (born 21 January 1941) is a Spanish opera singer, conductor, and arts administrator. He has recorded over a hundred complete operas and is well known for his versatility, regularly performing in Italian, French, ...

(1997). Especially noteworthy is her DVD of ''Roméo et Juliette'', with Alagna, conducted by Sir

Charles Mackerras Sir Alan Charles MacLaurin Mackerras (; (17 November 1925 – 14 July 2010) was an American-born Australian conductor. He was an authority on the operas of Janáček and Mozart, and the comic operas of Gilbert and Sullivan. He was long associ ...

and directed by Nicolas Joël (1994).

References

* ''The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Opera'', Oxford University Press, 1996.

External links

Leontina Vaduva in an excerpt from ''Roméo et Juliette''
(1994). 1960 births Living people Romanian operatic sopranos Laurence Olivier Award winners 21st-century Romanian women opera singers People from Vâlcea County 20th-century Romanian women opera singers National University of Music Bucharest alumni Chevaliers of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres {{Romania-opera-singer-stub