{{Short description|Italian operatic soprano}} thumb|Daniela Dessì, in 2009
'''Daniela Dessì''' (14 May 1957 – 20 August 2016) was an Italian operatic soprano.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://iltirreno.gelocal.it/versilia/cronaca/2016/08/21/news/lutto-nel-mondo-dell-arte-addio-al-soprano-daniela-dessi-1.13992275/|title=Lutto nel mondo della lirica: addio al soprano Daniela Dessì|last=|first=|date=21 August 2016|website=Il Tirreno|publisher=|language=It|access-date=2016-08-22}}</ref>
==Life and career== Born in Genoa, Italy, Dessì completed her studies at the Arrigo Boito Conservatory in Parma and the Accademia Musicale Chigiana in Siena. She made her operatic debut on 7 December 1978 at Sanremo Casino's theatre as Serpina in ''La serva padrona'' by Pergolesi during the season of Savona's Teatro dell'Opera Giocosa.<ref>A copy of the original theatre programme (where her surname is spelled 'Dessy', as was quite usual at the beginning of her career) was shown by Fabio Armiliato during the RAI broadcast of the "Second Daniela Dessì Gala" (recorded at the Teatro Carlo Felice in Genoa on 30 June 2018). It is therefore incorrect to date her debut in 1979, as done for instance by Karl-Josef Kutsch and Leo Riemens in ''Großes Sängerlexikon'', Munich, Saur, 2003, {{p.|1132}}.</ref>
In 1980, she distinguished herself as a finalist at the Maria Callas International Competition organized by Italy's RAI TV.<ref>Vittorio Emiliani, ''[http://www1.adnkronos.com/Archivio/AdnAgenzia/2000/05/12/Spettacolo/RAI-AL-VIA-CONCORSO-INTERNAZIONALE-MARIA-CALLAS-5_132300.php RAI: Al via Concorso Internazionale Maria Callas (5)]'', "Adnkronos", 5 December 2000.</ref> Her international career took her to a variety of opera theatres, singing under the direction of conductors such as Riccardo Muti, Claudio Abbado, and the Metropolitan Opera's James Levine.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.operanews.com/Opera_News_Magazine/2016/8/News/Daniela_Dessi_Versatile_Italian_Soprano.html|title=Daniela Dessì, 59, Most Versatile Italian Soprano of her Generation, Has Died|date=21 August 2016|work=Opera News}}</ref>
Dessì's 2008–2009 season began with ''Tosca'' in Florence, where she performed an encore of "Vissi d'arte", the first encore at Teatro Comunale di Firenze since Renata Tebaldi's "Amami Alfredo" in 1956.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://operachic.typepad.com/opera_chic/2008/10/be-kind-rewind-daniela-dess%25C3%25ACs-gives-first-encore-since-1956-at-maggio-musicale-fiorentino.html|title=Be Kind, Rewind: Daniela Dessì Gives First Encore Since 1956 At Maggio Musicale Fiorentino|website=Opera Chic|access-date=2016-08-21}}</ref> She later performed at the Verdi Theatre in Trieste, and also performed ''Adriana Lecouvreur'' in Palermo, Puccini's ''La fanciulla del West'' in Seville,<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.diariodesevilla.es/article/ocio/381144/pasion/y/teatralidad/la/voz.html|title=Pasión y teatralidad en la voz|last=Mengíbar|first=Andrés Moreno|date=March 22, 2009|website=www.diariodesevilla.es|publisher=|language=Es|access-date=2016-08-21}}</ref> ''Manon Lescaut'' in Warsaw, ''Madama Butterfly'' in Hanover, and ''Aida'' in Verona and Cagliari. She closed the season in Barcelona with ''Turandot''. In January 2009, she opened the season of recital at La Scala.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://archiviostorico.corriere.it/2009/gennaio/21/Daniela_Dessi_conquista_Scala_con_co_7_090121025.shtml |title=Archivio Corriere della Sera |website=archiviostorico.corriere.it |language=It |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111005033205/http://archiviostorico.corriere.it/2009/gennaio/21/Daniela_Dessi_conquista_Scala_con_co_7_090121025.shtml |archive-date=2011-10-05 |access-date=2016-08-21 |url-status=dead }}</ref>
Dessì's partner was the Italian tenor Fabio Armiliato, with whom she frequently performed and recorded. She died of colon cancer at Poliambulanza Hospital in Brescia on 20 August 2016, at age 59.<ref>[http://www.euronews.com/2016/08/21/italian-soprano-daniela-dessi-dies-suddenly Italian soprano Daniela Dessi dies suddenly]; {{in lang|it}} [http://www.ansa.it/sito/notizie/cultura/musica/2016/08/21/morta-la-soprano-daniela-dessi_08feb175-edeb-4d4e-a438-96971df8b0a1.html ANSA: Morta la soprano Daniela Dessì].</ref>
==Repertoire== {{div col}} Giuseppe Verdi *''Ernani'', Elvira *''Luisa Miller'', Luisa *''Rigoletto'', Gilda *''Il trovatore'', Leonora *''La traviata'', Violetta *''I Vespri Siciliani'', Elena *''Simon Boccanegra'', Amelia *''Un ballo in maschera'', Amelia *''La forza del destino'', Leonora *''Don Carlos'', Elisabetta *''Aida'', Aida *''Otello'', Desdemona *''Falstaff'', Alice
Giacomo Puccini *''Manon Lescaut'', Manon *''La bohème'', Mimì *''Tosca'', Tosca *''Madama Butterfly'', Cio-Cio-San *''La fanciulla del West'', Minnie *''Il tabarro'', Giorgetta *''Suor Angelica'', Angelica *''Gianni Schicchi'', Lauretta *''Turandot'', Turandot / Liù
Vincenzo Bellini *''Norma'', Norma
Gaetano Donizetti *''Maria Stuarda'', Maria *''Lucrezia Borgia'', Lucrezia *''Alina, regina di Golconda'', Alina *''Don Pasquale'', Norina *''L'elisir d'amore'', Adina *''Le convenienze ed inconvenienze teatrali'', Corilla *''Poliuto'', Paolina
Gioachino Rossini *''Ciro in Babilonia'', Amira *''Il signor Bruschino'', Sofia *''La pietra del paragone'', Fulvia<ref>[http://www.teatroallascala.org/archivio/interpreti.aspx?lang=it-IT&id_allest=11114&id_event=6598&id_allest_conc=&uid=41163b75-0df6-45d8-9c0e-41e7e61bf80e&objecttype=base Archive Teatro alla Scala] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160826164503/http://www.teatroallascala.org/archivio/interpreti.aspx?lang=it-IT&id_allest=11114&id_event=6598&id_allest_conc=&uid=41163b75-0df6-45d8-9c0e-41e7e61bf80e&objecttype=base |date=2016-08-26 }}.</ref> *''Elisabetta, regina d'Inghilterra'', Matilde *''Mosè in Egitto'', Amaltea *''Guglielmo Tell'', Matilde *''Il Barbiere di Siviglia'', Berta
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart *''Le nozze di Figaro'', Contessa *''Così fan tutte'', Fiordiligi *''Don Giovanni'', Donna Elvira *''La Clemenza di Tito'', Vitellia
Pietro Mascagni *''Cavalleria rusticana'', Santuzza *''Iris'', Iris
Umberto Giordano *''Andrea Chénier'', Maddalena *''Fedora'', Fedora *''La cena delle beffe'', Ginevra
Francesco Cilea *''Adriana Lecouvreur'', Adriana
Ruggero Leoncavallo *''Pagliacci'', Nedda *''I Medici'', Simonetta
Christoph Willibald Gluck *''Iphigénie en Tauride'', Iphigénie *''Orfeo ed Euridice'', Euridice
Claudio Monteverdi *''L'incoronazione di Poppea'', Poppea
Georg Friedrich Händel *''Giulio Cesare'', Sesto Pompeo
Arrigo Boito *''Mefistofele'', Margherita
Georges Bizet *''Carmen'', Micaela
Giovanni Battista Pergolesi *''La serva padrona'', Serpina *''Adriano in Siria'', Sabina *''Il Flaminio'', Flaminio
Domenico Cimarosa *''Gli Orazi e i Curiazi'', Curiazio *''Le astuzie femminili'', Bellina *''Il convito'', Lisetta
Jacques Offenbach *''Les Contes d'Hoffmann'', Antonia
Amilcare Ponchielli *''La Gioconda'', Gioconda
Sergei Prokofiev *''Igrok'', Polina
Nino Rota *''Il cappello di paglia di Firenze'', Elena
Antonio Salieri *''Les Danaïdes'', Ipermestra
Tommaso Traetta *''Le serve rivali'', Carlina
Antonio Vivaldi *''Farnace'', Selinda
Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari *''Sly'', Dolly
Riccardo Zandonai *''Francesca da Rimini'', Francesca {{div col end}}
== Discography == * Giuseppe Verdi: ''I Vespri Siciliani,'' recorded 2010 for the Verdi Bicentenary, with Fabio Armiliato and Leo Nucci, Orchestra of Teatro Regio Di Parma, Massimo Zanetti (conductor). * Giuseppe Verdi: ''La Traviata''. Orchestra del Teatro Regio di Parma, John Neschling, conductor. SoloVoce * Giuseppe Verdi: ''Aida''. Armiliato, Fiorillo. Opus Arte (BBC) * ''Daniela Dessì sings Verdi''. Orchestra della Fondazione Toscanini, Steven Mercurio, conductor. Decca * Giacomo Puccini: ''Madama Butterfly''. Armiliato, Pons, Plácido Domingo, conductor. Dynamic * Giacomo Puccini: ''Tosca''. Armiliato, Raimondi. Opus Arte (BBC) * Giacomo Puccini: ''Manon Lescaut''. Armiliato, Vanaud, Mercurio. Real Sound * ''Puccini Arias''. Orchestra dell'Arena di Verona, Marco Boemi, conductor. Decca * Francesco Cilea: ''Adriana Lecouvreur''. Borodina, Larin, Guelfi; Rizzi-Brignoli. TDK * Domenico Cimarosa: ''Gli Orazii e i Curiazii''. Angeloni, Bolognesi, Alaimo; De Bernart, conductor. Bongiovanni * Umberto Giordano: ''Andrea Chénier''. Armiliato, Guelfi, Rinaldi; Orchestra Sinfonica Verdi Milano, Vjekoslav Šutej, conductor. Universal * Gioachino Rossini: ''Il barbiere di Siviglia''. Raffanti, Depuy, Portella; Zedda, conductor. Frequenz * Gioachino Rossini: ''Ciro in Babilonia''. Palacio, Calvi, Antonucci; Rizzi, conductor. Bongiovanni * Enrico Toselli: ''Le Romanze Ritrovate''. Armiliato, Leonardo Previero, piano. Real Sound * Antonio Vivaldi: ''Il Farnace''. Dupuy, Angeloni, Malakova, Gamberucci; De Bernart, conductor. Arkadia Fonit Cetra/Agora Musica * ''Love Duets''. conductor: Marco Boemi. Philips * Various authors, ''Ave Maria''. Decca, 2012. Roberto Scarpa Meylougan, organ.
==Awards== * Premio Flaviano Labó (2010) * Premio Operaclick (2009) * Premio Città di Varese (2009) * Premio Myrta Gabardi (2009) * Pentagramma d'Oro Comune di Marnate (2009) * Premio Abbiati (2008) * Regina della Lirica dalla Associazione Tiberini a San Lorenzo in Campo (2007) * Premio Le Muse (2007) * Premio Zenatello Arena di Verona * Premio Giordano Comune di Baveno * Premio Giacomo Puccini Torre del Lago * Premio Cilea di Reggio Calabria * Gigli d’Oro Comune di Recanati * Premio Liguria Comune di Genova * Premio E. Mazzoleni Palermo * Mascagni d’Oro Bagnara di Romagna * Premio Giuditta Pasta Saronno
==References== <references/>
==External links== *[http://www.danieladessi.com Official website] *{{imdb name|0221781}} *[https://www.streamopera.com/catalogo-p2.php?categoria=interpreti&id=285 Streamopera.com/Daniela Dessì] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141128012226/https://www.streamopera.com/catalogo-p2.php?categoria=interpreti&id=285 |date=2014-11-28 }} *[http://www.bruceduffie.com/dessi.html Interview with Daniela Dessì], January 15, 1999
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Dessi, Daniela}} Category:1957 births Category:2016 deaths Category:Deaths from colorectal cancer in Lombardy Category:Italian operatic sopranos Category:Singers from Genoa Category:21st-century Italian women opera singers Category:20th-century Italian women opera singers Category:Accademia Musicale Chigiana alumni Category:Parma Conservatory alumni