Theatrical to the last, the great soprano Magda Olivero died on La Scala's opening after the summer break. Before Maria Agresta's recital a beautifully worded tribute to Olivero's career, voice and life was read out, and then the audience stood for a minute's silence.
Although Olivero started having difficulties in walking as she reached her 100th birthday - which she celebrated with a conference on her life and art in Mantova - she remained active mentally and participated in a few radio and television shows by phone until recently. She was on holiday in Cogoleto, near Genoa, when she suffered a stroke on 20 August, from which she didn't recover. She died yesterday, at the age of 104, in a hospital in Milan, her adopted home city.
Maybe it isn't surprising that Olivero lived such a full and long life as she was always pushing the age boundary, from her Met début as Tosca when she was 65, to recording a cd of selections from Adriana Lecouvreur when she was 83.
Magda Olivero will be buried in Milan's Monumental Cemetery in the Famedio, a massive Hall of Fame-like Neo-Medieval building at the entrance of the cemetery, where she will be in the company of honoured citizens such as Alessandro Manzoni and Arturo Toscanini. ...continue reading.
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