Orianna Santunione

Orianna Santunione
Born(1934-09-01)1 September 1934
Sassuolo, Modena, Emilia-Romagna, Italy
Died16 December 2023(2023-12-16) (aged 89)
Milan, Italy
OccupationOpera singer
Years active1960–early 1980s

Orianna Santunione (1 September 1934 – 16 December 2023) was an Italian operatic soprano. She studied in the city of Milan under the tutelage of the Italian singers Carmen Melis and Renato Pastorino and performed at all of the principal theatres in Italy as well as abroad until her retirement from opera singing in the early 1980s.

Biography

Santunione was born in the town of Sassuolo (Ponte Fossa), near the province of Modena, Emilia-Romagna, Italy on 1 September 1934.[1][2][3] When she was young, she moved to Milan.[4] Santunione studied in the city under the tutelage of the Italian singers Carmen Melis and Renato Pastorino.[3][5][6] She sung soprano and made her debut in professional opera at the Teatro Nuovo in Milan as Umberto Giordano's Fedora in 1959.[3][7] Santunione's debut in the United States followed in 1962 as Nedda in Pagliacci at the Dallas Opera and she first appeared at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden in 1965 as Amelia in Giuseppe Verdi's Simon Boccanegra,[5][8][9] also taking on the role at the Vara matinee the following year.[7] She performed at all of Italy's principal theatres, such as La Scala under Riccardo Muti, taking the title role of Giordano’s Madame Sans-Gêne.[5][10]

She received invites to perform abroad, doing so as the title role of Aida in Tokyo in 1973 (of which a DVD of the production was released), the Paris Opera for Il trovatore as Leonora in 1974, Caracas for Il trovatore in 1978; Sydney for Aida, Il trovatore and Nabucco from 1977 to 1978.[7][10][11] Santunione performed at the Carani Theatre in Sassuolo in Tosca in 1970 and was the recipient of the "golden tile" award at the same theatre for giving Sassuolo recognition in 1974.[2][4] She also had roles in Medea in Luigi Cherubini's opera,[3] Elsa, Amelia in Un ballo in maschera, Leonora n La forza del destino, Desdemona in Othello, Santuzza, Maddalena in Andrea Chénier, La Gioconda, Riccardo Zandonai's Francesca da Rimini,[5][9] Elisabetta de Valois in Don Carlos, Minnie in La fanciulla del West,[8] the Macerata Festival (Un ballo in maschera alongside Luciano Pavarotti and Aida with Plácido Domingo),[11] and the Ommagio a Puccini concert in 1976.[3]

Santunione also performed at the opera houses in Amsterdam, Barcelona, Budapest, Caracas, Cincinnati, Genoa, Hamburg, Marseille, Madrid, Munich, Naples, Nice, Palermo, Parma, Philadelphia, Rouen, Sydney, Turin and Venice.[6][9][12] She did not produce many studio recordings of her works and she made the decision to retire from opera singing in the early 1980s.[3] Recordings include Madame Sans-Gêne, Pimmalione and Otello and Lohengrin for Italian television.[6]

Personal life

She died at the Casa di Riposo per Musicisti in Milan on 16 December 2023.[2][13]

References

  1. ^ Dahlhaus, Carl; Döhring, Sieghart, eds. (1997). "S". Pipers Enzyklopädie des Musiktheaters [Piper's Encyclopedia of Musical Theatre] (in German). Munich, Germany: Piper Verlag. p. 627. ISBN 3-492-03972-3 – via Internet Archive.
  2. ^ a b c "Addio all'ugola d'oro. Orianna Santunione" [Farewell to the golden throat. Orianna Santunione]. il Resto del Carlino (in Italian). 17 December 2023. Retrieved 28 December 2025.
  3. ^ a b c d e f Pasternak, Tomasz (17 December 2023). "Odeszła Orianna Santunione. Wybitna włoska sopranistka zmarła w wieku 93 lat" [Orianna Santunione has passed away. The outstanding Italian soprano has died at the age of 93] (in Polish). Orfeo. Retrieved 28 December 2025.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: deprecated archival service (link)
  4. ^ a b "I festeggiamenti per Orianna Santunione" [Celebrations for Orianna Santunione] (in Italian). CaffeDistretto. 8 February 2020. Retrieved 28 December 2025.
  5. ^ a b c d Forbes, Elizabeth (2002). "Santunione, Orianna". Grove Music Online (8th ed.). Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-1-56159-263-0. (subscription, Wikilibrary access, or UK public library membership required)
  6. ^ a b c J. Elster, Robert, ed. (2017). "Santunione, Orianna". International who's Who in Classical Music 2017 (33rd ed.). Abingdon-on-Thames, Oxfordshire: Routledge. p. 773. ISBN 978-1-85743-892-5 – via Internet Archive.
  7. ^ a b c "Orianna Santunione wordt 80 jaar" [Orianna Santunione turns 80] (in Dutch). Opera Nederland. 1 September 2014. Retrieved 28 December 2025.
  8. ^ a b Salazar, Francisco (3 January 2024). "Obituary: Italian Soprano Orianna Santunione Dies at 89". Opera Wire. Retrieved 28 December 2025.
  9. ^ a b c F. Rich, Maria, ed. (1976). "Santunione, Orianna". Who's Who in Opera: An International Biographical Directory of Singers, Conductors, Directors, Designers, and Administrators. New York City, United States: Arno Press. pp. 477–478. ISBN 0-405-06652-X – via Internet Archive.
  10. ^ a b Lebrecht, Norman (3 January 2024). "Death of La Scala soprano, 89". Slipped Disc. Retrieved 28 December 2025.
  11. ^ a b "In memoriam : Orianna Santunione (1934-2023)". Première Loge (in French). 17 December 2023.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: deprecated archival service (link)
  12. ^ "Tosca–Puccini (in Italian)". The Age. 28 February 1976. p. 28. Retrieved 28 December 2025 – via Newspapers.com.
  13. ^ "Morta la soprano sassolese Orianna Santunione" [Sassuolo soprano Orianna Santunione has died]. Sassuolonotizie (in Italian). 19 December 2023. Retrieved 28 December 2025.
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