Maria Callas Biography
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Maria Callas was born Maria Anna Sophia Cecilia Kalogeropoulou in New York on 2 December 1923 to Greek immigrant parents Evangelia and George Kalogeropoulos. In 1937 Evangelia separated from her husband and returned with her two daughters Maria and Jackie to Greece, where she intended to give them the musical education she could not afford in America. Maria began her vocal studies with the soprano Maria Trivella and the following year she became a pupil of Elvira de Hidalgo, who concentrated on coloratura training. The young Mary Kalogeropoulou, as she was then known, made her stage debut at the age of 15 as Santuzza in a student production of Cavalleria rusticana, and in June 1940 she joined the National Theatre company in Athens, and her first engagement was to sing songs in Shakespeare&... read more EMI Classics |
