Victoria de los Angeles

Victoria de los Ángeles was one of the most celebrated sopranos of the 20th century, renowned for her expressive and versatile voice, her elegant musicianship, and her charismatic stage presence. She was born in Barcelona, Spain, in 1923, to a musical family. She studied voice, piano and guitar at the Barcelona Conservatory, where she graduated with honors in 1941. She made her operatic debut as Mimì in La bohème at the Liceu Theatre in Barcelona in 1941, and soon became a leading soprano in Spain. She won the first prize at the Geneva International Music Competition in 1947, which launched her international career. She sang at the major opera houses of Europe and America, including Paris, Milan, London, New York, Buenos Aires, Vienna and Bayreuth. She was especially admired for her roles in Italian and French opera, such as Butterfly, Manon, Mélisande, Violetta and Carmen. She also excelled in German lieder and Spanish songs, which she recorded extensively. She collaborated with some of the finest conductors, pianists and singers of her time, such as Thomas Beecham, Herbert von Karajan, Gerald Moore, Elisabeth Schwarzkopf and Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau. She was known for her warm and generous personality, as well as her modesty and humility. She married Enrique Magriñá Mir in 1948 and had two sons with him. She balanced her family life with her artistic career until the death of her husband in 1991. She retired from the stage in 1998, after the death of one of her sons. She died in Barcelona in 2005, at the age of 81. She was buried in the Montjuïc Cemetery, next to her husband and sons. Her legacy lives on through her recordings, her foundation and festival dedicated to the lied genre, and her influence on generations of singers and music lovers.