Los Ángeles, Victoria de

b. 1923, Barcelona

   Singer

   Born Victoria Gómez Cima, Victoria de los Angeles displayed a talent for music from an early age, and was sent to the Liceo Conservatory in Barcelona, where she studied voice with Dolores Frau, making such rapid progress that she completed the six-year course in half the time. She made her concert début as a soprano in Barcelona in 1944, and sang her first operatic role, as the Countess in The Marriage of Figaro, at the Barcelona Lyric Theatre in 1946. Further operatic roles in Lohengrin, Die Meistersinger, Tannhäuser, Faust and Der Freischütz followed from 1947–9. In 1948 she married Enrique Magriñá Mir, who became her manager. Her career developed rapidly in the 1950s, when she sang at Covent Garden, the New York Metropolitan Opera and La Scala, taking leading roles in, among other works, La Bohème, Madame Butterfly, Manon Lescaut and Otello. Reviewers consistently praised the natural purity of her voice, and her apparently effortless control, which made her particularly suitable for lyrical roles in operas by composers such as Puccini, rather than the heavy dramatic roles demanded by, for example, Wagner's Ring cycle. Her reputation and virtuosity were still undimmed when she sang the title-role in Carmen at the New York City Opera in 1979. Since the 1970s, however, she has concentrated more on recital work, which has also earned her enthusiastic praise. Her recorded repertoire is extensive, including opera and song recitals. She is arguably among the top five female singers in the world this century.

   EAMONN RODGERS