Lella Cuberli (September 29, 1945) is an American
soprano
A soprano () is a type of classical female singing voice and has the highest vocal range of all voice types. The soprano's vocal range (using scientific pitch notation) is from approximately middle C (C4) = 261 Hz to "high A" (A5) = 880&n ...
,
particularly associated with the
Belcanto repertory.
Born Lela Alice Terrell in
Austin, Texas, she studied in Dallas and later in Milan.
She made her professional debut in Siena, in 1973, and for some years pursued her career mainly in Italy, making her mark in
Rossini
Gioachino Antonio Rossini (29 February 1792 โ 13 November 1868) was an Italian composer who gained fame for his 39 operas, although he also wrote many songs, some chamber music and piano pieces, and some sacred music. He set new standards f ...
,
Donizetti and
Bellini
Bellini is an Italian name, Italian surname, formed as a patronymic or plural form of Bellino (surname), Bellino.
People
*Family of Italian painters:
**Jacopo Bellini (c. 1396โc. 1470), father of Gentile and Giovanni
**Gentile Bellini (c. 1429โ ...
operas.
She sang at
Martina Franca from 1976 to 1982, as
Amenaide,
Adalgisa, and in
Paisiello operas. She appeared at
La Scala
La Scala (, , ; abbreviation in Italian of the official name ) is a famous opera house in Milan, Italy. The theatre was inaugurated on 3 August 1778 and was originally known as the ' (New Royal-Ducal Theatre alla Scala). The premiere performan ...
from 1978 to 1985, as
Aminta,
Ginevra,
Rodelinda,
Giunia,
Contessa di Folleville .
Other roles at the major opera houses of Italy have included;
Donna Anna,
Fiordiligi, Rossini's
Elisabetta
Elisabetta is an Italian feminine given name related to Elizabeth.
* Elisabetta Artuso (born 1974), Italian former middle distance runner
* Elisabetta Barbato (1921โ2014), Italian operatic soprano
* Elisabetta Casellati (born 1946), Italian pol ...
and
Desdemona, etc. She also appeared at the
Paris Opรฉra, the
Aix-en-Provence Festival, the
Vienna State Opera and the
Salzburg Festival.
Returning to the United States, she made her debut at the
Lyric Opera of Chicago in 1989, as Amenaide, and at the
Metropolitan Opera in 1990, as
Semiramide. In 1990, she also made her debut at
Covent Garden
Covent Garden is a district in London, on the eastern fringes of the West End, between St Martin's Lane and Drury Lane. It is associated with the former fruit-and-vegetable market in the central square, now a popular shopping and tourist si ...
in London, as
Mathilde.
She can be heard on disc in works by Mozart, notably in
Daniel Barenboim
Daniel Barenboim (; in he, ืื ืืื ืืืจื ืืืื, born 15 November 1942) is an Argentine-born classical pianist and conductor based in Berlin. He has been since 1992 General Music Director of the Berlin State Opera and "Staatskapellmeist ...
's recording cycle of the
Lorenzo Da Ponte's operas, ''
Le nozze di Figaro'', ''
Don Giovanni
''Don Giovanni'' (; K. 527; Vienna (1788) title: , literally ''The Rake Punished, or Don Giovanni'') is an opera in two acts with music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to an Italian libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte. Its subject is a centuries-old Spanis ...
'', ''
Cosi fan tutte''. She also recorded Giunia in Mozart's ''
Lucio Silla'' and the ''Great Mass in C minor'' under
James Levine, the soprano part in
Herbert von Karajan's recording of the Beethoven's
Missa Solemnis
{{Audio, De-Missa solemnis.ogg, Missa solemnis is Latin for Solemn Mass, and is a genre of musical settings of the Mass Ordinary, which are festively scored and render the Latin text extensively, opposed to the more modest Missa brevis. In French ...
and the
9th Symphony, Rossini's ''
Il viaggio a Reims'' and ''
Tancredi'', and Donizetti's ''
Pia de' Tolomei
Pia de' Tolomei was an Italian noblewoman from Siena identified as "la Pia," a minor character in Dante's ''Divine Comedy'' who was murdered by her husband. Her brief presence in the poem has inspired many works in art, music, literature, and cin ...
''. She has also recorded two solo recitals of works by Donizetti, Bellini, Rossini, Pergolesi and Mozart.
Cuberli's voice is not large, but rich and beautiful, and is firmly produced, flexible and used with style. She taught at the University of North Texas during the Spring Semester of 2008.
Sources
* ''Grove Music Online'',
Elizabeth Forbes, Oxford University Press, March 2008.
References
Further reading
Interview with Lella Cuberli January 19, 1989
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cuberli, Lella
1945 births
American operatic sopranos
University of North Texas College of Music faculty
Living people
Musicians from Dallas
Singers from Texas
20th-century American women opera singers
Classical musicians from Texas
Women music educators
21st-century American women