Zeani, Virginia (1928– )

Romanian soprano. She sang Violetta at her debut at Bologna, in 1948, and repeated the role in London, Paris, New York (at the Metropolitan Opera House, in 1966), and at the Bolshoi Theatre, Moscow. She sang at La Scala, Milan from 1956 as Handel's Cleopatra, Rossini's Desdemona, and Blanche in the first performance of Poulenc's Les Carmélites, in 1957. She was successful as Lucia, Alzira, and Maria di Rohan, and later sang Verdi's Desdemona, Leonora (La forza del destino), and Aïda, as well as Puccini's Manon and Tosca. From 1980 she taught in the USA, at Indiana University, Bloomington.