Maria Callas - Her Life

Kostios, A., 2007, From "Greek Melodrama" to the Greek National Opera, in Anna Karapanou (ed.) Maria Callas: 30 Years after  (Athens: The Hellenic Parliament Foundation for Parliamentarism and Democracy), pp.126

1923 - Sophia Cecilia Anna Maria Kalogeropoulou is born in New York

8 Years old - She starts taking music and solfeggio lessons

11 years old - She wins the 1st prize in the WOR Competition

12 years old - First recording of the young soprano signing Puccini's Un Bel Di Vedremo

14 years old - She participated in her school performance of HMS Pinafore by William Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan. After her parents divorce, she returns to Athens with her mother. She started having singing lessons with Maria Trivella at the National Conservatorium in Athens.

16 years old - She performs Santuzza from Cavalleria Rusticana, during a school show. She also starts her singing lessons with Elvira De Hidalgo and she sings arias from Bellini's Norma and La Sonnambula as well as Puccini arias.

17 years old - She performs more arias from Puccini operas as well as Verdi's. She is also hired by the Greek National Opera

18 years old - She makes her debut as Beatrice in the operetta Boccaccio of Suppe.

19 years old - She makes her debut as Tosca in Puccini's Tosca.

21 years old - She performs in D'Albert's Tiefland, Beethoven's Fidelio and Kalomoiri's Protomastoras.

22 years old - She moves to New York with her father and starts working with Metropolitan Opera

24 years old - She studies the role of Turandot, in order to perform in Chicago but the performance is cancelled. Callas meets Giovanni Zenatello, the artistic director of Arena di Verona. She auditions for the role of Ponchielli's Gioconda and she moves to Italy to perform. That is the moment where her international career begins. She also meets maestro Tullio Serafin who plays a vital role in the artistic development. The same year she met Giovanni Batista Meneghini. His financial stability helps Callas to concentrate entirely on her career.

25 years old - She performs Bellini's Norma in Florence.

26 years old- She marries Giovanni Batista Meneghini. She also performs Bellini's Norma in Buenos Aires.

27 years old - She performs in Mexico

28 years old - She opens the season at the Teatro alla Scala in Milan. Callas performs in six different works from different eras in one season, a record for any opera singer of that time.

31 years old- She loses 30 kilos

32 years old - She continues to perform at the Teatro alla Scala in Milan.

33 years old - She performs for the first time at the Metropolitan Opera

34 years old - She performs at the Odeon of Herodes Atticus in Athens. Two months later she meets Artistole Onasis.

35 years old- She performs as Media in Cherubini's work at the Music Hall in Dallas

36 years old - She divorced Meneghini.

37 years old - She opens the season at the Teatro alla Scala in Milan, for the last time. She also performs at the Ancient Theatre at the Asclepieion of Epidaurus in Greece

38 years old - She performs as Media in Cherubini's work at the Ancient Theatre at the Asclepieion of Epidaurus in Greece

41 years old- She performs in Zefirelli's production of Puccini's Tosca at the Royal Opera House. The performance is considered a massive success by the music critics. She also performs in Bellini's Norma at the Theatre National del' Opera in Paris. The first signs of her vocal fatigue start to emerge.

42 years old - She performs for the last time in Zefirelli's production of Puccini's Tosca at the Royal Opera House

43 years old - She became a Greek Citizen. That way, she is officially divorced from Meneghini.

45 years old - Onassis married Jackie Kennedy. Callas is devastated.

47 years old - She films Medea by Euripides. The film is not a success. In the same year she attempts to commit suicide.

48 years old - She teaches masterclasses at The Juilliard School in New York.

49 years old - She records various duets with tenor Giuseppe di Stefano. Due to her father's death the recordings stop.

50 years old - Her last tour took place with tenor Giuseppe di Stefano. 

51 years old - She performs in Japan.

52 years old - Her death. 

1979 - Her ashes are spread in the Aegean Sea.

Kostios, A., 2007, From "Greek Melodrama" to the Greek National Opera, in Anna Karapanou (ed.) Maria Callas: 30 Years after  (Athens: The Hellenic Parliament Foundation for Parliamentarism and Democracy)

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