Katia Ricciarelli

Katiuscia Maria Stella "Katia" Ricciarelli (born 16 January 1946) is an Italian soprano and actress.

Biography
Born in Rovigo, Veneto, to a very poor family, she struggled during her younger years. She studied at the Benedetto Marcello Conservatory in Venice, won several vocal competitions in 1968, and made her professional debut as Mimì in Puccini's La bohème in Mantua in 1969. She appeared as Leonora in Verdi's Il trovatore in Parma in 1970. In the following year, she won RAI's "Voci Verdiane" award. Between 1972 and 1975, engagements followed in the major European and American opera houses, including Lyric Opera of Chicago (1972); Teatro alla Scala (1973); Royal Opera House, Covent Garden (1974); and the Metropolitan Opera in 1975. In 1981, she began a decade-long association with the Rossini Opera Festival in Pesaro, thus broadening her repertoire of Rossini's operas.

Beside her many opera performances, she also appeared as Desdemona in Franco Zeffirelli's film version of Verdi's Otello in 1986, alongside Plácido Domingo. In 2005 she won the best actress prize Nastro d'Argento, awarded by the Italian film journalists, for her role in Pupi Avati's La seconda notte di nozze.

In 1991 she founded Accademia Lirica di Katia Ricciarelli, and, since 2003, she has been Artistic Director of the annual summer Macerata Opera Festival. In 2006 she participated in the reality show La fattoria (Italian version of The Farm) on Canale 5.

In 1986, on her 40th birthday, she married Pippo Baudo, a television personality; she filed for divorce in the summer of 2004.

In 2021–2022, she participated in the reality show Grande Fratello VIP 6 (Big Brother VIP 6), getting evicted after 165 days.

Discography

 * Puccini: Suor Angelica (Bruno Bartoletti, 1973) (RCA)
 * Verdi: Simon Boccanegra (Gianandrea Gavazzeni, 1973) (RCA)
 * Verdi: Un ballo in maschera (Claudio Abbado, 1975) (Kultur DVD)
 * Verdi: I due Foscari (Lamberto Gardelli, 1976) (Philips)
 * Verdi: La battaglia di Legnano (Lamberto Gardelli, 1977) (Philips)
 * Puccini: La bohème (Colin Davis, 1979) (Philips/Decca)
 * Puccini: Tosca (Herbert von Karajan, 1979) (Deutsche Grammophon)
 * Verdi: Luisa Miller (Lorin Maazel, 1979) (Deutsche Grammophon)
 * Verdi: Un ballo in maschera (Abbado, 1980) (Deutsche Grammophon)
 * Verdi: Il trovatore (Davis, 1980) (Philips)
 * Verdi: Aida (Abbado, 1981) (Deutsche Grammophon)
 * Puccini: Turandot (as Turandot, Karajan, 1981) (Deutsche Grammophon); (as Liù, Maazel, 1983) (CBS/Sony)
 * Bizet: Carmen (Karajan, 1982) (Deutsche Grammophon)
 * Verdi: Falstaff (Carlo Maria Giulini, 1982) (Deutsche Grammophon)
 * Rossini: La donna del lago (Maurizio Pollini, 1983) (CBS/Sony)
 * Verdi: Don Carlos (Abbado, 1982) (Deutsche Grammophon)
 * Donizetti: L'elisir d'amore (Claudio Scimone, 1984) (Philips)
 * Verdi: Otello (Maazel, 1986) (EMI)
 * Rossini: La gazza ladra (Gelmetti, 1990) (Sony)
 * Bellini: Mass No. 2 in G minor and Giuseppe Geremia's Missa Pro Defunctis 1809 (Douglas Bostock, 1997) (Classico)
 * Verdi: Un ballo in maschera (Giuseppe Patanè, directed by Elijah Moshinsky, 16 February 1980, Metropolitan Opera) (Paramount Home Video)
 * Various: The Metropolitan Opera Centennial Gala (22 October 1983) (Deutsche Grammophon DVD 00440-073-4538, 2009)