Santa Biondo
| Santa Biondo | |
|---|---|
Santa Biondo, 1929
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| Born |
December 3, 1892 San Mauro Castelverde, Sicily |
| Died | February 15, 1989 (aged 96) Stamford, Connecticut |
| Occupation | Opera singer |
| Years active | 1927–1938 |
Santa Biondo (December 3, 1892, San Mauro Castelverde, Sicily – February 15, 1989, Stamford, Connecticut) was an American opera star whose career spanned from 1927 to 1938.
Santa Biondo was born on December 3, 1892 on Via Serra, San Mauro Castelverde, Sicily. She immigrated to 106 Wallace Street, New Haven, Connecticut with her father Mauro, her mother Giuseppa, her sister Angela, and her brother Mauro Jr. on October 2, 1907 They were received by Santa's older brother, Domenico Biondo, who was already living at Wallace Street at that time.
Three years later, in 1910, the United States Census shows the family living in New Haven at the same address. The census indicates that Biondo was 18 years old and working in a tailor's shop. By 1920, the family had moved to Saint John Street in New Haven, and Santa Biondo was married to her first husband, Salvatore Mazullo. Mazullo was the proprietor of a tailor shop, perhaps the same one where Santa Biondo worked before.
However, Biondo's destiny was in music. Encouraged by her brother in-law, Biondo was tutored by professional opera teachers in New Haven and New York, including Enrico Rosati, whose other famous students include Beniamino Gigli and Mario Lanza. Biondo began her professional career in 1927, when she went on tour with the San Carlo Opera Company and the American Opera Company.
Santa Biondo appears in a newspaper story printed in the May 12, 1929 edition of The Hartford Courant, where she is stated to have been preparing for her debut with the Metropolitan Opera Company ("Met") in New York City after separate auditions with Arturo Toscanini and the Met staff. A copy of her Met employment contract indicates that her starting pay was $75 a week with a year-by-year renewal provision through 1933.
The author of The Hartford Courant article described Biondo's voice as a "lyric-dramatic soprano, lyric for its 'facility of emission' and dramatic for its power and fullness of expression. It is a rare and much sought after combination." Biondo sang in Italian, French and English.
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