Gilda Cruz-Romero (1940-present)

Mexican soprano. She studied at the Mexico City Conservatory and made her début with the National Opera as Ortlinde (Die Walküre) in 1962. In 1969 she sang in Mefistofele with New York City Opera, and in 1970 made her Metropolitan début as Butterfly followed by continuing engagements as Nedda, Leonora (Il trovatore), Desdemona, Elisabeth de Valois and Puccini’s Manon Lescaut, among other roles. She achieved particular success as Tosca and Aida, singing the latter role in her Covent Garden début (1972) and at La Scala (1973). She toured to Moscow with the La Scala company in 1974, and appeared at the Vienna Staatsoper, as Leonora (Forza del destino), and in Australia, South America and the USSR. In 1987 she sang Cherubini’s Medea at Bridgeport, Connecticut, and Matilde in the first American performance of Mascagni’s Silvano at Englewood, New Jersey, in 1989; she also sang in several seasons at the Verona Arena. A dramatic soprano of strongly expressive vocal timbre and stage presence, she developed a career as a concert soloist as well as an opera singer.