Maria Carena
Birthplace: Piossasco, near Turin, Kingdom of Italy
An Italian soprano, the first Angelica of the revised Suor Angelica at La Scala. She studied in Turin with Virginia Ferni-Germano and made her debut there in 1917 as Leonora in Il trovatore, a role Puccini admired in her. After Rome, Naples and Buenos Aires she made her La Scala debut in 1922 as Angelica, in the shortened version of the opera, and sang in Milan until 1932, notably as Amelia in Un ballo in maschera. Her Julia in Spontini's La vestale, at Rome in 1932, was much admired. She retired in the early years of the Second World War.
Creations
- Suor Angelica — Suor Angelica (Milan, 1922)
Written from
- Cummings, D. (1992) 'Carena, Maria', in Sadie, S. (ed.) The New Grove Dictionary of Opera. London: Macmillan Reference, vol. 1, p. 731.
- Wikipedia (2026) Maria Carena. (Accessed: 22 September 2026).
- Kutsch, K.J. and Riemens, L. (1987) 'Carena, Maria', in Großes Sängerlexikon. Bern and Stuttgart: Francke, vol. 1, col. 453.