Cesira Ferrani
also Cesira Zanazzio
Birthplace: Turin, Kingdom of Italy
An Italian soprano who created two of Puccini's heroines, Manon Lescaut and Mimì, both at Turin's Teatro Regio. She studied in Turin with Antonietta Fricci and made her debut there in 1887 as Micaëla. She created Manon in 1893 and Mimì in 1896, and took Manon to Buenos Aires and Rome. Her roles ran from Massenet's Charlotte and Sapho to Elsa and Eva, and at La Scala in 1908 she was Mélisande in the first Milan Pelléas et Mélisande. She retired the next year, returning in 1928 to record Kate Pinkerton's lines in a complete Madama Butterfly.
Creations
- Mimì — La bohème (Turin, 1896)
- Manon Lescaut — Manon Lescaut (Turin, 1893)
Written from
- Forbes, E. (1992) 'Ferrani [Zanazzio], Cesira', in Sadie, S. (ed.) The New Grove Dictionary of Opera. London: Macmillan Reference, vol. 2, pp. 160-161.
- Wikipedia (2026) Cesira Ferrani. (Accessed: 22 September 2026).