Ileana Cotrubas was born in Romania and studied at the Bucharest Conservatory and the 
Vienna Academy of Music. She made her debut as Yniold at the Opera Romana in Bucharest. 
After winning the International Singing Competition in Hertogenbosch and the Munich Radio 
Competition, she was invited to the Frankfurt Opera.
International engagements soon followed: the festivals in Salzburg, Glynderbourne and Florence, 
and the two opera houses where she appeared regularly every season: the   Covent Garden, 
and the Wiener Staatsoper.
In 1975  ILeana Cotrubas made her debut at Milan's La Scala in La Bohème. Afterwards she 
performed the role of Mimi during La Scala's first visit to the USA in 1976 and again in 1979, 
when the performance was broadcast around the world on television. She appeared as Mimi 
in Chicago, San Francisco and at the Metropolitan Opera in New York.
Ileana Cotrubas's main repertoire included the roles of Susanna, Zerlina, Pamina, Norina, Gilda, 
Violetta, Mimi, Michaela, Manon, Melisande, Tatyana, among many others. Later in her career 
she also sang Rosalinde, Elizabeth in Don Carlo, Nedda, Margarita, 
Amalia in Simon Boccanegra, Desdemona, and Charlotte.
In addition to opera, ILeana Cotrubas appeared in concerts with the leading European 
orchestras in Vienna, London, Milan, New York, Paris, Munich, Salzburg, Zurich, Geneva, Tokyo, 
Buenos Aires, Rio de Janeiro, Macao and Taiwan.
Her recordings include Bach cantatas, Mozart masses, Haydn's Die Janresreiten, 
Brahms' Requiem, and many complete opera performances, including La Calisto, Rinaldo, 
Cosi fan tutte, Le Nozze di Figaro, Die Zauberflute, L'Elisir d'amore, La Traviata, Rigoletto, 
Les Pecheurs de perles, Carmen, Manon, Luisa Miller, Hänsel und Gretel.
In 1981 Ms. Cotrubas was made Austrian Kammersangerin, and in 1991 an Honorary Member 
of the Wiener Staatsoper. In 1990 she received the order Grande-Official de Sant'Iago da 
Espada from Portugal. She has been an Honorary Citizen of Bucharest since 1995.
In 1990, Ms. Cotrubas retired from the stage to devote her time to working with young singers. 
In 1998 she published her book Opernwahrheiten, which translates as Truth in Opera.

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