Renata Scotto is known to millions for her numerous opera performances around the world. 
Since the early 1950s, she has performed in more than 45 different operas and has appeared 
with the world’s most acclaimed singers.
Renata Scotto  made her operatic debut in her home town of Savona, on the Ligurian coast of 
Italy on Christmas Eve of 1952 at the age of 18 in front of a sold-out house as Violetta in 
Verdi’s La Traviata.  She was given the role by winning the Milan Lyric Association competition. 
In 1953, Renata auditioned for the role of Walter in La Scala’s presentation of Alfredo Catalani’s  
La Wally. After her audition, one of the judges, Victor de Sabata, was heard to say, 
“Forget about the rest” and Renata reported for the rehearsal the following Monday. 
By 1957, Renata Scotto had become an Italian celebrity. Near the end of that year, La Scala 
was in Edinburgh presenting Bellini’s La Sonnambula with Maria Callas as Amina. Callas, 
though, had other plans. With two days notice, Renata Scotto replaced Maria Callas as Amina 
on September 3, 1957. The show was a huge success and twenty-three year old Renata Scotto 
became an international sensation.
On October 13, 1965, Renata made her Metropolitan Opera debut as Cio-Cio-San in 
Madama Butterfly. The New York Herald Tribune called it “an occasion for rejoicing, and there 
was plenty of it in the form of  welcoming shouts and applause for the new artist who, above all, 
is distinctly an individual”.
For more than 40 years, Renata Scotto has performed in operas written by 18 composers from 
Bellini to Wolf-Ferrari. She even won an Emmy award for her performance in La Gioconda in 
San Francisco. She is best known for playing Violetta in La Traviata, Cio-Cio-San in 
Madama Butterfly, Mimi (and occasional Musetta) in La Bohème, Lucia in Lucia di Lammermoor, 
Lady Macbeth in Macbeth and Francesca in Francesca da Rimini.
In 1990, she appeared with Ileana Cotrubas and Elena Obraztsova as the original 
“Three Sopranos”. She now produces opera productions and is still singing in productions such 
as Der Rosenkavalier. 
“My aim as a performer has been not to give audiences the impression of a singer enjoying the 
sound of her own voice,but of an interpreter, an artist who seeks to reveal the dramatic truth in 
every operatic score.” – Renata Scotto.


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