The late, great tenor Luciano Pavarotti once wrote, “It was an extraordinary experience for me to sing with Virginia Zeani. I learned very much from her intensity and commitment to her art as well as from her great musicality. . . . To have sung these works (La traviata and Lucia di Lammermoor) with her for the first time was, of course, an incredible experience for me.”
For decades, Romanian soprano Zeani has touched and influenced those around her through her art, musicianship, integrity, and unique vocal gift on stage, with a truly humble and compassionate presence once the curtain fell. Now retired from the performance world, today Zeani continues to share her gifts through her teaching.
Born in Solov stru, a village in central Transylvania in Romania, Zeani began taking voice lessons in Bucharest at the tender age of 13. She later studied with famed Russian soprano Lydia Lipkowska, who molded Zeani into a soprano liricoleggiero. In March 1947, at the age of 21 and with an established vocal range from low G to top F, Zeani traveled to Italy to study with the veteran tenor Aureliano Pertile.
In addition to the help she received from Pertile, Zeani also worked with Toscanini’s coaches at La Scala. The traditions passed on to her by Narducci, Fornarini, Gennai, and Tonini in Milan and by Piazza, Marini, and Luigi Ricci (who had been a repetiteur for Puccini and Mascagni) in Rome aided her dramatic ability to create characters with her voice. It was here that Zeani learned the art associated with the science of singing, a style of teaching that is rare today.
In May 1948, at the Teatro Duse in Bologna, Zeani made her debut in Verdi’s La traviata. Her rare combination of voice, dramatic commitment, and physical beauty made her debut an enormous success. The role of Verdi’s heroine would remain in her repertoire for the rest of her career, performing it more than 600 times throughout the world. Zeani also sang such roles as Mimì in La bohème, Gilda in Rigoletto, Marguerite in Faust, the Manon of Massenet, and Adina in L’elisir d’amore, which she sang in Cairo, Egypt, with Beniamino Gigli.
Zeani’s Florentine debut was in 1952 in I puritani. It was in this production that she met and worked with her husband-to be, Nicola Rossi-Lemeni.
In 1956, the Teatro alla Scala in Milan offered her the role of Cleopatra in Handel’s Giulio Cesare, with a cast that included Franco Corelli, Giulietta Simionato and, in the title role, Rossi-Lemeni. Three months later, she and Rossi-Lemeni married. One year later, their son, Alessandro, was born.
For the world premiere of Francis Poulenc’s Les dialogues des Carmélites at La Scala in January 1957, Zeani was cast in the leading role of Blanche. She was now in demand throughout Italy and Europe and sang in most of the European capitals as well as in Russia, South America, and South Africa.
Zeani’s American debut took place in 1958 in Philadelphia, again as Cleopatra. Her repertoire gradually extended from Bel Canto lyric coloratura roles to the spinto and dramatic roles of Verdi and Puccini. Her career also encompassed contemporary works. She would sing a total of 69 major operatic roles throughout her career.
She has performed with some of the most world-renown singers of her time, from Beniamino Gigli to Mario del Monaco, Giuseppe di Stefano, Franco Corelli, Alfredo Kraus, Jon Vickers, Luciano Pavarotti, Plácido Domingo, Renato Bruson, Piero Cappuccilli, Tito Gobbi, and Rossi-Lemeni. And conductors have been high in their praise for Zeani, from the maestro Tullio Serafin to Herbert von Karajan and Zubin Mehta.
Zeani received many awards and honors throughout her career, including gold medals from the Opera of Barcelona as well as from King Farouk and the Egyptian government, the Gold Diapason of the Arena in Verona, the Verdi Prize of Busseto, and the Puccini Prize of Torre del Lago. She also was decorated by the Italian government as Commendatore of the Italian Republic.
Settling in American in 1980, Zeani and Rossi-Lemeni began teaching careers as professors of voice at the Indiana University School of Music in Bloomington. Zeani’s own public singing career drew to a close in late 1982 in the San Francisco Opera production of Les dialogues des Carmélites. Her husband was honored by being named Distinguished Professor in 1990, but died a few months later. Zeani continued to teach at the university until 2004 and, following in the footsteps of her late husband, was nominated and received the Distinguished Professor award in 1994.
Relocating to West Palm Beach, Florida, in 2004, Zeani continues to devote much of her life to teaching some of today’s most promising emerging opera singers. “I love my life as a teacher,” she says. “In fact, I have had three lives: one to learn, one to act, and one to teach.”
Zeani’s audiences today are made up of both voice students and teachers. She prides herself on being able to pass on the secrets of singing in a manner and form which can be easily understood and accessible to students. If the proof is in the pudding, Zeani’s got that, too. Her students are finalists and winners in the annual Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions nearly every year.
Many great singers take up teaching following brilliant careers, Zeani says. But few have the patience, intelligence, and tolerance to pass on their knowledge. Zeani has been credited by both her students and peers as unique in having and sharing these singular gifts.
What was your reaction to receiving Classical Singer’s Teacher of the Year award?
I was extremely happy to have the announcement that I received the Teacher of the Year award. It was a touching surprise to learn that in recognition and honor of my 30th year of teaching, so many of my current and former students, colleagues, and friends from around the world nominated me for this award.
Describe your teaching style. When you work with vocalists, what is your ultimate goal and how do you achieve it?
It depends on each student. What is right for one student may not be right for another student. No one is equal. I have to see and listen to each student to know their talent, vocality, system of breathing, projection, intonation, musical attitude, facial structure, etc. Then I determine what needs to be done in order to achieve the best sound from them without fatiguing the vocal cords.
How do you work with your students? Are there any personal philosophies on singing and teaching that you feel are particularly helpful or important?
Each singer is unique, so I must teach to the individual. My method comes from the needs of each student and from more than 70 years of experience: eight years of studying, 34 years singing on the stage (1948 – 1982), and 30 years of teaching (1980 – today). You must start at the beginning, like with mathematics. You start with the basics: two plus two equals four. Then you can move on to more challenging subjects like algebra, trigonometry, etc. With singing, you start with the talent and the body, then you work on it with dedication, and you improve the memory of the brain and the body. You cannot force, so it must depend on each student.
As a teacher and vocalist in your own right, what have you learned and gained from educating other vocalists?
Study, study, study. Never stop studying, even when you reach the stage. Continue to learn and work on scores, languages, breathing, projection, diction, etc.
It is very difficult to explain in just a few words what I have gained in all these years as a student, singer, and teacher. I also gained a lot from my husband, Nicola Rossi-Lemeni, who was a great intellectual, singer, and teacher. It is my desire not only to teach young singers, but to pass on my experience to young teachers so that they and future generations of singers and teachers can benefit from my experiences. I would like to give a series of masterclasses for the young teachers.
What levels of vocalists do you teach, and what have some of them gone on to do?
I am extremely happy to teach many levels of singers with all different voice types. When I was at Indiana University, most of my students were at the university level—undergraduate and graduate students—and professional-level singers who came back to study with me after graduation. Since I have moved to Florida, I have continued to teach university-level students and professional singers. I also accepted one very young student, my youngest full-time student ever, Madison Marie McIntosh. She shows great promise because she is very talented but, more importantly, very intelligent to listen and learn.
Many of my students have had great successes in their careers. They have won the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, Grammy Awards, etc. They have performed on opera stages around the world. Some have gone on to become great teachers as well. My students have included Sylvia McNair, Marilyn Mims, Christina Pier, Nova Thomas, Angela Brown, Elizabeth Futral, Jeanne-Michèle Charbonnet, Kathryn Krasovec, Vivica Genaux, Patricia Risley, Susan Patterson, Leah Partridge, Marilyn Taylor, Alice Hopper, and so many others. These are singers who have made great contributions to opera as singers and [often] teachers.
What advice can you offer to the student pursuing voice?
In addition to telling them to continue studying, I advise them to constantly renew themselves. I would advise them that the worst defect of a young singer is arrogance and lack of modesty. On the stage, you must be a lion—but off stage, you must remember who you are and be grateful and modest. I give as an example the incredible Renée Fleming. Here is a great singer who is always studying, always looking for new challenges, always achieving new successes, and yet is so modest, so accessible, and so generous.
What is the best part of teaching to you? What aspects of it do you find the most challenging and the most rewarding?
The best part of teaching is watching my students grow in their talent and intelligence as they pursue their careers. The most challenging part of teaching is to have patience with impatient young students. The most rewarding part is to see my students happy in their lives. The students become like your own children— and, like your children, sometimes they may not remember their teacher, but their teacher remembers them.
Biographical information provided by Virginia Zeani.
