Anna Moffo was born June 27, 1932, to Italian parents in Wayne, Penn. Her parents wanted the beautiful brunette teenager to enter a convent upon graduation from Radner High School, but she accepted a scholarship to the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. After completing her education in the United States, she received a grant that enabled her to further her studies at the internationally famous Conservatorio Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome.
Moffo had an immense talent and her career began to blossom as soon as she appeared on the operatic scene. In 1955, she made her debut as Norina in Donizetti’s Don Pasquale at Spoleto. The next year she attained stardom with a tremendously well-received television production of Puccini’s Madama Butterfly—and during its rehearsals she met the man who became her first husband, Mario Lanfranchi. They were married Dec. 8, 1957.
That same year, the soprano made debuts at Milan’s La Scala, the Salzburg Festival, the Vienna State Opera and the Lyric Opera of Chicago. Two years later, she made her Met debut as Violetta in Verdi’s La traviata. Her career continued at breakneck speed throughout the ’60s. She performed at major opera houses, made audio recordings, and appeared on television and in films.
From 1960 to 1973, she hosted an Italian television show and made movies, both as an actress and as a singer. During that time, she was voted one of the 10 most beautiful women in Italy. By the time the run of her TV show was finished, her marriage with Lanfranchi had ended in divorce. She married the one-time chairman of RCA, Robert Sarnoff, Nov. 14, 1974, and her singing career continued, but at a slower pace.
As her voice grew heavier and less dependable, Moffo focused on developing some of her other interests. She was active with The Voice Foundation, the group that publishes Journal of Voice, a well-known print publication dealing with voice medicine and research. The foundation presents annual awards to those who make major contributions to the field of vocal communication. In 1993, Anna Moffo Sarnoff received the foundation’s Voice Education Awareness Award along with actor Anthony Quinn, CBS News anchor Dan Rather, and Adele Warden Paxon, chair of the Opera Company of Philadelphia and of the Academy of Vocal Arts.
Moffo’s second husband died in 1997. Around that same time, she developed breast cancer, which she fought bravely for the better part of a decade. Complications ensued, and on March 9, 2006, she succumbed to a stroke. She is survived by a brother and three stepdaughters.