Mariana Nicolesco

Born in Găujani, Giurgiu County, she studied violin at the Music High School in Brașov and voice at the Music Conservatory in Cluj-Napoca, before winning a scholarship at the Conservatorio di Santa Cecilia in Rome to be taught canto by Jolanda Magnoni; she also worked with Rodolfo Celletti and Elisabeth Schwarzkopf. Upon graduation, in 1972, having won the Voci Rossiniane Competition in Milan, American conductor Thomas Schippers invited her to Cincinnati as Mimì in Puccini's La Bohème and later she was invited by Luchino Visconti to appear in Don Carlos at the Teatro dell'Opera di Roma. She made her debut at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City, in 1978, as Violetta in Verdi's La traviata, a role she has reprised over 200 times, later singing Gilda in Verdi's Rigoletto (1978) and Nedda in Leoncavallo's I Pagliacci (1978-1986). She sang in the worlds major opera houses such as Teatro alla Scala in Milan, where she had her debut in the world première of Luciano Berio's La Vera Storia (1982) and later appeared in: The Stone Guest (Donna Anna) by Dargomyzhsky (1983), Lucio Silla (Cinna) by Mozart (1984), Polish Requiem by Penderecki (1985), L'Orfeo (Euridice) by Luigi Rossi (1985), Un re in ascolto (La Protagonista) by Berio (1986), Don Giovanni (Donna Elvira) by Mozart (1987, 1988, and 1993), Fetonte (Queen Climene) by Jommelli (1988), Alcyone and Alyssa by Ravel (1990) and three Recitals (1988, 1993). Mariana Nicolesco interpreted a wide repertory from baroque, belcanto to verismo and contemporary music and has been described as "an arresting personality with a vibrant voice"; highlights of her repertory are the roles of Marzelline in Fidelio by Beethoven, Elettra in Idomeneo, Vitellia in La clemenza di Tito by Mozart, Beatrice di Tenda by Bellini, Anna Bolena, Maria Stuarda, Queen Elisabeth I in Roberto Devereux, Maria di Rohan by Donizetti, Amelia in Simon Boccanegra, Desdemona in Otello, Leonora in Il trovatore, Luisa in Luisa Miller by Verdi, Marguérite in Faust by Gounod, Tatyana in Evghenij Oneghin by Tchaikovsky, Liù in Turandot by Puccini, Zarina Marina in Dimitry by Dvořák. She appeared in productions signed by Giorgio Strehler, Patrice Chéreau, Luca Ronconi, Jean-Pierre Ponnelle, Franco Zeffirelli, Pier Luigi Pizzi, Jonathan Miller and conducted by Carlo Maria Giulini, Wolfgang Sawallisch, Riccardo Muti, Seiji Ozawa, Lorin Maazel, Peter Maag, Georges Prêtre, Giuseppe Patané, Alberto Zedda, Colin Davis, Ghennadij Rozhdestvensky; also in prestigious Concerts Halls such as Carnegie Hall in New York, Royal Festival Hall in London, Accademia di Santa Cecilia in Rome, Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Musikverein in Vienna, Salle Pleyel in Paris, the Great Conservatory Hall in Moscow and the Salzburg Festival, Rossini Opera Festival in Pesaro, Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, Martina Franca Festival, Casals Festival in Puerto Rico. Invited by Pope John Paul II, she sang Romanian Carols in the First Christmas Concert in the Vatican (1993) and the soprano part in the world première of Krzysztof Penderecki's Symphony No. 7 (Seven Gates of Jerusalem) was composed for her (1997).

She returned to Romania in 1991, after the fall of the Communist regime, singing for the first time on a stage in her native country, in a Concert at the Romanian Atheneum in Bucharest. As some 10,000 tickets were purchased, Nicolesco gave three consecutive performances. She created the Romanian Atheneum International Foundation and donated in 1994 a Steinway grand concert piano. In 1995, Mariana Nicolesco initiated the Hariclea Darclée International Voice Competition and Festival. In the years between an edition of the Contest and the next, she offers Master Classes to the young artists. She obtained for the Darclée events the High UNESCO Patronage. In 2003, she created the Romanian National Festival and Song Competition and presented for the International George Enescu Year, proclaimed by UNESCO (2005), in world première the composer's complete songs in Japan, at Aichi World Exhibition as well as in Nagoya and Tokyo, in Prague, Paris, Rome and New York City. In 2014 she is a Member of the Jury of China International Vocal Competition with 430 competitors from 41 countries.

An Honorary Member of the Romanian Academy since 1993, Officer of the Order of the Arts and Letters in France (2000), Ph.D. and Doctor Honoris Causa of the Gheorghe Dima Music Academy in Cluj-Napoca (1996), she was awarded the Order of the Star of Italian Solidarity (2004) and the Order of the Star of Romania, in the Rank of Grand Cross (2008). She was also named UNESCO Artist for Peace (2005), UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador, elected the Most Successful Woman in Romania (2004) and was conferred the Special Award Kultur Preis Europa Medal in Sibiu, European Capital of Culture (2007). She is a Honorary Citizen of Bucharest (1991),

Cluj Napoca (1994), Braila (1995), Brasov (1999). Nicolesco is married to art critic and art historian Radu Varia.