Creative Spotlight: Maria Callas

Soprano Maria Callas (1923–77) was one of the greatest interpreters of Italian Classical opera of her generation, and remains one of opera’s most famous stars. In her career, she became a global phenomenon with her charisma, glamour, fashion sense and talent, placing her at the epicentre of celebrity culture in the 1950s and 60s. The release in 2024 of the new biopic MARIA, starring Angelina Jolie as Maria Callas, shows that her story continues to be of interest to audiences across film, fashion, music and of course, opera.  

Born Maria Anna Cecilia Sofia Kalogeropoulos, Maria Callas was of Greek heritage. Her family changed their surname shortly after immigrating to New York, where Maria was born in 1923. In 1937 she returned to Greece with her mother. She moved to Athens in 1937 and enrolled at the Athens Conservatory as a pupil of Spanish soprano and vocal coach Elvira de Hidalgo. 

After World War II, Maria returned to live with her father in New York. Disappointed at the slow progress of her career there, she secured a position at the newly-opened Arena di Verona. Her big break came in Venice in 1949, when she stepped in as Elvira in Donizetti’s opera, I puritani – while in rehearsals as Brünnhilde in Wagner’s Die Walküre. Her extraordinary versatility catapulted her to fame, and she was soon performing internationally, with engagements in Italy, New York, Buenos Aires, and, of course, London. 

Maria Callas made her debut at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden in 1952 as Norma and later sang Aida, Leonora (Il trovatore), Violetta (La traviata), Medea and Tosca. Describing her time at the Royal Opera House as ‘a love affair’, she built up a devoted following among Covent Garden audiences. Many of her career highlights took place at the Royal Opera House, and her performances here are still revered. It was at the Royal Opera House that Callas made her final operatic appearance, singing the role of Tosca in Puccini’s opera on 5 July 1965. It was a triumph like no other. She received half an hour of applause on opening night and on the final evening received 16 curtain calls before leaving the operatic stage forever.  

Maria Callas’s most famous role for The Royal Opera is the titular heroine of Vincenzo Bellini’s opera, Norma, featuring the beautiful aria, ‘Casta diva’. Her performance as Tosca in Puccini’s opera was immortalised on screen, and her costume has been featured in front-of-house exhibitions in our Covent Garden home.  

Maria Callas was well known for her passionate temperament, and she may have contributed to the image of the ‘diva’, with her requirement for her own, specific dressing room, and the priceless jewels she wore both on stage and off. At times, her tumultuous private life – her well-publicised affair with shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis – threatened to overshadow her on-stage creativity. But it is her commitment to her art and her refusal to accept anything but the best that have ensured her enduring fame as ‘La Divina’ – a goddess in the operatic pantheon.