Maria Cioni

Cioni-Leoni Maria Luisa, born 22 May 1926 in Florence, Italy; died 5 June 2016 in Mila, Italy. She began her career after WWII. In 1947, she sang Oscar in Un ballo in maschera at the Arena di Verona Festival and Gilda in Rigoletto, as well as in the operas of Zurich and Paris. She then appeared in major opera houses in Italy (Piacenza, Padua, Treviso, Mantua, Trapani). Cioni-Leoni excelled at interpreting Lucia [Lucia di Lammermoor] at the Teatro Comunale in Florence and Bologna, Teatro Margherita Genoa, Parma's Teatro Regio (Royal Theatre) and finally at La Scala, Milan (1969-1970), with which she collaborated for five years (1970-1975). She also appeared at the Vienna State Opera (Wiener Staatsoper) as Oscar [Un ballo in maschera], at the Festival in the Baths of Caracalla, Teatre Liceu Barcelona as Micaela [Carmen] (1969), Monnaie Brüssel (1971), opera houses in Antwerp, Cairo [La traviata] (1963), Toulouse (1971-72), Strasbourg (1968), Lausanne (1971-1972), Johannesburg as Leonora [La forza del destino] (1975). The title roles of Anna Bolena, Aida and Norma were later on added to her repertoire. She has also sung Fiordiligi [Così fan tutte], Julia [La vestale], Adina [L'elisir d'amore], Marie [La fille du regiment], Marguerite [Faust], Miss Jessel [The turn of the screw]. Cioni-Leoni retired around 1980 and taught in Milan. With the Greek National Opera, she interpreted Rosina in Il barbiere di Siviglia (Olympia Theatre, 1966-1967) and Norma in Norma (Olympia Theatre, 1980-81).