A mezzo-soprano or mezzo (; Italian: [ˌmɛddzosoˈpraːno]; meaning "half soprano") is a type of classical female singing voice whose vocal range lies between the soprano and the contralto voice types. The mezzo-soprano's vocal range usually extends from the A below middle C to the A two octaves above (i.e. A3–A5 in scientific pitch notation, where middle C = C4; 220–880 Hz). In the lower and upper extremes, some mezzo-sopranos may extend down to the F below middle C (F3, 175 Hz) and as high as "high C" (C6, 1047 Hz). The mezzo-soprano voice type is generally divided into the coloratura, lyric, and dramatic.
Nell Rankin was an American operatic mezzo-soprano. Though a successful opera singer internationally, she spent most of her career at the Metropolitan Opera, where she worked from 1951 to 1976. She was particularly admired for her portrayals of Amneris in Verdi's Aida and the title role in Bizet's Carmen. Opera News said, "Her full, generous tone and bold phrasing, especially in the Italian repertory, were unique among American mezzos of her generation.
Stoyanka Savova Nikolova, best known by her stage name Elena Nicolai, was a Bulgarian operatic mezzo-soprano.
Fiorenza Cossotto is an Italian operatic mezzo-soprano.
Regina Resnik was an American opera singer who had an active international career that spanned five decades. She began her career as a soprano in 1942 and soon after began a lengthy and fruitful relationship with the Metropolitan Opera that spanned from 1944 until 1983. Under the advice of conductor Clemens Krauss, she began retraining her voice in the mezzo-soprano repertoire in 1953 and by 1956 had completely removed soprano literature from her performance repertoire.
Fedora Barbieri was an Italian dramatic mezzo-soprano and actor.
Irina Konstantinovna Arkhipova was a Soviet and Russian mezzo-soprano, and later contralto, opera singer. She sang leading roles first in Russia at the Sverdlovsk Opera and the Bolshoi Theatre, and then throughout Europe and in the United States. People's Artist of the USSR (1966) and Hero of Socialist Labour (1984).
Violeta Urmanavičiūtė-Urmana is a Lithuanian opera singer who has sung leading mezzo-soprano and soprano roles in the opera houses of Europe and North America.
Dolora Zajick is an American mezzo-soprano opera singer who specializes in the Verdian repertoire. Zajick has been described as having "one of the greatest voices in the history of opera".
Irina Petrovna Bogacheva was a Russian mezzo-soprano at the Mariinsky Theatre and a professor of voice at the Saint Petersburg Conservatory. Trained in Leningrad and at La Scala in Milan, she performed leading roles of the Russian and Italian repertoire at major international opera houses. Dmitry Shostakovich composed a song cycle to poems of Marina Tsvetaeva for her.
Margaret Matzenauer was an Austria-Hungary-born, later resident in the United States, mezzo-soprano. She had an opulent timbre and wide range. She performed key works from both the Italian and German operatic repertoires in Europe and the United States.
Franca Mattiucci is an Italian operatic mezzo-soprano who had an active international career from 1963 to 1987. In her native country she made appearances at the Arena di Verona Festival, the Baths of Caracalla, La Fenice, La Scala, the Teatro Comunale di Bologna, the Teatro della Pergola, the Teatro dell'Opera di Roma, the Teatro di San Carlo, the Teatro Donizetti, the Teatro Margherita, the Teatro Massimo Bellini, the Teatro Massimo, the Teatro Regio di Parma, and the Teatro Regio di Torino. On the international stage she performed at the Hamburg State Opera, the Hungarian State Opera, the Liceu, the Lyric Opera of Chicago, the Opéra de Monte-Carlo, the Sofia National Opera, the Teatro Colón, the Teatro Nacional de São Carlos, the Teatro Real, and the Vienna State Opera among others.
Lyudmila Stepanivna Shemchuk is a Ukrainian operatic mezzo-soprano. She is an Honoured Artist of the RSFSR (1984).
Ingrid Margareta Tobiasson is a Swedish mezzo-soprano opera singer. Her principal roles in an extremely versatile career include the title role in Bizet's Carmen and Elisabetta in Donizetti's Maria Stuarda.
Leandra Overmann, real name Jelica Overmann was a Yugoslavian-Serbian opera, song, concert and oratorio singer (mezzo-soprano/alto).
Grace Hoffman was an American operatic mezzo-soprano and academic teacher. Based at the Staatsoper Stuttgart from 1955 to 1992, she performed roles such as Verdi's Azucena and Eboli at leading opera houses in Europe and the Americas. Her signature role was Wagner's Brangäne, performed at the Bayreuth Festival, among others.
Marina de Gabaráin was a Spanish mezzo-soprano. Her international career began at Glyndebourne in 1952, where she appeared in Rossini's La Cenerentola as Angelina (Cinderella), which became her signature role.
Urve Tauts is an Estonian opera singer (mezzo-soprano).
Markella Hatziano is an operatic mezzo-soprano born in Athens, Greece.
Ekaterina Gubanova is a Russian mezzo-soprano opera singer who has performed at major international opera houses, including the Teatro alla Scala in Milan, the Paris Opera, the Metropolitan Opera in New York, the Royal Opera in London, the Vienna State Opera, the Salzburg Festival, and the Bavarian State Opera in Munich.
