Teresa Berganza Vargas OAXS (16 March 1933 – 13 May 2022) was a Spanish mezzo-soprano. She is most closely associated with roles such as Rossini's Rosina and La Cenerentola, and later Bizet's Carmen, admired for her technical virtuosity, musical intelligence, and beguiling stage presence. Berganza was a key singer in a Rossini renaissance which explored less performed operas and restored the leading roles to mezzo register. She appeared as Zerlina in Joseph Losey's Don Giovanni film in 1979. She participated in the opening ceremonies of the Expo '92 in Seville and of the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona. Life and career Teresa Berganza was born in Madrid on 16 March 1933. She studied piano and voice at the Madrid Royal Conservatory, voice with , where she was awarded first prize for singing in 1954. She made her concert debut in Madrid in 1955. Berganza made her operatic debut as Dorabella in Mozart's Così fan tutte in 1957 at the Aix-en-Provence Festival. That same year, she made her La Scala debut. She first appeared at the Glyndebourne Festival in 1958, as Cherubino in Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro, and later also in the title role of Rossini's La Cenerentola. In 1959, Berganza made her first appearance at the Royal Opera House as Cherubino, and the following year performed there as Rosina in Rossini's Il barbiere di Siviglia, which became one of her signature roles. She repeated it at the Opernhaus Zürich, where she returned in 1979 as Charlotte in Massenet's Werther. She appeared in the U.S. first in 1958, at the Dallas Opera as Isabella in Rossini's L'italiana in Algeri and then as Neris in Cherubini's Médée alongside Maria Callas in the title role. In 1967, she made her Metropolitan Opera debut, again as Cherubino, directed by Nikolaus Lehnhoff in his house debut, and conducted by Joseph Rosenstock, alongside Cesare Siepi as Figaro, Mirella Freni as Susanna, Tom Krause and Pilar Lorengar as the Almaviva couple. She returned for Rosina the following year, first in a telecast performance conducted by Richard Bonynge, alongside Mario Sereni as Figaro, Luigi Alva and Fernando Corena as Bartolo. A reviewer from the New York Daily News noted: Berganza was a leading singer for a renaissance of Rossini's operas, returning the roles to the original lower register according to critical editions by Alberto Zedda, promoted by conductors such as Claudio Abbado and Charles Mackerras. Berganza appeared