Mirella Freni (born 27 February 1935) is a famous Italian opera soprano much admired for the youthful quality of her voice and her acting skills. Her repertoire encompasses some forty roles, Verdi and Puccini in particular but also Mozart and Tchaikovsky. Freni was married for many years to the Bulgarian basso Nicolai Ghiaurov, with whom she performed and recorded frequently. Biography Freni was born into a working class family in Modena (both her mother and tenor Luciano Pavarotti's mother worked in the same cigarette factory in that city). She was a musically gifted child and sang "Un bel dì vedremo" in a radio competition at age ten. The tenor Beniamino Gigli warned her, however, that she risked ruining her voice and advised her to give up singing until she was older. She resumed singing at age 17. Mirella made her operatic debut in Modena at 1955, at age 19, as Micaëla in Bizet's Carmen. She was offered many roles after th

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