Italian soprano Renata Scotto has died aged 89, the mayor of her hometown said Wednesday, as fellow musicians paid tribute to "one of the greatest opera singers of all time”. "A unique singer, a great musician, a great artist, a great woman has died,” the mayor of Savona, Marco Russo, wrote on Facebook, praising Scotto as "cultured, refined, generous, simple”.
She died at her home in New York, the ANSA news agency said. Born on February 24, 1934, in northwest Italy, Scotto studied singing in Milan and began her career in 1952 in Savona in Giuseppe Verdi’s opera La Traviata.
She would go on to grace the world’s greatest opera houses, from Milan to London and New York. "I am heartbroken by the death of Renata Scotto, one of the greatest opera singers of all time and a dedicated teacher of young singers,” tenor Placido Domingo said on social media.—AFP