Ileana Cotrubaş

Ileana Cotrubaş (Romanian pronunciation: [iˈle̯ana kotruˈbaʃ]; born June 9, 1939) is a Romanian opera soprano whose career spanned from the 1960s to the 1980s. She was much admired for her acting skills and facility for singing opera in many different languages. Cotrubaş was born in Galaţi. She grew up in a musical family; her father, Vasile, was a tenor in an amateur chorus. Cotrubaş' musical career began at the age of nine when she became a member of a children's radio chorus. By the age of eleven, she was one of its leading soloists. In 1952 she moved to Bucharest to study at the Şcoala Specială de Muzică school for the musically gifted. Cotrubaş made her stage debut with the Bucharest Opera as Yniold in Debussy's Pelléas et...