Sara Mingardo was born in Venice on 2 March 1961 and studied singing with Paolo Ghitti at the Conservatorio Benedetto Marcello in her native city. She won first prize at the Toti dal Monte international competition and the Giulietta Simionato Prize at the Vienna Competition. Her professional operatic debut came in 1987 as Fidalma in Cimarosa’s Il matrimonio segreto at Avezzano, and by 1989 she was already appearing at La Scala, La Fenice, the Salzburg Festival, the Teatro Regio di Torino and the Teatro di San Carlo. She is one of relatively few singers of her generation to work as a genuine contralto rather than a low mezzo-soprano.

Mingardo’s recording of Anna in Berlioz’s Les Troyens won a Gramophone Award and both the Grammy Award for Best Opera Recording and Best Classical Album in 2002. She is particularly associated with Italian Baroque repertoire, working regularly with Rinaldo Alessandrini and Concerto Italiano and with other period-instrument ensembles, and has recorded Vivaldi cantatas and sacred works, Bach cantatas, Handel operas, Mozart’s Requiem and Rossini’s Stabat Mater. Her stage roles have ranged from Andronico in Tamerlano and Mistress Quickly in Falstaff to the title roles of Giulio Cesare, Rinaldo and Carmen. She has appeared in concert with orchestras including the Berlin Philharmonic and the Boston Symphony Orchestra.

Sources:

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sara_Mingardo