Whatever happened to Stefania Bonfadelli?  

The soprano made her opera debut in her 20s as Elvira in I puritani at Wiener Staatsoper in 1997 and became a company mainstay, singing 86 performances through 2004 in roles such as Violetta, Rosina, Gilda, and Lucia.

The high point of her Viennese career came in 2001 when she jumped into the opening night of the company’s first-ever production of La sonnambula, replacing an ailing Natalie Dessay. She went on to sing Amina 17 more times to great acclaim, and two months later co-starred with Neil Shicoff in a new production of Roméo et Juliette.

This week’s upload is the opening night of the Sonnambula, in which Bonfadelli is partnered by Juan Diego Flórez, who had previously appeared in only a handful of performances in Vienna of Gianni Schicchi, L’italiana in Algeri, and Il barbiere di Siviglia.

Marco Arturo Marelli’s production, later seen at Covent Garden and notoriously rejected by Joseph Volpe after the Met had signed on as a co-producer, takes its cue from Thomas Mann’s The Magic Mountain and is set in a luxury Alpine sanatorium.

Bonfadelli had one final triumph at Wiener Staatsoper: at Ioan Holender’s farewell gala in June 2010, she dazzled with “O luce di quest’ anima” and was warmly received. As of late, she seems to be singing mostly in regional Italian houses with Operabase listing her most recent performance two years ago. Does anyone have any clue what happened to her?

Vincenzo Bellini: La sonnambula

Wiener Staatsoper
Stefano Ranzani, conductor
19 October 2001

Amina – Stefania Bonfadelli
Elvino – Juan Diego Flórez
Il conte Rodolfo – Egils Sili?š
Lisa – Simina Ivan
Teresa – Nelly Boschkowa
Alessio – Boaz Daniel
Un notaro – Johann Reiprecht