Opera Women

The great women of opera are a sonic wonder, capable of unleashing finely tuned storm-force fury at one end of the scale, yet controlled enough to gently ruffle the hairs on a butterfly's back at the other. Here we've assembled some of the purest and most astonishing voices ever to grace the grand stage. Sing along at your peril.

Norma, by Vincenzo Bellini, contains one of the most difficult soprano parts ever created, and many greats have taken a shot at the role. Here you get the chance to compare Joan Sutherland's Welsh National Opera version to that of Catalan soprano Montserrat Caballé who, in fact, made her La Scala debut as Norma.

Don't let the current household names in our collection eclipse the rest of the talent, which includes Austrian soprano Lucia Popp, here performing part of Mozart's The Magic Flute. Popp's bright, warm voice has been compared to an oboe. Spanish soprano Victoria De Los Angeles continued the grand bel-canto vocal tradition through the '40s into the '70s.

The passion, the drama, the industrial-strength vocal cords, the extreme amounts of hair lacquer — the universe of opera's great women is a maelstrom of intensity, counter-balanced with almost unimaginable delicacy. From the altos to the mezzo-sopranos and the full-on sopranos, our collection offers you a truly international lineup, including Britain's Janet Baker, New Zealand's Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, and Brooklyn's own Beverly Sills. These women can blow the socks off anyone standing within 100 paces of them.