Ileana Cotrubas Has Died, Age 87

We note with sadness that the great soprano of the 1970’s, Ileana Cotrubas, has passed away. She died on August 20, 2026.

I have strong memories of her brilliant artistry through several great recordings. I bought the Carlos Kleiber Traviata on LP in my early 20s, and I still remember how completely that performance could bring the opera house into my small music room at home. I purchased new copies over the years, as Deutsche Grammophon remastered the recording to meet new technical standards. Most recently, I have taken to listening on Apple Music Classical, where the latest Dolby Atmos spatial audio mix has made the fine audio production and soundstage that much more compelling.

Over the ensuing years, I bought several more fine opera productions with Cotrubas as the lead soprano. Some of my favourites still on my CD shelves include her Carmen (Bizet), with Placido Domingo and Teresa Berganza alongside, and Claudio Abbado conducting the London Symphony Orchestra; and this lovely compilation of favourite opera arias from her signature repertoire as one of the opera world’s most beloved divas of the time. This one involves John Pritchard and the Philharmonia Orchestra, with familiar excerpts from operas by Puccini, Mozart, Verdi, Donizetti.

Unfortunately, I never had an opportunity to see and hear Cotrubas live. So I’m happy to find a video playlist that memorializes her with some fine and hard-to-find examples of her live stage performances from her prime years: Memories of Ileana Cotrubas, the Great Soprano Diva of the 1970s and 1980s.

I particularly enjoyed discovering her deeply touching artistry in La Boheme, a clip of the Act I aria “Si, mi chiamano Mimi” from the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden production of 1982, with Lamberto Gardelli conducting. As she introduces herself to her soon-to-be lover Rodolfo, her character gains courage and confidence, as well as vocal richness; she rises from her chair, and then strikes at your heart with the full glory of her vocal upper register vocal weight.