The first Sardinian opera singer at Milan's La Scala? Limbania Leoni
Teachers and students from the Azuni High School in Sassari have reconstructed the career of the artist from Carloforte in a book.Per restare aggiornato entra nel nostro canale Whatsapp
In 1958, she performed at Milan's Teatro alla Scala, the first Sardinian opera singer . In 1964, she was conducted by von Karajan in "La Traviata," where she played Annina. She shared the stage with the divine Maria Callas in "Madama Butterfly." The story of Limbania Leoni, an artist from Carloforte, is extraordinary yet little-known. It has been painstakingly reconstructed by some teachers and students from the Azuni High School in Sassari in the book " Limbania Leoni - From Carloforte to the Teatro alla Scala ," which will be presented Thursday at 6 p.m. in the conference room of the Fondazione di Sardegna in Sassari.
The work was edited by the authors Fabio Madau and Salvatore Sanna, teachers of History of Music and Mathematics and Physics respectively at the Liceo Musicale Azuni, in collaboration with the students of the 5^L class of the 2024-2025 school year.
The volume was published by Angelica Editore with the contribution of the Fondazione di Sardegna and additional support from the Municipality of Sassari. In over two hundred pages, with a rich repertoire of photos and documents, it recounts the extraordinary personal and artistic story of soprano Limbania Leoni, born in Carloforte in 1927 and passed away in 2021 in Castelfidardo, in the Marche region.
Among the other highlights of a remarkable career is her performance as Musetta in the opera "La Bohème," in which she collaborated with such greats as Luciano Pavarotti, Mario Del Monaco, and Mirella Freni. Limbania Leoni retired from the stage in 1969, after her final performance as Musetta at La Scala, masterfully directed by Franco Zeffirelli.
The research received invaluable support from former superintendent Carlo Fontana, a friend of Limbania Leoni, and from those responsible for the theater's historical archives. Contacts with the Teatro Bellini in Catania, the Teatro Regio in Parma, and other venues where the singer performed in the 1950s and 1960s during the height of her artistic success were also essential to reconstructing the stages of Leoni's prestigious career.
The collaboration of the soprano's family in making unpublished documents about her life available, also proved invaluable. Professor Sanna, one of the book's two authors and Limbania Leoni's great-nephew, collaborated with them.