Loretta Di Franco

In her more than 35 seasons with the Metropolitan Opera, soprano Loretta Di Franco appeared in more than 50 roles in nearly 1,000 performances including two tours to Japan, thirteen new productions, and three Metropolitan Opera premieres.  For more than 25 years, she has also served as a judge for the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, the Liederkranz Auditions, and the Bel Canto Vocal Scholarship Foundation, among others.

A native of New York City, Ms. Di Franco was the first person in the history of the Metropolitan Opera to rise from the chorus to solo artist status. She made her solo debut with the company in 1965, as Chloe in The Queen of Spades, and appeared at the Metropolitan in La Bohème, Don Giovanni, Gianni Schicchi, Le Nozze di Figaro, Die Zauberflöte, Der Rosenkavalier, Jenûfa, Death in Venice, and Kátya Kabanová, among many others.

Ms. Di Franco has been heard in multiple telecasts, CD’s and DVD’s from the Metropolitan Opera, including those of Rigoletto, Elektra, Idomeneo, Suor Angelica, Il Trovatore, Il Barbiere di Siviglia, The Metropolitan Opera Centennial Gala, and The Ghosts of Versailles. In addition, she also appeared at the Salzburg Festival, the Theatre de L’Odeon in Paris, the Chatauqua Opera, the Mobile Opera, and at the festivals of Ravinia, Newport, and Tanglewood, among others.   

Ms. Di Franco enjoys discovering talented young artists, and in the summer of 2017 was the Italian Diction Coach for Martina Arroyo’s Prelude to Performance Program in New York City.  She was asked to serve as the English Diction Coach for the new production of Peter Grimes at the Metropolitan Opera during the 2007-2008 season. Since 2011, Ms. Di Franco has worked with many international artists as Italian Diction Coach of the Metropolitan Opera.