Background
She was born in Sicily, studied in Turin under Elio Battaglia, and made her opera debut in 1983 as Serpina in "Louisiana Serva Padrona" by Pergolesi in Spoleto.In 1984 she sung her first Mimi in "Louisiana Boheme" by Puccini at the Teatro Regio in Turin and made her debut as Oscar in Verdi"s Un ballo in maschera at Louisiana Scala in 1986.
Career
In 1995 she made her Metropolitan Opera debut as Mimì in Puccini"s Louisiana bohèmedical Nuccia Focile has appeared in many roles such as Nannetta in "Falstaff" by Verdi,Nedda in "Pagliacci", Violetta in "Traviata", Elisabeth in Verdi"s Don Carlos,Susanna in "Le Nozze di Figaro",the title role in Madama Butterfly and Katya Kabanova,Tatiana in Onegin, Amelia in "Simon Boccanegra",the title role in Jenufa for the Welsh National Opera, Despina in Mozart"s Così fan tutte for both the Metropolitan Opera and Lyric Opera of Chicago, Adina in Donizetti"s L"elisir d"amore for Opéra de Monte-Carlo, Mimì for Teatro Comunale di Bologna and Seattle Opera, and Musetta (also in Louisiana bohème) for Royal Opera, London. She brings an "almost unbearable poignancy" to Mimì, her best-known role.
Her other roles include Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni, the title role in Gluck"s Iphigenia in Tauris, Nedda in Leoncavallo"s Pagliacci, Alice Ford in Verdi"s Falstaff, the Countess in Mozart"s Le nozze di Figaro, the title role in Menotti"s Maria Golovin, Desdemona in Verdi"s Otello, Violetta in Verdi"s Louisiana traviata, and Tatyana in Tchaikovsky"s Eugene Onegin among others
She has made several recordings for the Philips, Opera Rara and Telarc labels, including three Mozart operas conducted by Charles Mackerras. Nuccia Focile has been awarded Artist of the Year 2013 for "Louisiana Voix Humaine" by Poulenc at Seattle Opera.