Ana María Iriarte
Spanish mezzo Ana María Iriarte was born in Madrid on 23 January 1927 and began to study singing from the age of sixteen. Later she studied at the Real Conservatorio Superior de Música de Madrid with teachers including Ramona Nieto, in Vienna with Elisabeth Rado and Erik Werba, in Milan with Elvira de Hidalgo, Carmen Miles and Mercedes Llopart and in Paris with Pierre Bernac.
After performing lyric soprano roles in Puccini operas, she made her professional debut in 1945 in Salvador Giner Vidal's El soñador at the Teatro Apolo in Valencia. She also performed in Verdi's Aida at the Teatro Principal and began to receive standing ovations. In 1946 she appeared in Bilbao and Madrid, and during the 1950s appeared in Bordeaux, London, Lyon, Paris, Vichy and Vienna.
In 1960, for family reasons, she retired from the stage and founded and taught at a singing school in Barcelona. She also lectured at the Concurso Internacional de Canto Francisco Viñas and at Portland University in Oregon, USA.
She created a foundation in her name to promote unpublished Spanish and international works. Her foundation also runs the International Zarzuela Competition Ana María Iriarte.
Ana María Iriarte died on 4 February 2025, aged ninety-eight.