Emma Albani

She began her musical studies with her mother, and at age five her father took over her musical lessons. Her father was a proficient musician who was skilled with the violin, harp, piano and organ. He kept her on a strong practice regimen, with as much as four hours a day of lessons on the harp and piano.

The family moved to Plattsburgh, New York in 1852. Read Less

Her second appearance in Chicago on 23 November was as Desdemona in the company's first ever performance of Verdi's Otello, and she also sang the role there at a gala performance of Act 4 on 9 December. Other appearances with the Met in Chicago included another as Valentine, Gilda in Rigoletto, Violetta in Act 1 of Verdi's La traviata (on a double bill with Mascagni's Cavalleria rusticana, in which Emma Eames's sang Santuzza) and Elsa in Wagner's Lohengrin. Her first appearance with the company in New York was as Gilda in Rigoletto on 23 December. Further performances in New York included four appearances as Valentine (a role she also performed on tour in Louisville, Albany, Brooklyn, Philadelphia, and Boston), three as Donna Elvira in Mozart's Don Giovanni, three as Eva in Wagner's Die Meistersinger, one more as Gilda, one as Desdemona, one as Elsa, as well as a single appearance as Marguerite in Gounod's Faust. She also sang Donna Elvira and Eva on tour in Boston. Read Less