Katia Ricciarelli rose to international fame in the 1970s with a series of closely spaced debuts in all the major European and American opera houses. Her instantly recognisable warm, vibrant tone was in demand everywhere. America heard her early in her career, in Chicago in 1972, La Scala in 1973, Covent Garden in 1974 and the Metropolitan in New York in 1975.

Ricciarelli trained at the conservatory in Venice and made her professional debut in Mantua in 1969. It was the Verdi award in Parma in 1970 which brought the impresarios running and her career was launched.

One of the most impressive turns in her career took place in 1981, when she began a decade-long association with the Rossini Festival in Pesaro. While Ricciarelli continued to sing the lyric repertory of Verdi and Puccini, she broadened her horizons with a series of serious and comic roles in the revival of Rossini's operas.

She has been a busy recording artist and most of her major roles are preserved in the catalogues of the Universal labels, including her incendiary partnership in the studio with the young José Carreras.