by Chris True
 
A Romanian born operatic vocalist, Angela Gheorghiu made the most of her professional debut in 1992 in the Covent Garden production of La Boheme. Soon after she found herself debuting in New York, and one of classical music's greatest cities, Vienna, Austria. In 1995, Gheroghiu won a record deal with Decca, and made her recorded debut soon after. Over the next decade and a half, Gheroghiu recorded for Decca and EMI, won countless accolades and awards (including a Classical Brit in 2001 for Female Artist of the Year), and sang at the 2003 Nobel Peace Prize Concert. La Traviata would become a bit of a signature work for the singer, as she kept coming back to the work (in New York in 2006 and again in 2007 at the MET, for example) whilst taking even bigger steps to opera immortality. For the 2008-2009 season, she was slated for even more appearances as the winner of the Order of Arts from both France and her native Romania.