Angela Peralta Castera by De La Mora

Angela Peralta Castera (1845-1883); Mexican soprano.
She was baptised with the beautiful names "María de los Ángeles Manuela Tranquilina Cirila Efrena" Peralta Castera. In 1860 -at the early age of 15- she made her stage debut as Leonora in Verdi's "Il trovatore" at the Teatro Nacional in Mexico City. In 1862 she came to Europe and immediately had a great succes at La Scala Milan as Lucia in Donizetti's "Lucia di Lammermoor". In the years 1862/65 she sang in the opera houses of Rome, Florence, Bologna, Genoa, Naples, Lisbon, Madrid, Barcelona, St. Petersburg, Alexandria and Cairo. When in 1866 she returned to Mexico they garanteed her an income of 20% of the total revenue of each opera performance, but she preferred to establish her own Opera Company to tour throughout the country. The opera troupe comprised around 80 members, who came mostly from Italy. Her influence on the evolving music and opera life in Mexico was extraordinary. In 1873 a new founded opera house in Mexico City was given –in her honour- the name of "Teatro Peralta". In August 1883, while on tour with her opera troupe in Matzatlán, she got the yellow fever and died, not yet 40 years old. She and 76 of the Opera Company's 80 members died in the yellow fever epidemic, that tormented the city shortly after their arrival.