Soprano Renata Scotto was one of the true stars of Italian opera. Admired for a great variety of roles including Cio-Cio-San in Puccini’s Madama Butterfly and the title role in Bellini’s Norma, she famously appeared alongside Luciano Pavarotti in Puccini’s La bohème for the first Live from the Met television broadcast in 1977. Her recordings, the most celebrated of which you can enjoy in this playlist, are testament to her rich yet strident voice which for many opera lovers made her something of a successor to Maria Callas.