Bernadette Manca di Nissa

{{short description|Italian opera singer}}

{{Infobox person

|name=Bernadette Manca di Nissa

|image=

|birth_date={{birth date and age|1954|11|27}}

|birth_place=Cagliari

|nationality=Italian

|occupation=Singer

}}

Bernadette Manca di Nissa (born 27 September 1954) is an Italian operatic contralto who has sung leading roles in the principal opera houses of Italy as well as internationally.Stinchelli, Enrico, [https://books.google.com/books?id=CuLtGiITbiIC&dq=Bernadette+Manca+di+Nissa&pg=RA1-PA197 Les stars de l'opéra. Grands artistes lyriques de l'histoire de l'opéra], Gremese Editore, 2002, p. 197 (in French). {{ISBN|88-7301-499-2}} She has appeared at La Scala in Milan, La Fenice in Venice, Teatro San Carlo in Naples, and the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino in Florence as well as at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Festival of Salzburg, Matsumoto Festival, NHK in Tokyo, Sao Carlos Theater in Lisboa etc.

Born in Cagliari and a descendant of a noble family,araldicasardegna.org, [http://www.araldicasardegna.org/genealogie/alberi_genealogici/albero_famiglia_manca.htm Genealogy of the Manca family]. Retrieved 2011-12-5.She has the titles of Noblewoman (by birth), Noble of the Marquesses of Nissa (by birth) and Noble of the Marquesses of Villahermosa e Santa Croce (by birth) and she is styled Donna Bernadette: http://www.araldicasardegna.org/indice.htm, by entering and clicking on Statuto e Elenco Nobiliare Sardo, then on Elenco nobiliare sardo aggiornato, then on the second Manca family. Retrieved 2011-12-5. she studied singing privately and later at the Mozarteum University of Salzburg. Initially specializing in Baroque music and Rossini's works (Tancredi, Semiramide, L'Italiana in Algeri, La gazza ladra), she developed a wide-ranging repertoire that includes works by Monteverdi, Handel, Jommelli, Mozart, Gluck (Orfeo ed Euridice), Salieri, Donizetti, Verdi (Falstaff), Puccini, Stravinsky and the 20th-century composer Luigi Nono.Associazione Musicale Scaligera, [http://www.amscaligera.org/artisti-insegnanti/119-bernadette-manca-di-nissa.html Bernadette Manca di Nissa] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100605092103/http://www.amscaligera.org/artisti-insegnanti/119-bernadette-manca-di-nissa.html |date=June 5, 2010 }} (in Italian) She has appeared in the world premières of several of Nono's works, including Quando stanno morendo (1982), Guai ai gelidi mostri (1983), and Prometeo, Tragedia dell'ascolto (1984).Fondazione Archivio Luigi Nono, [http://www.luiginono.it/it/luigi-nono/opere/quando-stanno-morendo-diario-polacco-n-2 Quando stanno morendo]; [http://www.luiginono.it/it/luigi-nono/opere/guai-ai-gelidi-mostri Guai ai gelidi mostri]; [http://www.luiginono.it/it/luigi-nono/opere/prometeo-tragedia-dell-ascolto Prometeo, Tragedia dell'ascolto] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110722031129/http://www.luiginono.it/it/luigi-nono/opere/prometeo-tragedia-dell-ascolto |date=2011-07-22 }} (in Italian)

During the later years of her stage career, she also taught singing in master classes and courses at the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Associazione Musicale Scaligera and the Accademia Musicale Chigiana, amongst others. She retired from the stage in 2007, after which she has devoted herself to her teaching career.

Nowadays, she is professor of Singing at Conservatorio di Cagliari.{{Cite web |url=http://www.conservatoriocagliari.it/organismi/docenti/dettaglio-docente215.html |title=Personale Docente |access-date=2011-09-28 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120424231204/http://www.conservatoriocagliari.it/organismi/docenti/dettaglio-docente215.html |archive-date=2012-04-24 |url-status=dead }}