Occupation(s) Soprano singer Name Amalia Paoli | Role Soprano Died 1941 | |
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Amalia Paoli (ca. 1861–1941) was a Puerto Rican soprano. She was the sister of the prominent Puerto Rican tenor Antonio Paoli, but was herself a recognized musician in her own right.
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First years
Amalia Paoli was born in Ponce, Puerto Rico. She was the daughter of Domingo Paoli Marcatentti, born in Corsica, and Amalia Marcano Intriago, who was originally from Isla Margarita in Venezuela.
Debut
She first broke into the public eye with performances at Teatro La Perla. In 1880, Paoli, when only 19 years old, performed at La Perla in Emilio Arrieta's opera, Marina.
Move to Europe
Paoli succeeded in catching the eye of what historian and Puerto Rico State Historic Preservation Officer Juan Llanes Santos described as "well-connected people", who moved the young woman to Spain in 1883, where she auditioned for Isabel de Borbon. The sister of the King and Princess of Asturias, Isabel provided her patronage to Paoli, securing singing lessons for her from Napoleon Verger who was, according to Santos, "the most famous singing teacher at the time in Madrid, Napoleon Verger." Paoli immediately brought her younger siblings to live with her, and, in 1896, with the assistance of the Royal family, secured a royal scholarship for her brother Antonio that would turn him into a world-renowned tenor.
Later years
In the early 1920s, Paoli moved back to Puerto Rico where she founded a music school in Santurce called the Academia Paoli. There, she joined the Suffragist Social League, one of a number of renowned women artists to do so. Amalia Paoli died in 1941.
Legacy
She is recognized in Ponce at the Park of the Illustrious Ponce Citizens.