Personal Life
Alagna's first wife, Florence Lancien, died of a brain tumor in 1994; they had one daughter, Ornella, who was born in 1992. In 1996, he married Romanian soprano Angela Gheorghiu. The couple have often sung together onstage, and have made many recordings together both of duets and arias and complete operas. Their joint album, Duets & Arias, peaked at #42 in the UK Albums Chart in May 1996. The two singers also starred in a film version of Puccini's Tosca directed by French film director Benoît Jacquot. In October 2009, Alagna said in an interview in Le Figaro that he and Angela Gheorghiu had separated. Following the separation, Gheorghiu declined to appear opposite him in Carmen at the Metropolitan Opera in December 2009. Alagna and Gheorghiu announced that they were back together in March 2011.
Alagna has worked together on several projects with his brothers Frédérico Alagna and the stage director and composer David Alagna. The three brothers recorded an album of light music, Serenades, and worked together on the younger brother David's opera based on Hugo's Last Day of a Condemned Man. Alagna has often sung Alfano's Cyrano opposite his sister-in-law Natalie Manfrino as Roxane.
Read more about this topic: Roberto Alagna
Famous quotes containing the words personal and/or life:
“It is ... pathetic to observe the complete lack of imagination on the part of certain employers and men and women of the upper-income levels, equally devoid of experience, equally glib with their criticism ... directed against workers, labor leaders, and other villains and personal devils who are the objects of their dart-throwing. Who doesn’t know the wealthy woman who fulminates against the “idle” workers who just won’t get out and hunt jobs?”
—Mary Barnett Gilson (1877–?)
“Unaware of the absurdity of it, we introduce our own petty household rules into the economy of the universe for which the life of generations, peoples, of entire planets, has no importance in relation to the general development.”
—Alexander Herzen (1812–1870)