Ester Adaberto

Ester Nunez de Arce was born in Naples, and raised in Milan. Her father was Spanish, possibly a music professional,[1] and her mother was Neapolitan.[2]

Ester Adaberto, a soprano,[3] debuted on the opera stage in 1897, in Pagliacci at the Teatro Nuovo in Mirandola. She was a member of the Castellano Opera Company and toured Eastern Europe with them. At Vilna she was shot in the arm by a jealous Russian suitor.[2]

In about 1905, she moved to the United States, and toured from coast to coast.[4] She and Nicola Zerola starred in Aida (1909) with the Italian Grand Opera Company,[5] and she sang in Il trovatore (1909)[6] at the Metropolitan Opera in New York,[7] and in Tosca (1913) in San Francisco.[8] In 1913 she traveled to Honolulu with the Lombardi Opera Company.[9][10] In 1914-1915 she was a leading dramatic soprano with the San Carlo Opera Company.[11][12] In March 1915, Adaberto was called away for a family emergency in Italy, and Alice Eversman took over her role in Aida.[13] Adaberto made four recordings.[2]

Adaberto's repertoire was said to consist of thirty operas.[1] She was described as "beautiful and charming",[4] with "a flexible voice of wide range...although at times a metallic quality detracted from the effect."[14]

She retired from performing in 1917, in grief after the death of her son in World War I. Adaberto died in 1951, aged 79 years, in Milan.[2]