Anna Maria Strada

Anna Maria Strada (fl. 1719–1741, in Bergamo) was an Italian soprano of the 18th century. She is best remembered for her association with the composer George Frideric Handel, in whose operas Strada sang.

After an initial career in Italy that included performances at Venice — in Vivaldi's opera La verità in cimento (1720) — Milan, and Livorno, Strada moved to London in 1729 to sing for Handel after the composer engaged her for his operas. She made her début as Adelaida in Lotario and was prima donna in all his operas and oratorios until 1737. She sang in a minimum of 24 of Handel's operas and the opera-ballet Terpsicore, a new prologue to a revision of Il pastor fido. Her roles included Angelica in Orlando, the title role in Partenope, Elmira in Sosarme, Thusnelda in Arminio, and Ariadne in Giustino, and the title role of Atalanta. Strada was the only singer of Handel's company who did not defect to the rival Opera of the Nobility in 1733, and in 1732 had turned down the opportunity to sing for Giovanni Bononcini. She left, however, London in 1738 and returned to Italy, where she sang at Naples and Turin before her retirement to Bergamo.

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