(1923-1977) This New York-born American opera singer dazzled audiences in the most famous opera houses in the world--La Scala in Milan, Covent Garden in London, the Metropolitan Opera in New York. She spent her teenage years in greece, studying at the Royal Academy of Music in Athens. In her first major role in 1942 as Tosca, she gained increasing notice for her fresh dramatic presence brought to the bel canto repertoire of the seventeenth- and eighteenth-century Italian opera.

• Maria Callas was born Sophia Cecelia Kalos[3] at Flower Hospital in Manhattan on December 2, 1923[4] to Greek parents George Kalogeropoulos and Evangelia "Litsa" (sometimes "Litza") Dimitriadou

• she was christened Maria Anna Sofia Cecilia Kalogeropoulou
• Callas's father shortened the surname Kalogeropoulos first to "Kalos" and subsequently to "Callas" in order to make it more manageable.

• After several appearances as a student, Callas began appearing in secondary roles at the Greek National Opera.