Maria Callas, first appearance as "Beatrice" in Suppé’s operetta “Boccaccio”

In 1940 she was recruited at the Opera House of the Royal Theatre, and in 1941 she first appeared as "Beatrice" in the operetta Boccaccio by Suppé. By 1945 she had starred in Tosca (1942, 1943), Campo by d'Albert (1944, 1945), in Cavalleria Rusticana (1944), in Manolis Kalomiris's Master Builder (1944, the only Greek work she sang), in Beethoven's Fidelio (1944) and the operetta The Beggar Student by Viennese composer Carl Millöcker (1945). On August 2, 1947, she sang the title role in Amilcare Ponchielli's "Gioconda" at the Verona Arena. On April 21, she married industrialist Gianbatista Meneghini. It was he who helped her obtain roles as a dramatic coloratura soprano. In 1951 she made her first appearance in Milan's La Scala, with Verdi's Sicilian Vespers. In 1956 she signed a contract with the Metropolitan Opera of New York, and in the summer of 1957, she appeared at the Odeon of Herod Atticus, at the opening of the Athens Festival, singing excerpts from Italian, German, and French arias.