MADRID, October 8. /TASS/. The funeral of the world renowned Spanish opera singer Montserrat Caballe will be held in Barcelona on Monday.
Caballe will be buried in the Saint Andreu cemetery in Barcelona next to her parents. As expected, numerous politicians and artists will come to bid farewell to the opera diva. In particular, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez and Catalan leader Kim Torre earlier voiced the intention to attend the funeral.
On Sunday, the center of the funeral rituals in Barcelona was open to anyone who wanted to say last goodbye to Caballe.
Montserrat Caballe, an icon of the opera, passed away in hospital in Barcelona on Saturday. She was 85. The world-famous opera singer was hospitalized in the middle of September for a gallbladder health problem.
Montserrat Caball·’s biography
Montserrat Caball· was born in Barcelona on April 12, 1933 into a working class family. Since her early years, she showed interest in music and was fond of singing. She studied music and singing at Luceu Conservatory in Catalonia and graduated with a gold medal.
She achieved international acclaim in 1965, when she stepped into American singer Marilyn Horne in the role of Lucrezia Borgia in Donizetti’s opera in New York. Caball· starred in more than 125 opera roles. She won several Grammy Awards, including for Best Vocal Soloist Performance in 1969.
In the 1980s, the singer performed in duo with Freddie Mercury, singer of legendary British rock band Queen. In 1987, they released a joint album. The Barcelona hit single was later used as the anthem of the 1992 Olympic Games held in the Catalonian capital.
Montserrat Caball· first visited Moscow in 1974 to sing Bellini’s Norma. Afterwards, she often performed in Russia and her last concert was held in Moscow this June as a leg of the tour marking her 85th birthday. In 1994, she became a UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador.