The Romanian soprano Cellia Costea, Eleonora in this performance of Il Trovatore, is appearing at Oper Frankfurt for the third time. Last season she jumped in at short notice to sing the title role in Tosca, saving the last performance. She is currently singing Tosca at the Staats­oper in Stuttgart and will sing the role again soon at Greek National Opera in Athens, where she has also sung Leonora (Il trovatore), Mimì (La Bohème), Cio-Cio San (Madama Butterfly), Elisabetta (Don Carlo), Donna Elvira (Don Giovanni) and Elena (I vespri siciliani). Forthcoming engagements include Aida in Santiago de Chile and Elena (Mefistofele) at the Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich. Cellia Costea has appeared at many of the world's leading opera houses, including the Vienna State Opera, the Royal Opéra House Covent Garden in London, the Nationale Opera Amsterdam, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Deutsche Oper am Rhein, the Arena di Verona and in Toulon, Bucharest, Seoul and Cairo. This award winning artist, who enjoyed great success at the »Francisco Viñas« and »Montserrat Caballé« singing competitions, studied at the Conservatoire in Bucharest.