Tusa Santo's operatic career included performances at La Scala in Italy, where she was an understudy to famed soprano Maria Callas.
"Among local singers, Tusa Santo was one of the best sopranos," said Lorenzo Malfatti, former voice teacher and professor emeritus at Chatham College. "The color of her voice was sensational."
Miss Santo, of Mt. Washington, formerly of Dormont, died on Sunday, March 27, 2005, at West Penn Care Center in Greensburg, Westmoreland County. She was 81.
Miss Santo made her professional debut in the early 1950s with maestro Victor deSabata and the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. "She sang Verdi's 'Requiem,' " Malfatti said.
"She was the envy of every soprano in the country to have debuted with maestro deSabata. He was at the time the maestro and director of the La Scala Opera Company of Milan. He was also considered the second Arturo Toscanini."
As Mimi in Puccini's "La Boheme," Miss Santo made her operatic debut in New York City. In 1952, she won a Fulbright scholarship to study in Italy, and one of her classmates was Lorin Maazel, later music director of the Pittsburgh Symphony. She later won a scholarship to the Verdi Conservatory of Music in Milan.
Miss Santo spent 26 years in Italy as a student, performer and translator. During the three seasons she was a member of the La Scala Opera Company, she gave 23 performances. Miss Santo was an understudy to Callas in "Madame Butterfly."
Her nephew, Mark Santo, an international attorney who practiced in Italy during the time Miss Santo was performing there, recalled that he and his Duquesne University Law School classmate Art Rooney II -- now the Steelers president -- were given a personal tour of the backstage at La Scala.
"It was impressive," he said. "There was a bust of Maria Callas' hands, and my aunt would rub them with her hands before she went on stage."
Born and raised in Pittsburgh's Uptown section, Miss Santo was the youngest of five children of Victor and Angelina DeBenedictis Santo, who emigrated from Italy.
Her father, who operated a restaurant Downtown, gave her the name Tusa, which in Italian means "little girl."
At age 9, Miss Santo was awarded a scholarship to the Byron W. King School of Oratory and Drama, which gave her a background in Shakespeare that proved to be valuable in her dramatic performances.
Following graduation from Fifth Avenue High School, Uptown, she received a scholarship to Pennsylvania College for Women -- now Chatham College -- in Shadyside, where she auditioned for Ezio Pinza.
In an interview, Pinza compared her voice to that of Rosa Ponselle, a diva who often performed with Enrico Caruso at the Metropolitan Opera and who upon her retirement became the artistic director of the Baltimore Lyric Opera.
Upon returning to the United States and to her family home in Dormont in 1986, Miss Santo sang at various Protestant churches, including the Mt. Washington Baptist Church and at several Italian festivals, including Festival Italia in Carnegie Music Hall in Oakland.
Miss Santo is survived by a sister, Cora Peters, of Bunnell, Fla., and a brother, Raymond Santo, of Dormont. She was predeceased by a sister, Ida Perfetti.
Interment is private. Arrangements by Brusco-Falvo Funeral Home Inc., Mt. Washington.
