Cecilia Smiga: 1975 – 2013 ‘A Consummate Professional, an Effervescent Personality’

Cecilia Smiga:  19 March 1975 – April 14 2013

All at the RNCM were deeply saddened to hear of the death of soprano Cecilia Smiga on April 14 at the age of 38.

A vibrant personality with a beautiful voice, Wrexham-born Cecilia studied at the College between 1993 and 1998 and was no stranger to the stage. Since graduating, her many acclaimed roles included Carlotta in Phantom of the Opera in the West End and Fiordiligi in Mozart’s Cosi fan tutte for Flanders Opera in Gent and Antwerp. She was also a finalist in the Competizione dell Opera International Singing Competition in Dresden, the Belvedere International Singing Competition in Vienna and The Welsh Singer of the Year Competition in Cardiff. For the past three years, however, she had been Head of Music Performance and Performing Arts at LVS Ascot School in Berkshire.

Stefan Janski, Head of Opera at the RNCM, said: ‘Cecilia was a consummate professional artist with an effervescent and generous personality. I fondly remember her stunning portrayal of the role of Rosina at the end of her studies in the School of Vocal and Opera Studies at the RNCM when, in the summer of 1998, we toured a production of Il Barbiere di Siviglia to Saint-Maximan-la Sainte-Baume, South of France. We resided in the Dominican Monastery and presented the opera on a raised platform stage with full orchestra in the cloistered gardens as dusk fell and to resounding public applause.

‘Myself, staff and her colleagues will most certainly miss her. God bless Cecilia.’

23 April 2013