Opera Singer. She performed a wide variety of soprano roles in several of the world's leading opera houses. Born Lucia Poppova, she was raised in then-Czechoslovakia and initally intended to study medicine, but decided after two semesters to pursue a career as an actress. Lucia's musical talent was quickly recognized, and though at first thought to be a mezzo, the coloratura quality of her voice soon became apparent. Following a period of study in the Brunn and Prague conservatories, she spent four years at the Bratislava Music Academy before making her operatic debut at 23 in the role that would early-on be her signature piece, The Queen of the Night from Mozart's "The Magic Flute". Heard in 1963 by Maestro Herbert von Karajan, she was signed to a contract by the Vienna State Opera where, in addition to the Queen of the Night, she sang Barbarina in Mozart's "The Marriage of Figaro". The Queen of the Night was to be the vehicle for her debuts at Salzburg in 1963 and New York's Metropolitan Opera in 1967, while Covent Garden, London, first saw her in 1966 as Oscar in Verdi's "Un Ballo in Maschera", and La Scala Milano had to wait until 1976 for her bow as Sophie in Richard Strauss' "Der Rosenkavalier". She kept up a busy recital career in America, Europe, Australia, and elsewhere, and was a noted performer of the music of her native land's greatest composer, Leos Janacek. Lucia realized that her voice was changing from coloratura to lyric (it would later become more lyrico-spinto), and expanded her repertoire, leading her to sing different roles from the same operas at successive stages of her vocal maturity; thus, she was The Queen of the Night and Pamina in "The Magic Flute", Barbarina, Susanna, and The Countess in "The Marriage of Figaro", Zdenka and the title role from Richard Strauss' "Arabella", Adele and Rosalinde of Johann Strauss II's "Die Fledermaus", and Sophie and The Marschallin in "Der Rosenkavalier". Eventually, she even added a Wagnerian role, Eva from "Die Meistersinger". Much honored, Lucia was designated Kammersangerin by Vienna in 1979 and Bayerische Kammersangerin by the Bavarian State Opera in 1983, and was still in full possession of her vocal powers when she died of a malignant brain tumor. Lucia left a large recorded legacy, mostly on EMI, much of which remains in print.