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Milva OMRI
Milva at a theatre presentation of La variante di Lüneburg (2009)
Background information
Birth name	Maria Ilva Biolcati
Also known as	Milva La Rossa, Grande Milva, La Pantera di Goro
Born	(1939-07-17) July 17, 1939 (age 72) Goro, Emilia-Romagna, Italy
Genres	Pop, schlager, tango, nuevo tango, chanson, easy listening, opera, rock
Occupations	Singer, actress, TV personality
Years active	1959–present
Labels	Fonit Cetra, Ricordi, Metronome, BMG Ricordi, BMG Ariola, BMG
Associated acts	Ástor Piazzolla, Ennio Morricone, Thanos Mikroutsikos, Mikis Theodorakis, James Last, Enzo Jannacci, Luciano Berio, Franco Battiato, Francis Lai, Shinji Tanimura, Vangelis
Website	www.MilvaLaRossa.com

Maria Ilva Biolcati Commander OMRI (Italian pronunciation: [maˈriːa ilˈva bjolˈkaːti]; born July 17, 1939), known as Milva, is an Italian singer, stage, and film actress and television personality. She is also known as 'La Rossa', (Italian for 'The Red'), due to the colour of her hair, and additionally as the 'Panther of Goro', which stems from the Italian press having nicknamed the three most popular Italian female singers of the 1960s, combining the names of animals and the singers' birth places. The other two were Mina, 'The Tiger of Cremona', and Iva Zanicchi, 'The Eagle of Ligonchio'.

Popular in Italy and abroad, she has triumphed on musical and theatrical stages the world over, and has received popular acclaim in her native Italy, and particularly in Germany where she has often participated in musical events and televised musical programmes. She has also released numerous successful albums in France, Japan, Korea, Greece, Spain and South America.

Having received enormous success both in Italy and internationally, she remains to this day one of the most popular Italian personalities in the fields of music and theatre. Her artisic stature has been officially recognised by the Italian, German and French republics, each of which have bestowed her with the highest honours. She is the only Italian artist in contemporary times, in fact, who is simultaenously: Chevalier of the National Order of the Legion of Honour of the French Republic (Paris, 11 September 2009), Commander of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic (Rome, 2 June 2007), Officer of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany Berlin, 2006 and Officier of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (Paris, 1995).

Biography [link]

Early life and career beginnings [link]

Maria Ilva Biolcati was born in Goro, province of Ferrara, Italy.

In 1959, Milva won a contest for new voices, and was named the overall winner from more than seven thousand six hundred participants. In 1960 she recorded her first 7" single with Cetra Records: Édith Piaf's song "Milord". Her real debut was on the stage of the Sanremo Music Festival in 1961, where she took third place. She has competed at the Festival a total of 15 times, the last time of which was in 2007. The highest position she has reached is second place in 1962, but she has never won to date.

Salvatore Mazzocco, Milva and Mario Trevi in 1961

In 1965, a fortunate meeting led to a definitive change in her career: Italian director Giorgio Strehler helped to develop her skills in staging and singing in Italian theatres (especially the Piccolo Teatro in Milan) and she began to perform a more committed repertoire (songs of the Italian resistance movement, songs from Bertolt Brecht's pieces, etc.). In the following years she starred in Giorgio Strehler's production of Brecht's The Threepenny Opera which was performed in several cities of Western Europe. Milva's albums were certificated gold and platinum in West Germany. In 2006 she was awarded with the First Class of the Bundesverdienstkreuz^[1]

In 1962 Milva was the first singer to sing Édith Piaf's repertoire at the prestigious Olympia theatre in Paris. In 1983 she performed the repertoire at the venue again and again received an ovation from the audience and the French press, very surprised how a non-French artist could interpret with such a feeling and energy the songs of Piaf.

She is a highly eclectic artist, performing both pop music, opera (in duet with Luciano Berio), comedy, drama, TV shows (Al Paradise in 1983 won the Rose d'Or of the Montreux Film Festival) and musicals. She also occasionally appeared in some Italian movies of the 1960s, like La bellezza di Ippolita with Gina Lollobrigida. From 1973 to 1980, Milva is on tour (Italy, USA, Greece, France, Germany, Canada, Russia and Japan) with the band "I Milvi" composed by Neno Vinciguerra on piano, Franco Paganelli on guitar, Claudio Barontini on bass, Giovanni Martelli on drums and Marco Gasperetti on flute. The entire band becomes Livorno "Black and Withe" when in concert joins the gospels of the New Folkstudio Singer composed Lois Cantor, Hazel Rogers Nat Bush, Eddie and Jesse Hawkins.

Her singing career has become more complex and various year by year, thanks to the collaboration with the European composers and musicians including Ennio Morricone in 1965, Francis Lai in 1973, Mikis Theodorakis in 1978 (Was ich denke became a best selling album in Germany), Enzo Jannacci in 1980, Vangelis in 1981 and 1986, Franco Battiato in 1982 and 1986.

Milva performing live in 2009

Her stage productions of Bertolt Brecht's recitals and Luciano Berio's operas have toured the world's theatres. She has performed at La Scala in Milan, at the Deutsche Oper in Berlin, at the Paris Opera, in the Royal Albert Hall in London, at the 1984 Summer Olympics, at the Edinburgh Festival, and others.

In 1984 she performed (with Ástor Piazzolla) the show El tango in the Les Bouffes du Nord Theatre in Paris. This was the beginning of a collaboration with Ástor Piazzolla, interpreting the nuevo tango.

In 1997 her mentor Giorgio Strehler died. She temporarily reduced her theatre activities and focused on music only. She received new inspiration collaborating with Thanos Mikroutsikos, James Last and Shinji Tanimura. Then she performed her fourteenth tour in Japan.

Her 2004 CD and tour was dedicated to the Milanese poetess Alda Merini to whose poetry the music was set.

Personal life [link]

Milva has a daughter named Martina born in the marriage with Maurizio Corgnati in the early 1960s.

Discography [link]

• See main article List of Milva songs for a complete international listing of all Milva's songs.

Albums [link]

Studio albums [link]

Live albums [link]

• Milva / Villa — Concert in Japan (1968)
• Milva on Stage — Live in Tokyo at Serkey Hall (1970)
• Milva in Seoul (1972)
• Canzoni Tra Le Due Guerre (1978)
• Das Konzert (1982)
• Milva & Ástor Piazzolla — Live at the Bouffes du Nord (1984)
• Das Beste Milva Live (1988)
• Milva Dramatic Recital '92 (Best Live in Japan) (1992)
• Milva Dramatic Recital '92 - Canzoni tra le due guerre (Al Tokyo Metropolitan Art Space) (1992)
• El Tango de Ástor Piazzolla live in Japan (1998)
• Lili Marleen - Best live in Japan (1992)
• Live and More (1988, Milva Collectors' Club, limited edition album)
• Milva & Ástor Piazzolla - Live in Tokyo 1988 (2009)
• Milva canta Brecht (Live) (2010)

Soundtracks and cast recordings [link]

• Angeli in bandiera (1969, with Gino Bramieri)
• Die sieben Todsünden der Kleinbürger (1983)
• The Threepenny Opera (1989) as Pirate Jenny
• La storia di Zaza (1994)
• Hommage à Ástor Piazzolla (with Tangoseís) (2000)

Compilation albums [link]

Videography [link]

VHS video releases [link]

• El tango: Milva and Ástor Piazzolla (Live at the Bouffes du Nord, 1984) (Seven Seas KIVM 242) (1998) (Japan)
• Das beste Milva live - In Concert (Metronome CDV 080534-1) (CDV, 1988) / Metronome VHS 080648-3 (VHS, 1988)
• Canzoni tra le due guerre (Ricordi 800648-3) (1989)
• Video rai Alta Classe Milva (1992)
• Milva canta Brecht BMG Ariola 74321 91723 3 (VHS, 2002)
• Artisti BMG Ariola 74321 91723 3 (VHS, 2002)

DVD video releases [link]

• Artisti - Das Beste von gestern und heute (BMG Ariola 74321 91723 9) (DVD, 2004)
• Milva canta Merini (Live in Milan al Piccolo Teatro) (Nar International NARDV 10205 9) (DVD, 2005)
• El Tango - Live in Barcelona (DVD)
• El Tango de Ástor Piazzolla (& tangoseis, Concierto - Palau de la Musica Junio de 2005 Barcelona) (Unicas NR 005) (DVD, 2006)
• Milva canta Brecht (BMG Ariola 74321 91723 9) (DVD, 2009)

Songs [link]

Sanremo Music Festival [link]

This is a chronologically-ordered list of Sanremo Music Festival contests in which Milva has entered. Milva has participated 15 times in the famous music festival, held annually, tying the record for most participations along with Peppino di Capri and Toto Cutugno.

NOTE: N.F. signifies that the song did not qualify for the main event.

Filmography [link]

This is a chronologically-ordered list of films in which Milva has appeared or provided singing vocals for.

Honours [link]

Chevalier of the National Order of the Legion of Honour of the French Republic — Paris, 11 September 2009

Commander of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic — Rome, 2 June 2007

Officer of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany — Berlin, 2006

Officier of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres — Paris, 1995

See also [link]

Biography portal

• List of Milva songs
• List of Italian actresses
• List of Légion d'honneur recipients by name
• List of foreign recipients of the Légion d'Honneur
• List of members of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres
• Mononymous person
• The Threepenny Opera
• Sanremo Music Festival

References [link]

1. ^ "Milva live — Gestern und Heute" (in German). Badisches Staatstheater Karlsruhe. 29 April 2008. https://www.staatstheater.karlsruhe.de/programm07_08/index.php?id_titel=715&show=presse. Retrieved 19 September 2008. 
2. ^ Canzoni a tempo di twist. IMDb. Retrieved 07-08-2010.
3. ^ La bellezza di Ippolita. IMDb. Retrieved 07-08-2010.
4. ^ Appuntamento in Riviera. IMDb. Retrieved 07-10-2011.
5. ^ D'amore si muore. IMDb. Retrieved 07-08-2010.
6. ^ Via degli specchi. IMDb. Retrieved 07-08-2010.
7. ^ Mon beau-frère a tué ma sœur. IMDb. Retrieved 07-08-2010.
8. ^ Wherever You Are.... IMDb. Retrieved 07-08-2010.
9. ^ Women in Prison. IMDb. Retrieved 07-08-2010.
10. ^ Amaurose. IMDb. Retrieved 07-08-2010.
11. ^ Celluloide. IMDb. Retrieved 07-08-2010.
12. ^ Tod für fünf Stimmen. IMDb. Retrieved 16-03-2012.
13. ^ Al Paradise. IMDb. Retrieved 15-03-2012.

External links [link]

Find more about Milva on Wikipedia's sister projects:
	Images and media from Commons

Official

• Official website (English) (Italian) (German)

Discography

• Complete international discography
• International mailing list and message board (English)

Biographies

• Milva at Allmusic
• Milva at Last.fm
• Milva at Billboard.com

Filmography

• Milva at the Internet Movie Database
• Milva at AllRovi