Bialystok-born Rosa Raisa, in her day one of the world’s leading opera stars, died here after a long illness at the age of 70. She had been living with a daughter since her retirement in 1937.
At the age of 14, Rosa Raisa Burshteim emigrated to Naples to escape a pogrom. Aided by leading figures of Italian opera, she made her debut at the Verdi Centenary Festival in Parma in 1913 and her American debut in the same year in Chicago.
She and her Italian husband became naturalized American citizens. She spoke and sang in Yiddish, English, Russian, German, French, Italian and Spanish. She sang the role of “Leah” in the first American performance in Detroit in 1936 of Rocca’s opera, “The Dybbuk. ” She was married to a Catholic, the baritone Giacono Rimini, who died in 1952.
In addition to her daughter, Mrs. Joseph Segala, she is survived by a sister, Mrs. Freida Goldenberg of the Bronx. She will be buried with Catholic rites.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
