Leyla Gencer was a Turkish operatic soprano.
Leyla Gencer as Antonina in Gaetano Donizetti's Belisario at La Fenice in Venice, 1969.
Bel canto —with several similar constructions —is a term with several meanings that relate to Italian singing.
Bel canto–era composer Gioachino Rossini
Hand-written note by contralto Marietta Alboni about the decay of bel canto in the late 19th century. The French text reads: "The art of singing is going, and it will only revert with the sole real music of the future: that of Rossini. Paris, 8 February 1881." (signature)
Mathilde Marchesi (1821–1913), a leading Paris-based teacher of bel canto sopranos