Portrait of Bidú Sayão.

The debut of the Brazilian Bidú Sayão (soprano) was at Teatro Constanzi, in Rome, playing the role of Rosini, in "Il Barbiere di Siviglia," in 1926. Starting from 1937, she became part of Metropolitan Opera House cast, in New York, singing even to the Roosevelt couple in the White House, in 1938. Roosevelt offered her a US citizenship, but Bidú declined: "In Brazil I was born, in Brazil I will die." Unfortunately, she died in the US, in 1999, by complications with pneumonia.