Maria de Montserrat Viviana Concepción Caballé i Folc (Barcelona, ​​Spain, April 12, 1933) is a lyric soprano opera singer.

She is known for her vocal technique and her interpretations of repertoire of “Bel Canto”. She is one of the most admired opera singers from around the world. She is married to the tenor Bernabe Marti (Zaragoza, 1928) since 1964, which in turn had a daughter Montserrat Marti Caballe, born in 1972, who has also been devoted to the opera and has recorded several songs with her mother.

Twelve years studying at the Conservatory of Music of the Liceu in Barcelona and won the gold medal in 1954. Eugenia Kemmeny, her teacher, who she attributes the development of her spectacular breathing technique to, as much as to Conchita Badia and Annovazzi Napoleone.

In 1955 she first set foot on a stage singing the title role of La Serva Padrona Pergolesi Fortuny Theatre in Reus.

She joined the company in the Municipal Theater Basel in 1956, where she would make her operatic debut in Spain on November 17, 1956, playing Mimi in La Bohème, and a large repertoire of roles, including Tosca by Giacomo Puccini, Aida Giuseppe Verdi, and Strauss' Arabella and Salome.

She was hired by the Bremen Opera for the 1960-1961 seasons, where she specialized in bel canto roles.

In 1962 she returned to Barcelona and made her debut at the Liceu on January 7, with Arabella. In 1964 she married the tenor Bernabe Marti.

Could be said that the first international success Caballé had was in 1965 when on April 15, replacing Marilyn Horne, who could not sing indisposed in the concert version of Lucrezia Borgia at Carnegie Hall in New York caused a sensation and her interpretation and became famous in the world of opera.

Later that year, debuts at the Glyndebourne Festival and the Metropolitan Opera House with the character of Marguerite in Gounod's Faust. In 1972 La Scala debut in Bellini's Norma and Violetta at the Royal Opera House in London. In 1980, she played Semiramide by Rossini at the Festival of Aix-en-Provence, conducted by Jesus Lopez Cobos.
In 1982 she received the Gold Medal of the Generalitat of Catalonia and the 1988 National Award of Music in Spain.

In 1986 she played a small role in Romanza Final (Gayarre), Julian Gayarre biopic directed by José María Forqué.
Montserrat Caballé has performed over eighty operatic characters, ranging from baroque opera to Verdi, Wagner, Puccini and Richard Strauss. She has played roles as diverse as Norma, Salome Violetta, the Marschallin, Semiramide or Isolde, breadth of repertoire reflected in her many recordings. Also plays popular Spanish songs.

Her foray into rock music made with singer-songwriter Freddie Mercury with Barcelona, ​​which became the anthem of the 1992 Olympics, and later would work with the Swiss Gotthard duetting one soul One life together Steve Lee, singer of the band.

Her voice is remarkable for its purity, control and power. She is less admired for her dramatic instincts and her interpretive skills, which for her excellent technical nuance and exquisite voice pianissimi.

While it is unfair not to recognize her great stage presence and refined sensibilities as a performer. The essence of the art of Caballé (and one of her great contributions to the great tradition of the opera) is interpreted within the line of song without histrionics unrelated to the score and are usually hidden resources for technical deficiencies in less virtuous singers.

For Violetta (memorably recorded for RCA with Carlo Bergonzi), for example, Caballé does not need to "be dramatic" but simply sings what was written by Verdi, scrupulously following the directions in the score, adding her personal touch by refined touches of portamento and a measured use of filados mezzavoce and apart from her unique and beautiful ring. This, Caballé returns a fundamental principle of the great tradition of Bel canto.

In addition, several of her performances, Caballe got real dramatic fire. In the interpretation of Norma in 1978 in Madrid, she squandered a dramatic force that has nothing to envy Maria Callas herself.
In July 2008, supports the Common Language Manifesto, controversial initiative of a certain sector of the culture of Spanish is discrimination in favor of Catalan in Catalonia.