Birth of Maria Callas in New York City

On 2 December 1923, Maria Anna Cecilia Sophia Kalogeropoulou—later world‑famous as Maria Callas—was born in New York City to Greek immigrant parents. Her birth in Manhattan placed her at the crossroads of Greek heritage and American modernity, a dual identity that would later shape both how she was marketed and how she was perceived by audiences.

Her parents, George Kalogeropoulos and Evangelia Dimitriadou, had recently emigrated from Greece, joining the sizeable early‑20th‑century Greek diaspora in the United States. The family’s struggles, marital tensions and financial instability formed the backdrop of her childhood, but they also propelled her mother to push Maria toward music as a path to social mobility and recognition. Growing up between languages and cultures, Callas absorbed popular American entertainment as well as the musical traditions of the Greek community.

This birthdate is significant not only biographically but historically: Callas would become an American‑born Greek soprano who revolutionized 20th‑century opera. Her later achievements—reviving bel canto roles, redefining operatic acting, and becoming a global celebrity—are inseparable from this origin in a New York immigrant family. In retrospect, 2 December 1923 marks the beginning of a life that would permanently alter expectations of what an opera singer could sound like, look like, and represent on the world stage.