1729-1739 - Not traced
Contralto Antonia Margherita Merighi was born in Bologna (date not known). She made her career as a virtuosa singer at the court of Princess Violante Beatrice of Tuscany. She enjoyed success in Italy as a concert and opera singer. She moved to London in 1729 to sing in Handel’s operas at the King’s Theatre, Haymarket, making her debut as Matilde in Lotario that same year. Between 1729 and 1738 she appeared in ten of his operas. She also sang at Handel’s benefit concert at the King’s Theatre in 1738. After her retirement from the stage about 1740, she lived in Bologna. Merighi was married to the tenor Carlo Carlani of whom little is known (librettos refer to him only as ‘bolognese’). She died by 1764.
