Violeta Urmana, (born Violeta Urmanavičiūtė) is a Lithuanian soprano and mezzo-soprano. 　　Born in Kazlų Rūda municipality, Marijampolė County, Lithuania, she enjoys an international career singing in opera houses around the world. Violeta Urmana studied piano at the Conservatory of Vilnius. A year before terminating, she switched to vocal studies which she continued in Munich at Hochschule für Musik und Theater München with Astrid Varnay. Between 1991 and 1993, Violeta Urmana joined the Opernstudios of Bayerische Staatsoper. Soon she was to take on small roles there. 　　The artist received several awards at international singing contests. Thus major international operas' offers were soon to follow. With the part of Madeleine di Coigny in the opera Andrea Chénier at Vienna State Opera in June 2003, she changed subject from mezzo-soprano to dramatic soprano which she accomplished in Rome in March 2004 as Isolde in Tristan and Isolde and in the autumn of 2004 as Leonora (La Forza del Destino) in London. 　　Violeta Urmana collaborated with well-known conductors such as Claudio Abbado, Daniel Barenboim, Bertrand de Billy, Pierre Boulez, Semyon Bychkov, Riccardo Chailly, James Conlon, Daniele Gatti, Valery Gergiev, James Levine, Jesús López Cobos, Fabio Luisi, Lorin Maazel, Kurt Masur, Zubin Mehta, Riccardo Muti, Sir Simon Rattle, Donald Runnicles, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Franz Welser-Möst, Christian Thielemann. 　　Her roles and performances include: Sieglinde in Die Walküre at the Bayreuth Festival, Iphigénie en Aulide at La Scala, Maddalena in Andrea Chénier at the Vienna State Opera, Lady Macbeth in Macbeth, Isolde in Tristan und Isolde, Leonora in Verdi's La forza del destino, Santuzza in Mascagni's Cavalleria Rusticana and the title roles of La Gioconda, Tosca, Ariadne auf Naxos, La Wally, and Aida. 　　Urmana also performs in concerts and recitals with a varied repertoire from Bach to Berlioz to Alban Berg. She is married to the Italian opera singer Alfredo Nigro.