Soprano Ana María Sánchez has died at the age of 63.

The soprano died of cancer on Sept. 17 in her hometown Elda (Alicante). She had been diagnosed with the disease in 2019 and had retired from the stage with a few public appearances. She also continued to teach during that time.

Born in 1959 in ELda, the soprano studied at the la Escuela Superior de Canto in Madrid. There she studied with Miguel Zanetti and own the Premio Extraordinario de fin de Carrera “Lola Rodríguez de Aragón.”

In 1994, she made her debut in Mallorca in “Nabucco,” which brought her recognition and shortly after performed at the Palau de la Música in Valencia in 1995 as Chrystothemis in “Elektra” alongside Éva Marton and Leonie Rysanek.

Sánchez would go on to perform at some of the great opera houses in the world including Hamburg, Munich, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Dresden, Zurich, Florence, Venice, Lisboa, Napoli, Teatro Colon and the Metropolitan Opera.

In Spain she performed at the Gran Teatre del Liceu, Teatro Real de Madrid, Euskalduna de Bilbao, Palau de les Arts, Campoamor in Oviedo, and Maestranza de Sevilla.

Her repertoire included such works as “Adriana Lecouvreur,” “Norma,” “Tosca,” “Anna Bolena,” “Lucrezia Borgia,” “Aida,” “Gernika,” “María del Carmen” “Guillaume Tell,” “Don Giovanni,” “La forza del destino,” “Il trovatore,” “Don Carlo,” “Un ballo in maschera,” “Turandot” “Goyescas” “La vida breve,” and “Tannhäuser.”

Among the recordings that she left included “La Vida breve,” “El Pesebre de Pau Casals,” “Le Roi de Lahor,” and “Gernika.”