Opera Singer. A dramatic soprano, she is remembered for singing many of opera's most demanding roles over a 40 year career. Raised in the Budapest suburbs, she was introduced to opera by her grandfather, tenor Eugene Dery (deceased 1942), trained at the Bela Bartok Secondary School, and in 1958 joined the company of the Hungarian State Opera. Though in her early years mainly a recital artist, she gradually took over the roles previously sung by Paula Takacs; following her debut as Elizabeth in Ferenc Erkl's "Laszlo Hunyadi", she sang the First Lady from Mozart's "The Magic Flute", received mixed reviews as Sulamuth in Karl Goldmark's "The Queen of Sheba", and in 1959 scored her first major success in as the title Ice Princess of Puccini's "Turandot". During her time before the public Gabriella was best known for her portrayal of Verdi's ladies, her roles including the title lead of "Aida", Violetta in "La Traviata", the innocent-but-doomed Desdemona from "Otello", the Leonoras of both "La Forza del Destino" and "Il Trovatore", Abigail from "Nabucco", Elizabeth in "Don Carlos", and Amelia of "Un Ballo en Maschera". In addition, she reveived praise as the lead of Puccini's "Tosca", as the Marschallin in Richard Strauss' "Der Rosenkavalier" as well as the title characters of his "Ariadne auf Naxos" and "Salome", as Santuza from Mascagni's "Cavalleria Rusticana", as Lady Billows in Benjamin Britten's "Albert Herring", as Donna Anna of Mozart's "Don Giovanni", and as her only Wagnerian character, the Third Norn from "Gotterdammerung". Gabriella earned multiple honors including the 1967 Franz Liszt Prize, 1971 designation as Artist of Merit, recognition as Life Member of the State Opera in 1990, the awarding of the Order of Merit of the Hungarian Republic in 1994, and in 2005 her country's highest honor, the Kossuth Prize. Though her appearances outside of Hungary were rare, she was heard a few times elsewhere in Europe as well as in America; she died following a brief illness. At her demise she could be heard on numerous recordings.