Margherita Stafford

A Madam Butterfly who became a leading agent for opera stars

For many years the agent Margherita Stafford, who has died aged 81, represented some of the cream of the operatic profession, including such artists as Plácido Domingo, Martina Arroyo, Renata Scotto and Giacomo Aragall, the conductors Giuseppe Patané and Karl Böhm, and the director Piero Faggioni.

Born Patricia Margherita Evans in Liverpool, she grew up in a prominent middle-class family; her father was the victualling superintendent for a shipping firm, her mother a senior figure in Liverpool Corporation.

Margherita studied at Huyton College, but left after taking her school certificate due to her father's early death. She began working as a secretary, while studying singing in Liverpool privately, and showed sufficient promise to come to London as a pupil of the renowned Italian tenor Dino Borgioli and the Neapolitan, Rudolfo Mele.

An audition for the chorus of the Carl Rosa Opera Company led, to her surprise, to the offer of a principal's contract. She performed with the company during the 1950s, notably as Puccini's Madam Butterfly and as Gilda in Verdi's Rigoletto.

In the late 1950s she retired from an active singing career to join the Grade Organisation, initially as a secretary, then as principal booker for British and American artists. At the request of the Grade brothers, Lew and Leslie, she became secretary of the Entertainment Agents' Association in 1962. Her operatic experience soon led her towards working as a singers' agent, initially in conjunction with Norman McCann and then, in 1965, founding Music International with Vanda Vale. She was adept at spotting rising talent, and her early clients included Domingo, Arroyo and Marina Krilovici.

In 1969 she formed the firm of Stafford Law with her business partner, and later life partner, David Law, following the end of her marriage to the actor and stage manager Robert Stafford. Over the decades a hugely impressive list was built up, including many of the leading artists of the day. Sopranos joining it included Arleen Augér, Ghena Dimitrova, Rita Hunter, Raina Kabaivanska, Teresa Kubiak, Carol Neblett, Katia Ricciarelli, Renata Scotto, Rita Shane, Patricia Wise and Mara Zampieri. The mezzo contingent included Mignon Dunn, Ann Howard and Stefania Toczyska. Among tenors, the agency represented Lando Bartolini, Gianfranco Cecchele, Alberto Cupido, Luis Lima and Nicola Martinucci, while Silvano Carroli, Justino Díaz, Giorgio Zancanaro, Enzo Dara and Giorgio Surian featured among baritones and basses.

From 2002 Stafford began to suffer from a progressive illness that increasingly affected her ability to work. She retired two years later.

Her exceptional memory was renowned. At the start of their professional relationship, she brought Domingo to Europe for an audition tour that began with a general audition at Covent Garden for conductor Georg Solti and administrators Joan Ingpen and John Tooley. He also sang for EMI and Decca, then for Glyndebourne.

Stafford received a letter from Glyndebourne stating their opinion that her young tenor had little prospect of an international career. Covent

Garden, meanwhile, offered him Cavaradossi in Tosca, and Decca cast him in the title role of its recording of The Tales of Hoffmann.

Some years later Glyndebourne's George Christie remarked to Stafford that it was a pity that the Sussex festival had not been given the opportunity to present Domingo before he became an international star, as it had with Pavarotti. Stafford immediately recalled the letter written to her many years before. Christie, embarrassed, checked his audition records and apologised.

Her ability to protect her singers was legendary. When Canon Films wanted to film Verdi's Otello, starring Domingo and directed by Franco Zeffirelli, she considered the fee offered the tenor derisory. Entering the negotiating room, she sat down and removed from her briefcase her papers, her nail polish remover, nail file, cotton wool and nail polish. She proceeded to concentrate on her nails while quietly refusing every offer from Canon until they had reached a level she felt fair - some 10 times the original. She and Domingo eventually parted company in 1989.

Throughout her career Stafford retained the affectionate admiration of many colleagues in the world's leading opera houses, both for her utter professionalism and her personal kindness. She is survived by David, and by their son and daughter.

Patricia Margherita Irene Stafford, agent, born August 16 1927; died August 22 2008