Elen Dosia born Hélène Odette Zygomala, sometimes known as Ellen Dosia, was a French opera singer of Greek origin.

Dosia was born in Constantinople. She became a soprano singer, and enjoyed her first major success ata age 20 with the title part in Tosca

Tosca

Tosca is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa. It premiered at the Teatro Costanzi in Rome on 14 January 1900...

. She quickly became one of the most popular singers at Opéra Garnier and Opéra-Comique

Opéra-Comique

The Opéra-Comique is a Parisian opera company, which was founded around 1714 by some of the popular theatres of the Parisian fairs. In 1762 the company was merged with, and for a time took the name of its chief rival the Comédie-Italienne at the Hôtel de Bourgogne, and was also called the...

, where she performed from 1935 through 1952. Before World War II she was described as "the most popular singer in the world". She appeared often in Massenet operas, performing in Manon

Manon

Manon is an opéra comique in five acts by Jules Massenet to a French libretto by Henri Meilhac and Philippe Gille, based on the 1731 novel L’histoire du chevalier des Grieux et de Manon Lescaut by the Abbé Prévost...

and Thaïs

Thaïs (opera)

Thaïs is an opera in three acts by Jules Massenet to a French libretto by Louis Gallet based on the novel Thaïs by Anatole France. It was first performed at the Opéra Garnier in Paris on 16 March 1894, starring the American soprano Sybil Sanderson, for whom Massenet had written the title role...

, and appearing at the June 1942 Massenet Gala singing the title role in a tableaux

Tableau vivant

Tableau vivant is French for "living picture." The term describes a striking group of suitably costumed actors or artist's models, carefully posed and often theatrically lit. Throughout the duration of the display, the people shown do not speak or move...

 of Esclarmonde

Esclarmonde

Esclarmonde is an opéra in four acts and eight tableaux, with prologue and epilogue, by Jules Massenet, to a French libretto by Alfred Blau and Louis Ferdinand de Gramont....

..

In 1951 she appeared in Of Men and Music, a Fox film production, singing excerpts from Salome's part in Hérodiade

Hérodiade

Hérodiade is an opera in four acts by Jules Massenet to a French libretto by Paul Milliet and Henri Grémont, based on the novella Hérodias by Gustave Flaubert...

.

On November 15, 1947 Dosia debuted at the Metropolitan Opera

Metropolitan Opera

The Metropolitan Opera is an opera company, located in New York City. Originally founded in 1880, the company gave its first performance on October 22, 1883. The company is operated by the non-profit Metropolitan Opera Association, with Peter Gelb as general manager...

 as Tosca to Jan Peerce

Jan Peerce

Jan Peerce was an American operatic tenor. Peerce was an accomplished performer on the operatic and Broadway concert stages, in solo recitals, and as a recording artist. He is the father of film director Larry Peerce....

's Cavaradossi and Frank Valentino

Frank Valentino

right|thumb|Valentino, ca. 1940sFrancesco Valentino was an American operatic baritone. He is perhaps best remembered for his performances under Arturo Toscanini.-Life and career:...

's Scarpia with Giuseppe Antonicelli

Giuseppe Antonicelli

Giuseppe Antonicelli was an Italian conductor who was highly active with Italy's leading opera houses from the 1920s through the 1950s. Among the houses he conducted at were, La Scala in Milan, the Teatro Regio di Torino in Naples, La Fenice in Venice, the Teatro Donizetti in Bergamo, the Teatro...

 conducting. Her performance was relatively poorly received; reviews were critical, and after only five performances (in both Tosca and Manon, and as Mélisande in Pelléas et Mélisande

Pelléas et Mélisande (opera)

Pelléas et Mélisande is an opera in five acts with music by Claude Debussy. The French libretto was adapted from Maurice Maeterlinck's Symbolist play Pelléas et Mélisande...

the following season), she retired from the stage in 1952. Thereafter Dosia concentrated on her family life.