She is one of the most outstanding artistic figures in the opera world.
She made her debut in Modena, February 3, 1955, not yet 20 years old, as Micaela in Carmen.

In a career spanning nearly fifty years Mirella Freni has sung more than forty roles and realized many record productions and radio-television recordings.

In 2002 the University of Pisa gave her the prestigious honorary degree for the "great contribution to the development of european culture". The same year she is given the key of the City of Vignola for her teaching activity at CUBeC's opera courses which are now taking place at CUBeC – Centro Universale del Bel Canto in Vignola.

In the course of her career she sung at the very beginning as pure, classical soprano then she began to interpret more dramatic and demanding roles: Maria in Simon Boccanegra, Elisabetta in Don Carlo, Desdemona in Otello, Elvira in Ernani, Aida, Manon Lescaut, Adriana Lecouvreur, Madame Sans-Gêne, and also russian roles like Tatjana in Evgenij Onegin and Lisa in Pikovaja Dame.
At the end of the opera season 1992-1993 she made her debut with the role of Fedora at Teatro alla Scala; with the same role she came back to Teatro alla Scala in 1996, at Metropolitan in 1997, at Teatro Regio in Turin and at the Opernhaus in Zurich in 2000. Recently she made a great debut with the role of Orleanskaja deva at Teatro Regio in Turin.
She was awarded with the order Cavaliere della Gran Croce of the Italian Republic in 1990 and the Légion d'Honneur in March 1993, the foremost order of the French Republic. On the occasion of her thirtyfive years of theatrical career, she has written her autobiography in collaboration with Giuseppe Gherpelli.