Gail Steiner

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Gail Steiner (born 1954 in New York City , † December 10, 1999 ) was an American opera singer ( soprano ).

Life

Training and career start

Gail Steiner had Irish , Hungarian and German ancestors with Jewish roots. She completed an acting degree at New York's Hofstra University before she trained as a singer. She studied singing at the Opera School of the Philadelphia Music Academy . Later she was supervised by the opera singer, singing teacher and later professor Elisabeth Ksoll .

A Fulbright scholarship enabled her to continue her singing studies in Europe at the Salzburg Mozarteum , where she attended the singing class of Susanne Anders (1909–1979). In 1978 she won a third prize at the Mozart Competition with the first aria of the Queen of the Night, “O don't tremble, my dear son!” From the opera Die Zauberflöte .

At the beginning of the 1978/79 season she was hired by the then Aachen artistic director Peter Maßmann at the Stadttheater Aachen , where she was engaged until the end of the 1980/81 season. In her first season in Aachen she sang a wide variety of soprano roles such as Rosina , Xenia ( Boris Godunow ), Gänsemagd ( Die Königskinder ), Ännchen ( Der Freischütz ), the two soprano parts in L'enfant et les sortilèges and the coloratura part in Le rossignol .

In the 1979/80 season she sang Norina in Don Pasquale and her daughter in Die Nase at Theater Aachen . In the 1980/81 season, Adina in Der Liebestrank and Sophie in Der Rosenkavalier followed . She also took on Miss Wordworth in a new production by Albert Herring (premiere: January 1981). During her engagement in Aachen, she also took part in a Bat production, which was mostly made up of American singers .

Engagement at the Nuremberg Opera House

Operetta and musical

After a successful guest appearance as Laura in the Millöcker operetta Der Bettelstudent , Gail Steiner, coming from Frankfurt am Main , where she was engaged as a guest, was engaged as an ensemble member at the Nuremberg Opera House from autumn 1982 , to which she was a permanent member until 1992 1992/93 season until spring 1994 then continued as a guest with piece contracts and part-season commitments.

Even before the official start of her engagement, she made her debut at the Nuremberg Opera House in July 1982 as a musette in a new production of La Bohème (director: Gilbert Deflo ).

In the years that followed, Steiner was cast at the Nuremberg Opera House as the successor to Sonja Knittel , who retired from the ensemble in 1985 due to her “exceptionally attractive stage appearance”, in particular as an elegant “ operetta diva ”.

She initially took over the Angèle Didier in the Lehár operetta Der Graf von Luxemburg (1982/83 season, director: Peter B. Wyrsch ) and Lidia in Bandit Pranks (1982/83 season, director: Kurt Leo Sourisseaux ). In the 1984/85 season she played the title role in a new production of the operetta Die Dubarry . In the 1986/87 season she was Magnolia in a production of the musical Show Boat . In the 1988/89 season she sang Countess Zedlau in a new production of the Strauss operetta Wiener Blut (premiere: May 1989, director: Kurt Leo Sourisseaux).

In the course of her engagement in Nuremberg in the operetta, Steiner also sang all the great roles in her field such as Laura, Rosalinde , Annina , Saffi , Hanna Glawari and Lisa in Das Land des Smiles .

Opera roles

At the same time as her operetta appearances, Steiner also consistently pursued her career as an opera singer at the Nuremberg Opera House. She kicked u. a. as Pamina, Donna Elvira , Oscar , Violetta in La Traviata , Micaëla (1988, in the revival of the Carmen production by Wolfram Mehring , premiere: 1983/84 season) and as Liu .

In the 1982/83 season she sang Lucia di Lammermoor at the side of Zachos Terzakis . In the 1983/84 season she was the alternative cast of Konstanze in a new production of Die Entführung aus dem Seragl (Premiere: July 1984, Director: Roland Velte ).

Steiner's Nuremberg premiere roles in the operatic field included a. the Undine (season 1987/88), the fox in The clever little fox (season 1987/88) and the title role in Suor Angelica (season 1988/89). In March 1988 she took on the lyrical lead role of Mimì in the resumption of the bohème production, in which she had sung the musette in the 1981/82 season, in which she was on stage in numerous other performances until December 1990. In the 1989/90 season she sang as an alternative cast alongside Gudrun Ebel as Eurydike in Gluck's Orpheus and Eurydike .

Steiner also appeared in modern operas. In the 1983/84 season she was the "disaffected" Johanna in the Nuremberg premiere of Friedrich Cerha's opera Baal . In June 1987 she embodied, at the side of Fabio Giongo , "with finely coordinated nuances in song and performance", the daughter Else in the world premiere of the opera Sturmnacht by Wolfgang-Andreas Schultz . Steiner's interpretation of Else is considered a milestone in her operatic career. In the 1989/90 season she sang Sophie de Monnier, one of Count Mirabeau's lovers, in the Nuremberg premiere of the opera Graf Mirabeau by Siegfried Matthus .

Last appearances

Steiner's last premieres as a permanent member of the Nuremberg ensemble were the Iduna in Paul Burkhard's "Musical Comedy" Das Feuerwerk (1990/91 season, premiere: July 1991) and Mariana in Jacques Offenbach's largely unknown two-act Coscoletto (1991/92 season, premiere: July 1992 ).

In July 1992 she sang Rosalinde for the last time. As Iduna and Countess Zedlau in Viennese blood she was on the Nuremberg opera stage until June and July 1993 respectively. In 1993 she performed again at the Nuremberg Kammerspiele with her solo program “Schpil-she mir a Liddele in Yiddish ” , which she had interpreted over and over again for many years.

In March 1994, Gail Steiner said goodbye to her Nürnberger with the solo evening Me and Kurt she designed , in which she musically traced the life of Kurt Weill via Berlin , Paris to New York with songs that had originally been interpreted by Lotte Lenya Audience.

Guest performances (selection)

Gail Steiner made guest appearances in Germany a. a. at the Frankfurt Opera (as Konstanze under the musical direction of Michael Gielen ), at the Deutsche Oper am Rhein and at the Hessian State Theater Wiesbaden (as Countess Zedlau in Viennese blood ).

In spring 1985 she was partner of Nicolai Gedda in Frankfurt am Main in a touring production of the Lehár operetta Das Land des Smiles . In February 1988 she sang Rosalinde in the Strauss operetta Die Fledermaus in the carnival concert of the Hamburg Opera House .

Gail Steiner also appeared regularly on Austrian stages and at summer festivals in Austria.

In the 1985/86 season she took on the title role in the Lehár operetta Giuditta at the Graz Opera House . In the 1985/86 season she sang the poet's young lover (Elisabeth Zimmer) at the Klagenfurt City Theater alongside Ernst Gutstein in the Austrian premiere of Henze's opera Elegy for young lovers . In the 1986/87 season she appeared at the Klagenfurt City Theater in the title role of the Kálmán operetta Die Zirkusprinzessin with John Hurst as partner. She also took over Sonja in a new production of the operetta The Tsarevich and the title role in a new production of the Kálmán operetta Die Csárdásfürstin at the Klagenfurt City Theater in the 1986/87 season . At the Klagenfurt Summer Festival in August 1991 she sang Gabriele in Wiener Blut alongside Benedikt Kobel .

Private

Gail Steiner was married to the tenor Günter Neubert , who was engaged at the Nuremberg Opera House from the 1976/77 season until the end of the 1999/00 season. At times she also appeared under the name Gail Steiner-Neubert.

After her farewell program Me and Kurt , Steiner returned to her American homeland in 1994, but remained connected to the city ​​of Nuremberg due to her personal relationships. She died in December 1999 at the age of 45 years on their cancer .

Obituaries particularly emphasized her “considerable acting talent”, “her artistic curiosity”, her “ambition” and her versatility, which shaped her roles from operettas to contemporary music theater.

literature

  • Alfred Beaujean: Gail Steiner . Portrait. In: Opera world . Issue May 5, 1981, page 55.
  • AW (= Anja Weigmann): In memoriam Gail Steiner . Obituary. In: Theater Nuremberg. Monthly Bulletin No. 4th edition January 2000, page 23.
  • oN: personality and commitment. Singer Gail Steiner has died . Obituary. In: Nürnberger Nachrichten of December 17, 1999, page 32.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f g h i A. W. (= Anja Weigmann): In memoriam Gail Steiner . Obituary. In: Theater Nuremberg. Monthly Bulletin No. 4th edition January 2000, page 23.
  2. ↑ a b c Gail Steiner . Death report in the "Small culture reports" section. In: Nürnberger Nachrichten of December 17, 1999.
  3. ↑ Gabriele Luster: AACHEN: THE LOVE POTION . Performance review. In: Orpheus . Issue 11/12. December 1980, pages 753-754.
  4. ↑ Günter Peter: AACHEN: THE LOVE POTION . Performance review. In: Orpheus . Issue January 1, 1981, pages 3-4.
  5. ↑ Günter Peter: AACHEN: THE ROSENKAVALIER . Performance review. In: Orpheus . Issue 11/12. December 1980, pages 754-755.
  6. ^ Carolyn Raney: American Singers in Germany . JSTOR archive. Published online October 1, 1982. Retrieved June 20, 2020.
  7. ↑ We say goodbye . In: Ed .: Theater Nürnberg. Monthly July 1994.
  8. ^ Fritz Schleicher: Honorable Whore . Performance review. In: Nürnberger Nachrichten of April 16, 1985.
  9. ↑ LUCIA DI LAMMERMOOR . Cast list. Note: The cast of the roles of Lucia and Alisa are reversed. Gail Steiner sang Lucia. Inghild Horysa the Alisa. Retrieved June 20, 2020.
  10. ↑ BAAL . Occupation. Official website of the opera singer Zachos Terzakis . Retrieved June 20, 2020.
  11. ^ W. Bronnenmeyer: self-destruction of a dropout. Friedrich Cerha's “Baal” in Nuremberg . Performance review. In: Opera world . Issue 8–9 / 1984. Pages 63–64.
  12. ^ W. Bronnenmeyer: Hero and Leander played small. Nuremberg: “Sturmnacht” premiered by Wolfgang-Andreas Schultz . Performance review. In: Opera world . Issue August 8, 1987. Pages 45-46.
  13. ↑ Dieter Stoll: Gail Steiner's Weill Revue “Me and Kurt”. Wistful memory from the garter belt . Performance review. In: Abendzeitung of March 7, 1994, page 7.
  14. ^ Fritz Schleicher: Difficult search for traces . Performance review. In: Nürnberger Nachrichten of March 7, 1994.
  15. ↑ Frieder Beer / Jo Heinsson: HAMBURG: CONCERTANT MUSIC HALL REVIEW . Performance reviews. In: Orpheus . Issue 9 September 1988, pages 705-706.
  16. ^ OPERA GRAZ. Overview 1980-1989 . Occupations. Retrieved June 20, 2020.
  17. ↑ Gottfried Krieger: ELEGIE FÜR JUNGE LIEBENDE "IN KLAGENFURT . Performance review . In: Österreichische Musikzeitschrift . 41st year, page 320. (accessed via De Gruyter Online).
  18. ↑ The Tsarevich . Production details and cast. Retrieved June 26, 2020.
  19. ^ The Csárdásfürstin . Production details and cast. Retrieved June 26, 2020.
  20. ↑ Viennese blood . Production details and cast. Retrieved June 26, 2020.
personal data
SURNAME Steiner, Gail
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Steiner-Neubert, Gail (married name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American opera singer (soprano)
DATE OF BIRTH 1954
PLACE OF BIRTH New York City , New York , United States
DATE OF DEATH December 10, 1999