Phyllis Curtin
Phyllis Curtin (born Phyllis Smith ; born December 3, 1921 in Clarksburg , West Virginia , † June 4, 2016 in Great Barrington , Massachusetts ) was an American opera singer ( soprano ).
Life
Curtin had violin lessons from the age of seven and sang in a glee club at her school. After studying political science at Wellesley College , she began her vocal training with Boris Goldovsky and Olga Avierino at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston. In 1946 she made her debut as Nina in Tchaikovsky's Queen of Spades with the New England Opera Company .
In 1950 she came to New York City Opera , where she sang the role of Miss Bürstner in the 1953 American premiere of Gottfried von Einem's opera The Trial . Carlisle Floyd composed the title role in the opera Susannah (1956) for her , and she also participated in the world premieres of Floyd's operas The Passion of Jonathan Wade (1962) and Wuthering Heights (1958 at the Santa Fe Opera House).
After appearances at the Teatro Colón in 1959, she appeared at the Vienna State Opera from 1960–61 and in 1962 at the Teatro alla Scala in Milan. She made her debut at the Metropolitan Opera in New York in 1961 as Fiordiligi in Mozart's opera Così fan tutte ; in the seasons from 1966 to 1970 and 1972–73 she performed here again a. a. as Countess in Le nozze di Figaro , and Donna Anna in Don Giovanni by Mozart, as Eva in the Meistersingern by Wagner , as Rosalinde in Fledermaus by Johann Strauss and as Ellen Orford in Peter Grimes by Benjamin Britten .
In 1966 she took part in the world premiere of Darius Milhaud's La Mère coupable at the Grand Théâtre de Genève . In 1969 she appeared at the Seattle Opera as Rosalinde in der Fledermaus , in 1970 at the Boston Opera as Senta in Wagner's Fliegendem Holländer , in 1972 at the San Antonio Opera as Donna Anna in Don Giovanni and at the Chicago Opera as Marguerite in Hector Berlioz ' La damnation de Faust on. Until her retirement as a singer in 1984, she also performed worldwide as a concert and lied singer.
Curtin initially worked as a music teacher in Aspen and at the Berkshire Music Center in Tanglewood. From 1974 to 1983 she was professor of singing at Yale University , then singing professor and until 1992 dean of the School of the Arts at Boston University .
Web links
- Phyllis Curtin at Operissimo on the basis of the Great Singer Lexicon
- Robert Wilder Blue: A Conversation with Phyllis Curtin
- Bach Cantatas - Phyllis Curtin (Soprano)
- West Virginia Music Hall of Fame - Phyllis Curtin
Individual evidence
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Curtin, Phyllis |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Smith, Phyllis (maiden name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American opera singer (soprano) |
| DATE OF BIRTH | December 3, 1921 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Clarksburg , West Virginia |
| DATE OF DEATH | 4th June 2016 |
| Place of death | Great Barrington , Massachusetts |