Rita Shane

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Rita Shane (born August 15, 1936 in New York City , New York state ; † October 9, 2014 there ) was an American opera singer with a soprano voice .

Life

Shane was born in the Bronx, New York, to Julius and Rebecca Shane. Her father was a civil engineer , her mother a copyist. She attended the Bronx High School of Science. At Barnard College she earned a degree in Humanities ( Liberal arts ). She initially worked as a secretary in the National Council ’s Fund-Raising Department of the Metropolitan Opera .

She received her vocal training from the soprano Beverley Peck and from Bliss Herbert in New York City. In 1962/1963 she completed the apprentice program of the Santa Fé Opera. Her stage debut took place in 1964 as Olympia in Hoffmann's Tales at the Chattanooga Opera in Tennessee . Since 1965 she sang regularly at the New York City Opera ; her inaugural role there was Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni . In 1967 she stepped in at New York City Opera for Beverly Sills as Queen of the Night. In 1979 she took the title role in the world premiere of Dominick Argento's opera Miss Havisham's Fire at New York City Opera . In 1982 she sang the Glauce in Medea by Luigi Cherubini .

1973 Shane was engaged to the Metropolitan Opera. In September 1973 she made her debut there as Queen of the Night in Mozart's opera Die Zauberflöte . She sang this role in over 250 performances at various opera houses over the course of her career. Shane appeared at the MET in a total of 71 performances. Her roles at MET in the following eight seasons included u. a. Musette in La Bohème (1975), Page Oscar in Un ballo in maschera (1975/1976), Violetta in La traviata (1976), Lucia in Lucia di Lammermoor (1977), Berthe in Le prophète (1977 and 1979; inter alia with James McCracken , Marilyn Horne and Jerome Hines as partners) and Gilda in Rigoletto (1978). In the 1981/82 season she appeared again as Queen of the Night with the ensemble of the Metropolitan Opera as part of a tour of the MET through the United States.

In the United States, Shane et al. a. at the San Diego Opera House (1968; as Queen of the Night), at the Philadelphia Opera House (1973; as Queen of the Night), at the New Orleans Opera House (1973 as Eudoxie in Die Jüdin ; 1975 as Marguerite de Valois in Die Huguenots ), at the Miami Opera House (1978; as Konstanze in Mozart's Singspiel Die Entführung aus dem Serail ), at the Santa Fé Festival (1968 and 1971 as Queen of the Night) and at the Aspen Music Festival (1979; in Peter Schat's opera Houdini ). At the San Francisco Opera in 1981 she interpreted the role of Regan in the US premiere of the opera Lear by Aribert Reimann .

Shane also had great success in Europe. In 1970 she made her Italian debut at La Scala in Milan with the role of Fiakermilli in Arabella . She made guest appearances at the Bavarian State Opera in Munich (1969 as Konstanze; 1969, 1971 and 1972 as Queen of the Night), at the Vienna State Opera (season 1972/1973 as Queen of the Night), at De Nederlandse Opera (1970; as Lucia di Lammermoor) , at the Grand Théâtre de Genève (1971; title role in Lulu ), at the Opéra du Rhin in Strasbourg (1974 as Rosalinde in Die Fledermaus ; 1975 as Queen of the Night), as well as at the Salzburg Festival (1972; in the monodrama Expectation ) and at the Glyndebourne Festival (1980; as Queen of the Night).

In 1989 she was appointed professor of singing at the Eastman School of Music at the University of Rochester . She held the professorship until shortly before her death. Shane also ran a private singing studio in New York City and taught at the Manhattan School of Music .

Private

Shane had married in 1958; the marriage was divorced in 2005. The marriage produced a son.

Shane died at the age of 78 years in her apartment in New York's Manhattan to pancreatic cancer and liver cancer .

Voice and repertoire

Shane's voice was a classic coloratura soprano . The scope, flexibility and size of her dark-colored voice were particularly emphasized, as was her impressive technique. However, it was criticized, u. a. the imbalance of her voice. Shanes was considered an intense performer on stage; the role of the Queen of the Night was her special shining role.

In the course of her career, Shane sang almost the entire subject of coloratura soprano and lyrical-dramatic coloratura soprano. Her repertoire ranged from baroque music (including Elmira in Reinhard Keiser's Croesus ) to modern music ( Schönberg, Reimann, Argento). Her other stage roles included: Donna Anna in Don Giovanni , the title role in Maria Stuarda , Adina in L'elisir d'amore , the title role in Manon , Marie in The Bartered Bride , Fata Morgana in Love for the Three Oranges and Zerbinetta in Ariadne on Naxos .

Audio documents

Original studio recordings and commercial recordings that document Shane's voice on vinyl are relatively few. In 1970 she played Richard Strauss's Brentano songs with the Louisville Orchestra. However, there are numerous live recordings, in particular radio recordings from the Metropolitan Opera., U. a. a recording of Le prophète from 1979. There are also private recordings from the Metropolitan Opera and the Santa Fé Opera. There is also a live recording of a concert performance of the opera Die Huguenots under the musical direction of Ernst Märzendorfer from Vienna in 1971 , in which Shane can be heard alongside Nicolai Gedda (as Raoul de Nangis).

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e Rita Shane, a Met Soprano Known for Range and Intensity, Dies at 78 obituary in: New York Times, October 12, 2014
  2. ↑ a b c d Rita Shane List of roles and performances; Metropolitan Opera New York. Retrieved December 27, 2014.
personal data
SURNAME Shane, Rita
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American opera singer with a soprano voice
DATE OF BIRTH August 15, 1936
PLACE OF BIRTH New York City , New York State
DATE OF DEATH October 9, 2014
Place of death New York City , New York State