This week on Opera-Online we pay tribute to one of America's greatest singers, Shirley Verrett who passed away late last week at the age of 79.She was internationally regarded as a dynamic singing actress. Her voice was not just beautiful, but was amazingly powerful and her technique was impeccable. Ms. Verrett achieved recognition as one of the world's great artist.
Born into a devout Seventh-day Adventists family in New Orleans, Louisiana in 1931, Ms. Verrett was raised in Los Angeles, California. She sang in church and showed early musical abilities, but initially a singing career was frowned upon by her family. Later she went on to study at the Juilliard School in New York and won the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions in 1961.
Ms. Verrett's rare combination of vocal gifts, unequaled presence, and elegant style has made her a star at the world's great opera houses, including the Metropolitan Opera, La Scala, the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, the Bolshoi Opera, the Paris Opera, the San Francisco Opera, the Vienna Staatsoper, and the Lyric Opera of Chicago.
Verrett's vocal artistry comfortably embraces the great mezzo-soprano and soprano roles including legendary performances as Cassandra and Didon (Berlioz Les Troyens), Puccini's Tosca, Amneris and Aida in Verdi's opera, Azucena (Verdi's Il trovatore) and Bellini's Norma. But perhaps the roles for which she will be most remembered are the title role in Bizet's Carmen, Eboli in Verdi's Don Carlo, the seductive Dalila in Saint-Saens's Samson et Dalila, and Lady Macbeth in Verdi's Macbeth.
As Dalila
As Lady Macbeth
As Carmen
OPERA ON THE AIR
This weekend listen to 90.1 WRTI FM's broadcast of Houston Grand Opera's production of Britten's The Turn of the Screw starring Amanda Roocroft as the Governess. Here's what WRTI has to say about the opera:
In Benjamin Britten's operatic thriller, two children are pulled toward the world of the dead by the ghosts of their prior governess Miss Jessel, and her lover Peter Quint. Internationally acclaimed soprano Amanda Roocroft plays the governess whose obsessive efforts to protect the children may prove more of a threat than the spirits themselves.
More Information:
The Cast:
- Amanda Roocroft: Governess
- Andrew Kennedy: Prologue/Peter Quint
- Michael Kepler Meo: Miles
- Joelle Harvey: Flora
- Judith Forst: Mrs. Grose
- Tamara Wilson: Miss Jessel
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Until next week…
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