 |
Gwynne Geyer (born August 13, 1956) is an American operatic soprano and voice teacher.
|
Gwynne Geyer (born August 13, 1956) is an American operatic soprano and voice teacher.
Born in Pennsylvania on August 13, 1956, [1] Gwynne Geyer grew up in Gilbertsville, Pennsylvania. [2] She attended the Boyertown Area School District and graduated from Boyertown Area High School in 1974. In her senior year she portrayed Maria in a school production of The Sound of Music . [3] She trained as a soprano at the Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University where she studied voice with Eileen Farrell and earned a Master of Music degree. [2]
Geyer made her professional opera debut in 1979 while a graduate student at Indiana University; singing the role of Xenia in a concert version of Boris Godunov with the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra. She had previously made her professional concert debut with that orchestra in 1977 performing as the soprano soloist in Ludwig van Beethoven's Choral Fantasy . [2]
Geyer has sung leading roles at major opera houses all over the Western world, including La Scala, the Metropolitan Opera, and the Vienna State Opera. She played the role of Nedda in Pagliacci for the New York City Opera in 1992. [4]
She opened the 2004–2005 season as Madame Lidoine in Poulenc's Les Dialogues des Carmelites at the New York City Opera, followed by Elsa in Lohengrin (opera) at the Teatro Real in Madrid, and Symphony No. 8 (Mahler) with the National Orchestra of Mexico in the Palacio de Bellas Artes. Miss Geyer made her La Scala debut under the baton of Riccardo Muti in 2004 as Madame Lidoine in Les Dialogues des Carmelites, which followed Ellen Orford in Peter Grimes in Barcelona, and her role debut in the title role of Ariadne auf Naxos for the Spoleto Festival USA of which the Wall Street Journal reported: "Gwynne Geyer has elegance to spare to play Ariadne ... Spoleto was fortunate in its Ariadne, a role that can be just as tedious as the commedia characters insist. Gwynne Geyer has a big, gleaming soprano with effortless high notes, and she shaped her long laments with musical elegance."
In recent seasons Miss Geyer has been heard in a variety of roles on the great stages of the world, among them, Musetta in La Bohème for the Metropolitan Opera, Jenufa at La Fenice in Venice, Rusalka with the Seattle Opera, the title role of Katya Kabanova and Musetta at the Paris Opéra Bastille, Madame Lidoine at the Netherlands Opera in Amsterdam, Freia in Das Rheingold in Madrid, Elsa in Lohengrin at the Liceu in Barcelona, and the title role of Jenufa at the Teatro San Carlo in Naples which was reported in London's monthly Opera (British magazine): "Gwynne Geyer as Jenufa herself added yet another superb characterization to her gallery ... and singing with that distinctive vocal timbre of hers that conveys (especially at the top) a kind of ecstatically painful sincerity."
Career highlights for Miss Geyer have included performances at the Metropolitan Opera as Rosalinde in Die Fledermaus, the title role of Rusalka, Nedda in I pagliacci, Marguerite in Faust, Eva in Die Meistersinger, and Marenka in The Bartered Bride. She sang the title role in Richard Jones' production of Jenufa at the Netherlands Opera, the title role in the Santa Fe Opera premiere of Countess Mariza, Mila Valkova in Janáček's Osud with the VARA Radio in Amsterdam, and a critically acclaimed portrayal of Galina Vishnevskaja in Marcel Landowski's Galina with Opéra National de Lyon. Gwynne Geyer made her professional operatic debut at the New York City Opera debut as Nedda in Pagliacci. Miss Geyer has appeared in concert and recording (BMG Classics) of Mahler's Symphony No. 8 with the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic (VARA) under the baton of Edo de Waart and the Sydney Symphony, and in Britten's War Requiem under the baton of John Nelson.
Miss Geyer has sung leading roles at the Metropolitan Opera, Vienna State Opera, Opéra National de Paris - Bastille, Arena de Verona, San Francisco Opera, Bayerische Staatsoper - Munich, New Israeli Opera, Seattle Opera, Grand Théâtre du Geneve, Canadian Opera Company, Gran Teatre del Liceu - Barcelona, New York City Opera, Opéra National de Lyon, The Santa Fe Opera, and the Opera Theatre of St. Louis. Miss Geyer has appeared in concert with the Philadelphia Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Montreal Symphony, Cleveland Orchestra, and the Minnesota Orchestra.
She is currently Artist in Residence & Teaching Professor of Music at the Franklin & Marshall College.
Frances Yeend was an American classical soprano who had an active international career as a concert and opera singer during the 1940s through the 1960s. She had a long and fruitful association with the New York City Opera (NYCO) between 1948 and 1958, after which she joined the roster of principal sopranos at the Metropolitan Opera where she sang between 1961 and 1963. She also had an extensive concert career, particularly in the United States. By 1963 she had sung in more than 200 orchestral concerts in North American with major symphonies like the New York Philharmonic, the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Cleveland Orchestra, and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra among others.
Dame Gwyneth Jones is a Welsh dramatic soprano, widely regarded as one of the greatest Wagnerian sopranos in the second half of the 20th century.
Lisa Kinkead Gasteen AO, is an Australian operatic soprano, known for her performances of the works of Wagner. She won the Cardiff Singer of the World competition in 1991. She did not perform between 2008 and 2011, due to neuro-muscular spasms in her neck.
Lucine Amara was an American soprano who was chiefly based at the Metropolitan Opera in New York.
Dolora Zajick is an American mezzo-soprano opera singer who specializes in the Verdian repertoire. Zajick has been described as having "one of the greatest voices in the history of opera".
Patricia Lynn Racette is an American operatic soprano. A winner of the Richard Tucker Award in 1998, she has been a regular presence at major opera houses internationally. Racette has enjoyed long-term partnerships with the San Francisco Opera, where she has been a regular performer since 1989, and with the Metropolitan Opera, where she has performed since 1995. Also active on the concert stage, Racette has appeared with many of the world's leading orchestras, including the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the San Francisco Symphony, and the London Philharmonic Orchestra. She also received the award for Best Opera Recording for her performance in the Los Angeles Opera's production of The Ghosts of Versailles at the 59th Annual Grammy Awards.
Deborah Polaski is an American opera and concert singer (soprano). She has specialized in dramatic soprano roles and also sings mezzo-soprano roles occasionally.
Stella Zambalis is an American spinto soprano born in Cleveland, Ohio. She has been called one of the best sopranos in the world today.
Eva Urbanová is a Czech operatic soprano who has had an active international career since 1987. She has been a principal artist at the National Theatre in Prague since 1990 and has appeared as a guest artist at many of the world's best opera houses, including La Scala in Milan and the Metropolitan Opera in New York City. She has made several recording on the Supraphon music label and was honored with a Thalia Award in 1993. In 2003 she was presented with the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the Government of France.
Milada Šubrtová was a Czech operatic soprano who had a lengthy career at the National Theatre in Prague from 1948 through 1991. She was part of an instrumental group of the post-World War II Czech opera singers that was responsible for popularizing Czech opera internationally. She drew particular acclaim for her portrayals of the title heroines in Leoš Janáček's Jenůfa and Antonín Dvořák's Rusalka. Her voice is preserved on a few complete opera recordings made on the Supraphon label. In 1998 she was honored with a Thalia Award.
Natalia Leonidovna Troitskaya was a Russian operatic soprano who had a major international career during the 1980s and early 1990s. She particularly excelled in the operas of Giacomo Puccini and Giuseppe Verdi. Among her signature roles were Tatyana in Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin and the title heroines in Verdi's Aida, Puccini's Manon Lescaut, and Puccini's Tosca. She was a frequent partner of Plácido Domingo during the 1980s and also sang opposite other great artists like Montserrat Caballé, Dmitri Hvorostovsky, and Luciano Pavarotti.
Eva Likova was an American operatic soprano of Czech descent. She was notably one of the major sopranos at the New York City Opera during the company's early years. She also made guest appearances with a number of opera houses in North America and Europe, enjoying a particularly fruitful partnership with the Philadelphia Grand Opera Company. After retiring from the opera stage in 1966, she embarked on a second career as a voice teacher.
Rachel Willis-Sørensen is an American operatic soprano.
Oksana Dyka, also rendered as Dika, is a Ukrainian operatic soprano.
June Card is an American soprano and stage director who had an active career in operas and concerts from 1959 through today. She began her career as a chorus girl on Broadway before moving into opera.
Kelly Kaduce is an American soprano. She was born in Winnebago, Minnesota, United States of America. A graduate of St. Olaf College and Boston University, Kaduce won the 1999 Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions.
Pavla Vykopalová is a Czech operatic soprano.
Myrna Docia Sharlow was an American soprano who had an active performance career in operas and concerts during the 1910s through the 1930s. She began her career in 1912 with the Boston Opera Company and became one of Chicago's more active sopranos from 1915–1920, and again in 1923–1924 and 1926–1927. She sang with several other important American opera companies during her career, including one season at the Metropolitan Opera. She made only a handful of opera appearances in Europe during her career, most notably singing in the English premiere of Riccardo Zandonai's Francesca da Rimini at Covent Garden in 1914. Her repertoire spanned a wide range from leading dramatic soprano roles to lighter lyric soprano fair and comprimario parts. She even performed a few roles traditionally sung by mezzo-sopranos or contraltos.
Eva Randová is a Czech operatic mezzo-soprano who made an international career based in Germany. She appeared at major opera houses including the Metropolitan Opera, and at festivals such as the Bayreuth Festival. She is known for performing Czech operas by Leoš Janáček and Antonín Dvořák.
Asmik Grigorian is a Lithuanian operatic soprano of Armenian ancestry.
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
