The Metropolitan Opera is an American opera company based in New York City, resident at the Metropolitan Opera House at Lincoln Center, currently situated on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. The company is operated by the non-profit Metropolitan Opera Association, with Peter Gelb as general manager. As of 2018, the company's current music director is Yannick Nézet-Séguin.
Kirsten Malfrid Flagstad was a Norwegian opera singer, who was the outstanding Wagnerian soprano of her era. Her triumphant debut in New York on 2 February 1935 is one of the legends of opera. Giulio Gatti-Casazza, the longstanding General Manager of the Metropolitan Opera said, “I have given America two great gifts — Caruso and Flagstad.”
Wallaceburg is an unincorporated community in the municipality of Chatham-Kent in Southern (Southwestern) Ontario, Canada. Originally a small settlement, it was recognized for its significant contribution to the lumber and boat building industries and strategic location along the banks of the scenic Sydenham River. In more recent years, 1895–1999, the town was known for its glass making industry. For that reason, Wallaceburg is locally known as the "glass town of Canada."
Louise Beatty Homer was an American operatic contralto who had an active international career in concert halls and opera houses from 1895 until her retirement in 1932.
Margaret Matzenauer was a mezzo-soprano singer with an opulent timbre and a wide range to her voice. She performed key works from both the Italian and German operatic repertoires in Europe and the United States.
Kathleen Howard was a Canadian-born American opera singer, magazine editor, and character actress from the mid-1930s through the 1940s.
Cyrena van Gordon was the stage name of an American operatic contralto born Cyrena Sue Pocock on September 4, 1892, in Camden, Ohio; she died on April 4, 1964, in New York City. In 1912 she married Shirley B. Munns, an eye, ear, nose, and throat specialist in Chicago.
Margarethe Arndt-Ober was a German opera singer who had an active international career during the first half of the twentieth century. A highly skilled contralto, Ober enjoyed a particularly long and fruitful association with the Berlin State Opera from 1907 to 1944. She also was notably a principal singer at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City between 1913 and 1917.
Jean Madeira, née Jean Browning was an American contralto, particularly known for her work in late-romantic German repertoire such as the operas of Richard Wagner and Richard Strauss.
Karin Branzell was a Swedish operatic contralto, who had a prominent career at the Metropolitan Opera, New York, and in Europe. Her very wide range enabled her to sing both contralto roles and the occasional soprano role. She was particularly noted for her singing of the music of Richard Wagner, in roles such as Ortrud (Lohengrin), Venus (Tannhäuser), Erda, Brangäne, and Brunnhilde. She was considered on a par with Margarete Klose and Kerstin Thorborg as a Wagnerian contralto. Amneris (Aida), Dalila, Herodias (Salome), and Clytemnestra (Elektra) were among her other renowned roles.
Anna Fitziu was an American soprano who had a prolific international opera career during the early part of the 20th century. Her signature roles included Fiora in L'amore dei tre re, Mimi in La bohème, Nedda in Pagliacci, and the title roles in Isabeau, Madama Butterfly, and Tosca. After her singing career ended, she embarked on a second career as a voice teacher. Among her notable pupils was opera singer Shirley Verrett.
Elizabeth Frances Ingram was an American operatic contralto of English birth who had an active career in North America during the 1910s and 1920s.
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.
Sophie Braslau was a contralto prominent in United States opera, starting with her debut in New York City's Metropolitan Opera in 1913 when she was 21.
Marion Weed was an internationally-famous American opera singer with lead roles in the Metropolitan Opera, the Cologne Opera, and the Hamburg Opera. She was the Dean of Women and a Dramatic Instructor at the University of Rochester's Eastman School of Music.
Queena Marian Tillotson, known professionally as Queena Mario, was an American soprano opera singer, newspaper columnist, voice teacher, and fiction writer.
Clara Pasvolsky was a Russian contralto singer.
Lina Coen was a French-American musician of Dutch descent. She won acclaim as a pianist and vocal coach and the first woman in the United States to conduct an opera.
Merle Alcock was an American contralto who sang with the Metropolitan Opera in 236 performances from 1919 to 1929, officially signing in with them in 1924.
Marguerite Dunlap was an American contralto opera singer. She is mainly remembered for her recordings for Victor Records from 1904–1928. She recorded a wide range of music from operas to Broadway musicals to sacred music, popular music, and songs from the classical concert repertoire.
