Luana DeVol (born November 30, 1942 in San Mateo, California) is an American operatic soprano who made her Metropolitan Opera debut as Ortrud in April 2006 in Wagner's Lohengrin . The production was broadcast internationally on April 29, 2006. [1] [2] She was named "Singer of the Year" in 1997 and 2000 by the German opera magazine Opernwelt . [3]
DeVol graduated from Capuchino High School in San Bruno, California, where she grew up, and attended the College of San Mateo in San Mateo. She had a featured role in a production of Patience by Gilbert and Sullivan, the very first performances by the San Mateo Community Theatre, in the summer of 1963. [4] [ verification needed ]
Since the mid-1980s, DeVol has sung primarily in Europe and has enjoyed success in the German repertoire. [1] She was a featured soloist with the Masterworks Chorale in San Mateo under the direction of Galen Marshall, and sang in a great variety of choral works, especially by Ludwig van Beethoven and Johannes Brahms. DeVol appeared with the San Francisco Symphony [5] and the San Francisco Opera. [6] She moved to Germany in 1984 to further pursue her career, giving numerous operatic performances there. [7]
DeVol has been featured on recordings released by the Bayer Music Group. [8]
Jessye Norman was an American opera singer and recitalist. She was able to perform dramatic soprano roles, but refused to be limited to that voice type. She was a commanding presence on operatic, concert and recital stages, associated with roles including Beethoven's Leonore, Wagner's Sieglinde and Kundry, Cassandre and Didon by Berlioz and Bartók's Judith. The New York Times music critic Edward Rothstein described her voice as a "grand mansion of sound", and wrote that "it has enormous dimensions, reaching backward and upward. It opens onto unexpected vistas. It contains sunlit rooms, narrow passageways, cavernous halls."
Nell Rankin was an American operatic mezzo-soprano. Though a successful opera singer internationally, she spent most of her career at the Metropolitan Opera, where she worked from 1951 to 1976. She was particularly admired for her portrayals of Amneris in Verdi's Aida and the title role in Bizet's Carmen. Opera News said, "Her full, generous tone and bold phrasing, especially in the Italian repertory, were unique among American mezzos of her generation.
Tatiana Troyanos was an American mezzo-soprano of Greek and German descent, remembered as "one of the defining singers of her generation". Her voice, "a paradoxical voice — larger than life yet intensely human, brilliant yet warm, lyric yet dramatic" — "was the kind you recognize after one bar, and never forget", wrote Cori Ellison in Opera News.
Cheryl Studer is an American dramatic soprano who has sung at many of the world's foremost opera houses. Studer has performed more than eighty roles ranging from the dramatic repertoire to roles more commonly associated with lyric sopranos and coloratura sopranos, and, in her late stage, mezzo-sopranos. She is particularly known for her interpretations of the works of Richard Strauss and Richard Wagner.
Dame Gwyneth Jones is a Welsh operatic dramatic soprano, widely regarded as one of the greatest Wagnerian sopranos in the second half of the 20th century.
Inge Borkh was a German operatic dramatic soprano. She was first based in Switzerland, where she received international attention when she appeared in the first performance in German of Menotti's The Consul, in Basel, in 1951. In 1952, Borkh became a member of the Deutsche Oper Berlin and the Bavarian State Opera in Munich. She appeared at leading opera houses in Europe and the Americas, and at festivals such as Bayreuth and Salzburg. Trained first as an actress, she was admired for both singing and stage presence, especially in the Richard Strauss roles Salome and Elektra. She also performed in contemporary opera, such as the premiere of Josef Tal's Ashmedai in Hamburg in 1971. Her recordings include complete operas and recitals. Borkh was awarded the Hans-Reinhart-Ring, the highest honour for theatre professionals in Switzerland.
Deborah Voigt is an American dramatic soprano who has sung roles in operas by Wagner and Richard Strauss.
Andrea Gruber is an American dramatic soprano particularly admired for her interpretations of the works of Puccini, Verdi, and Wagner.
Teresa Żylis-Gara is a Polish operatic soprano who had a major international career during the 1950s through the 1990s. She was a long-time member of the Metropolitan Opera in New York City, known for her portrayals in operas by Mozart, Puccini and Verdi. She performed a broad repertoire both on stage as in concert and recital, singing works by Bach, Handel, Brahms, Faure, Chopin and Szymanowski, among others. She is known for the stylistic security and flexibility of her unique voice.
Herva Nelli was an Italian-American operatic soprano.
Sondra Dee Radvanovsky is an American-Canadian soprano. Specializing in 19th-century Italian opera, Radvanovsky has been called one of the leading Verdi sopranos of her generation. Her signature roles include Elvira in Ernani, Leonora in Il trovatore, Elena in I vespri siciliani, Élisabeth in Don Carlos, and the title role in Norma.
Éva Marton is a Hungarian dramatic soprano, particularly known for her operatic portrayals of Puccini's Turandot and Tosca, and Wagnerian roles.
Angela Denoke is a German opera singer (soprano).
Nina Maria Stemme is a Swedish dramatic soprano opera singer.
Masterworks Chorale is a choral ensemble based in San Mateo, California.
Klara Barlow was an American opera singer who had an active international career from the mid-1960s through the 1990s. A dramatic soprano, Barlow particularly excelled in portraying Strauss and Wagnerian heroines. The 5-foot-11-inch-tall "platinum-blonde beauty" was ideal for playing the "Wagnerian blondes": roles like Elsa, Eva, Sieglinde, and Elisabeth. Although she worked most often in the German repertoire, Barlow also sang roles from the Italian, French, and Czech repertories. While her performance credits included leading roles at most of the world's major opera houses, she never achieved a high level of international fame. She did not participate in any commercial audio recordings, although her voice is preserved on a few television and radio broadcasts made in Germany, Canada, and the United States.
Janis Martin was an American opera singer who sang leading roles first as a mezzo-soprano and later as a soprano in opera houses throughout Europe and the United States. She was particularly known for her performances in the operas of Richard Wagner and sang at the Bayreuth Festival from 1968 to 1997.
Maria Friderike Radner was a German contralto who performed internationally in opera and in concerts.
Renate Behle is an Austrian operatic mezzo-soprano and soprano who made an international career, based in Germany. She was professor of voice at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater Hamburg from 2000 to 2010.
Ute Vinzing is a German operatic soprano who received the title Kammersängerin. She is known for dramatic roles by Richard Wagner and Richard Strauss, including Brünnhilde, Isolde, Ortrud, Kundry, Elektra and the Dyer's Wife, which she performed internationally.
