Martha Sheil (born December 31, 1949) [1] is an American operatic soprano who made her professional opera debut as the Contessa in Le nozze di Figaro at the New York City Opera under the baton of Julius Rudel. She went on to be a professor of voice at the University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre & Dance for over 30 years before her retirement in 2015. [2]
Sheil was born in Iowa, and participated in music in high school before leaving to attend the Curtis Institute of Music where she received both an undergraduate degree in voice and a graduate degree in opera. [3] She coached and was taught by many greats, including Felix Popper, Licia Albanese, Otto Guth and most notably, wagnerian soprano Margaret Harshaw.
Sheil made her professional debut in 1975 as Alice Ford in Falstaff, and went on to make her debut at New York City Opera in 1976 as The Countess in The Marriage of Figaro. During this time, she also sang Mimi and Musetta in La Boheme, The Mozart heroines, and Suor Angelica. [4] and many other roles. [5]
After making her debut with the New York City Opera, Sheil performed 15 roles with the company over the course of six years, most notably in the world premiere of Dominick Argento Miss Havisham's Fire (1979). Sheil made her European debut at the Luzerner Theater in Switzerland where she sang for several seasons, as well as at the Heidelberger Schlossfestspiele.
She later went on to specialize in the roles of Verdi and Puccini, sing the leading soprano roles of Tosca , Madama Butterfly , [6] Aida , and Turandot . [7] [8] Sheil has also performed in Atlanta, Detroit, Cleveland, Los Angeles, Seattle, Hawaii, and the Kennedy Center, She is the recipient of many awards as both a singer and teacher, including the American Wagner Association Prize, the Minna-Kaufmann Ruud Competition and the 2014 Harold Haugh Award.
Mirella Freni, OMRI was an Italian operatic soprano who had a career of 50 years and appeared at major international opera houses. She received international attention at the Glyndebourne Festival, where she appeared as Zerlina in Mozart's Don Giovanni and as Adina in Donizetti's L'elisir d'amore.
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.
Zhang Liping is a Chinese soprano, who has sung leading roles in the opera houses of both Europe and North America. She is particularly known for her portrayal of Madama Butterfly.
Leona Pearl Mitchell is an American operatic Grammy Award-winning soprano who sang for 18 seasons as a leading spinto soprano at the Metropolitan Opera in New York.
Kallen Esperian is an American lyric soprano. She won the Luciano Pavarotti International Voice Competition in 1985 and is best known for her performances in major opera productions.
Catherine Malfitano is an American operatic soprano and opera director. Malfitano was born in New York City, the daughter of a ballet dancer mother, Maria Maslova, and a violinist father, Joseph Malfitano. She attended the High School of Music and Art and studied at the Frank Corsaro Studio and Manhattan School of Music, graduating in 1971. She often mentions that she was rejected from The Juilliard School.
Radmila Bakočević, is a Serbian operatic soprano who had a major international opera career that began in 1955 and ended upon her retirement from the stage in 2004. During her career, she sang at most of the world's important opera houses, including performances throughout Europe, North and South America. She forged important long-term artistic partnerships with two opera houses during her career: the National Theatre in Belgrade and the Vienna State Opera.
Clamma Churita Dale is an American operatic soprano. She portrayed "Bess" in the highly successful 1976 Houston Grand Opera production of Porgy and Bess. The show was transferred from Houston to Broadway and Dale was awarded a 1977 Drama Desk Award for Best Actress in a musical and received a Tony Award nomination. She won a Grammy award in 1978 for Best Opera Recording of the Porgy & Bess soundtrack.
Antoinette Halloran is an Australian operatic soprano.
Elaine Malbin is an American soprano who had a prolific international career singing in operas, musicals, and concerts from the 1940s through the 1960s. She made her Town Hall debut at the age of 14. She appeared in a number of Broadway productions in the 1940s and 1950s and notably portrayed Marsinah in the original 1953 West End production of Kismet. She starred on Broadway in the title role of My Darlin’ Aida & sang a season of Gilbert and Sullivan at the Mark Hellinger Theater in New York. She was a regular at the New York City Opera during the 1950s and 1960s with leading roles in Love for Three Oranges, Carmen (Micaela), Turandot (Liù), La Bohème (Mimi) and Don Giovanni (Zerlina). She appeared with most of America's leading opera companies during this time as well, including the Houston Grand Opera and the San Francisco Opera. In San Francisco Malbin debuted in a staged version of Carmina Burnana and sang Mimi in La Bohème. She also appeared in concert with several notable orchestras including the New York Philharmonic and the Philadelphia Orchestra. On the International stage she appeared at a number of opera houses and major music festivals in the United Kingdom, Italy, and France. She performed at the Glyndebourne and Edinburgh Festivals as well as Madama Butterfly with the Scottish Opera Company. She is perhaps best remembered for appearing in several opera roles live for television with the NBC Opera Theatre and for recording two duets with Mario Lanza at RCA on 11 April 1950.
Adelaide Bishop was an American operatic soprano, musical theatre actress, opera director, stage director, and voice teacher. She began her career appearing in Broadway musicals as a teenager during the early 1940s. She became a principal soprano with the New York City Opera (NYCO) in 1948, where she performed through 1960 in a broad repertoire encompassing German, French, Italian, and English operas from a variety of musical periods. In the late 1950s, she started working actively as a stage director and as a voice teacher, working with many opera companies throughout the United States and serving on the music faculties of several different American universities. She also served as the artistic director of the Wolf Trap Opera for many years.
Margaret Harshaw was an American opera singer and voice teacher who sang for 22 consecutive seasons at the Metropolitan Opera from November 1942 to March 1964. She began her career as a mezzo-soprano in the early 1930s but then began performing roles from the soprano repertoire in 1950. She sang a total of 39 roles in 25 works at the Met and was heard in 40 of the Metropolitan Opera radio broadcasts. She was also active as a guest artist with major opera houses in Europe and North and South America.
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.
Frances Greer was an American soprano. A leading performer at the Metropolitan Opera and the Philadelphia Opera Company, she recorded 13 albums, mostly musical operettas with RCA Victor, and made several concert appearances at Carnegie Hall. For many years she was the featured singer on CBS’s Friday evening radio program, Musicland USA.
Geraldine McMillian is an American soprano who has had an active career in concerts and operas since the mid-1980s.
Elisabeth Carron, was an American operatic soprano from Newark, New Jersey, who had an active international career from the 1940s through the 1980s. In 1954 she portrayed the Young Woman in the world premiere of Gian Carlo Menotti's The Saint of Bleecker Street. From 1988 to 1996 she taught on the voice faculty at the Manhattan School of Music in New York.
Heather Engebretson is a Chinese-American operatic soprano who made a career mostly in Europe. Based at German opera ensembles for several years, she has worked freelance from 2017, and widened her repertoire from coloratura roles to leading characters such as Puccini's Madama Butterfly. She has been praised for her convincing acting as well as the expressiveness of her lyric voice, with performances including the Royal Opera House in London, the Bolshoi Theatre and Oper Frankfurt.
Barbara Daniels is an American operatic soprano.
Helen Vanni was an American opera singer who performed mezzo-soprano and soprano roles.
Helga Görlin was a Swedish soprano and voice teacher. She performed as a resident leading soprano at the Royal Swedish Opera from 1926 to 1951, and later returned as a guest artist at that theatre for her final stage performance in 1954 as Cio-Cio San in Puccini's Madama Butterfly. A frequent romantic stage partner of tenor Jussi Björling during the 1930s and 1940s, she notably portrayed the role of Minnie in the Swedish premiere of Puccini's La fanciulla del West in 1934 with Björling as Dick Johnson. She also created roles in the world premieres of operas by Kurt Atterberg, Natanael Berg, and Hilding Rosenberg during her career.