New England Opera Theater

Last updated

The New England Opera Theatre (later known as the Goldovsky Opera Theater) was an American opera company that was active from 1945 to 1985. Founded by Boris Goldovsky in January 1945, the company was originally based in Boston, Massachusetts. It was initially established under the sponsorship of the New England Conservatory as a training ground for young opera singers. The company became independent and moved to New York in the 1950s and enjoyed four decades of touring during which young singers were trained for operatic careers. Many of them went on to sing at the Metropolitan Opera and other leading houses. The company disbanded upon Goldovsky's retirement in 1985. [1]

Related Research Articles

Sarah Caldwell American opera conductor, impresario, and stage director

Sarah Caldwell was an American opera conductor, impresario, and stage director.

Mary Beth Peil singer and actress

Mary Beth Peil is an American actress and singer.

Phyllis Curtin American operatic soprano

Phyllis Curtin was an American classical soprano who had an active career in operas and concerts from the early 1950s through the 1980s. She was known for her creation of new roles such as the title role in the Carlisle Floyd opera Susannah, Catherine Earnshaw in Floyd's Wuthering Heights, and in other works by this composer. She was a dedicated song recitalist and retired from singing in 1984. She was named Boston University's Dean Emerita, College of Fine Arts in 1991.

Justino Díaz is a Puerto Rican operatic bass-baritone. In 1963, Díaz won an annual contest held at the Metropolitan Opera of New York, becoming the first Puerto Rican to obtain such an honor and as a consequence, made his Metropolitan debut on October 1963 in Verdi's Rigoletto as Monterone.

John M. McCollum was an American tenor who had an active singing career in operas, concerts, and recitals during the 1950s through the 1970s. As an opera singer he performed with companies throughout North America, mostly working with second tier opera houses. He was much more successful as a singer of oratorios and other works from the concert repertoire, and enjoyed a particularly productive and lengthy relationship with the Boston Symphony Orchestra. As a concert singer he sang a wide repertoire but drew particular acclaim for his performances in the works of Johann Sebastian Bach and George Frideric Handel.

Edward Zambara was a Canadian-American bass-baritone singer and leading music educator.

Boris Goldovsky was a Russian-born conductor and broadcast commentator, active in the United States. He has been called an important "popularizer" of opera in America. As an opera producer, conductor, impresario, and broadcaster he was prominent within the American operatic community between 1946 and 1985.

Louise Pettitt, born Florence Louise Staples, was one of the first American female opera conductors. For over forty years, she simultaneously served as orchestral conductor, dramatic director, and vocal director for the Chaminade Opera Group, which she founded in 1959. She promoted the growth of opera, and the advancement of many performers ranging from amateur enthusiasts to internationally known professionals.

Ronald Holgate is an American actor and opera singer. He won the Tony Award for Best Supporting Actor as Richard Henry Lee in the original Broadway production of 1776, a role he reprised in 1972 for the film 1776.

Robert McFerrin opera singer

Robert Keith McFerrin Sr. was an American operatic baritone and the first African-American man to sing at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City. His voice was described by critic Albert Goldberg in the Los Angeles Times as "a baritone of beautiful quality, even in all registers, and with a top that partakes of something of a tenor's ringing brilliance." He was the father of Grammy Award-winning vocalist Robert McFerrin Jr., better known as Bobby McFerrin.

Nancy Storace English operatic soprano

AnnaSelina Storace, known as Nancy Storace, was an English operatic soprano. The role of Susanna in Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro was written for and first performed by her.

Dorothy Kirsten American operatic soprano (1910-1992)

Dorothy Kirsten was an American operatic soprano.

The Metropolitan Opera radio broadcasts are a regular series of weekly broadcasts on network radio of full-length opera performances. They are transmitted live from the stage of the Metropolitan Opera in New York City. The Metropolitan Opera International Radio Network airs the live performances on Saturday afternoons while the Met is in season, typically beginning the first Saturday in December, and totaling just over 20 weekly performances through early May. The Met broadcasts are the longest-running continuous classical music program in radio history, and the series has won several Peabody Awards for excellence in broadcasting.

Mildred Miller singer

Mildred Miller is an American classical mezzo-soprano who had a major career performing in operas, concerts, and recitals during the mid twentieth century. She was notably a principal artist at the Metropolitan Opera from 1951 through 1974. In 1978 she founded the Opera Theater of Pittsburgh, serving as the company's Artistic Director through 1999.

Eunice Alberts (1927–2012) was an American contralto who had an active career as a concert soloist and opera singer during the 1950s through the 1980s.

Bettina Freeman American opera singer

Bettina Freeman was a Boston-born opera singer with the San Carlo Opera Company who was active from 1911 to 1920.

Norman Scott was an American operatic bass. He had a long and fruitful association with the Metropolitan Opera in New York City from 1951 up until his death seventeen years later. His repertoire at the Met included well over 50 roles, and he gave a total of 927 performances at the house during his career. A talented actor with an excellent sense of comic timing, Scott excelled in playing secondary characters that were often humorous in nature. Although initially a comprimario singer, Scott was eventually given opportunities to tackle larger leading roles at the Met, and he spent much of his career at that house going back and forth between leading and secondary roles. Although Scott spent the majority of his career at the Met, he did occasionally perform with other opera companies both in the United States and abroad. A major personal triumph came in 1953 when he sang the title role in Béla Bartók's Bluebeard's Castle at the Holland Festival.

John Douglas (conductor) American conductor, voice teacher, vocal coach, and accompanist

John Douglas was an American conductor, voice teacher, vocal coach, and accompanist.

Mac Morgan American bass-baritone

Mac Morgan was an American bass-baritone who had an active performance career in concerts and operas from the early 1940s until the mid-1970s. The Boston Globe described him as a singer "known for his rich tone and enviable diction". After retiring from the stage, he embarked on a second successful career as a voice teacher.

Lea Luboshutz was a Russian violinist. She had a performing career in Europe and the United States of America, settling in America and becoming a teacher at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. She was the mother of the conductor Boris Goldovsky and the sister of the pianist Pierre Luboshutz and the cellist, Anna Luboshutz.

References

  1. Bruce Macpherson and James Klein, Measure by Measure, Boston: NEC Trustees, 1995, p102