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Teresa Stratas OC FRCMT(hon) (born May 26, 1938) is an Canadian operatic soprano and actress of Greek descent. She is especially well known for her award-winning recording of Alban Berg's Lulu . [1] She has now formally retired.
Stratas was born Anastasia Stratakis to a struggling immigrant Cretan family in Oshawa, near Toronto, Ontario. At age 13, she performed Greek pop songs on the radio. She graduated from The Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto where she studied singing with Irene Jessner. At age 20, Stratas made her professional opera debut as Mimì in La bohème at the Toronto Opera Festival. One year later in 1959, she co-won the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, appearing later that year with the Metropolitan Opera as Poussette in Manon . She created the title role in Peggy Glanville-Hicks' Nausicaa at the Herod Atticus Theatre in Athens in 1961, [2] made her Covent Garden debut as Mimì that same year and in 1962, she made her La Scala debut as Isabella in Manuel de Falla's L'Atlántida. She continued her career with the Metropolitan Opera, moved into leading roles and performed with leading opera houses around the world, including the Bolshoi, Vienna State, Berlin, Bavarian State (Munich), Paris, San Francisco and at the Salzburg Festival.
Her repertoire also included Zerlina in Don Giovanni , Despina in Così fan tutte , Cherubino and Susanna in The Marriage of Figaro , Liù in Turandot , Cio-Cio-San in Madama Butterfly , Micaëla in Carmen , Marguerite in Faust , the title role in La Périchole , Gretel in Hansel and Gretel , Lisa in The Queen of Spades , The Composer in Ariadne auf Naxos , Antonia in Les contes d'Hoffmann , Mélisande in Pelléas et Mélisande , Marenka in The Bartered Bride , Desdemona in Otello , Mme Lidoine in Dialogues des Carmélites , the title roles of Salome and Lulu , Jenny Smith in Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny (directed by John Dexter) and Marie Antoinette in John Corigliano's The Ghosts of Versailles . She is regarded as one of the foremost singing actresses of the twentieth century.
In March 1962, she appeared as a contestant on the CBS Game Show "To Tell The Truth." Stratas and two other contestants had to convince the panelists that each of them was the real Teresa Stratas. Dorothy Kilgallen and Johnny Carson appeared on the episode as panelists along with Tom Poston and Dina Merrill. None of the panelists believed Stratas was really herself; giving all three contestants the top $1,000 prize to split among themselves and each received a carton of Salem cigarettes, the brand sponsoring the program. [3]
Among her career highlights was the creation of the role of Sardulla in the US premiere of Menotti's The Last Savage (Met, 1964). In 1974, she made a film (directed by Götz Friedrich) of Strauss' Salome with the Vienna Philharmonic under Karl Böhm. Pierre Boulez chose her to sing the title role in the first performance of Friedrich Cerha's completed version of Alban Berg's Lulu (Paris, 1979). In 1981 she performed the role of Mimi in La bohème at the Metropolitan Opera in New York. [4] On 26 September 1989, she sang all three soprano roles in Puccini's Trittico , Giorgetta in Il tabarro , Angelica in Suor Angelica and Lauretta in Gianni Schicchi (Met). She created the role of Marie Antoinette in the premiere of John Corigliano's The Ghosts of Versailles (Met, 1991). At the opening night of the Met's 1994 season, she sang Nedda in Pagliacci opposite Luciano Pavarotti and Giorgetta in Il tabarro opposite Plácido Domingo. [5]
Over the course of her thirty-six year career at the Metropolitan Opera, she appeared in 385 performances of 41 different roles. Her most frequently performed roles at the house include Liu in Turandot (27 performances between 1961 and 1995), Nedda in Pagliacci (27 performances between 1963 and 1994) and Mimì in La bohème (26 performances between 1962 and 1982). Her final performance with the company was on December 9, 1995, as Jenny in The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny . She was engaged to sing Marenka in a revival of The Bartered Bride during the 1996–97 season, but withdrew from the production prior to opening night, and subsequently never appeared at the Metropolitan again.
While rehearsing for Mahagonny in 1979, Stratas met the originator of her role, Lotte Lenya, who was also Kurt Weill's widow. Lenya gave her the scores of previously unpublished Weill songs which she had hoarded until that time, some of which Stratas later recorded on two albums, The Unknown Kurt Weill and Stratas Sings Weill.
She also starred in several film adaptations of operas, including Salome (1974), Amahl and the Night Visitors (1978), The Bartered Bride (1975), Pagliacci (1982) and La traviata (1983).
In 1988, she recorded the role of Julie La Verne in EMI's 3-CD set of the complete score of Kern and Hammerstein's classic musical Show Boat , conducted by John McGlinn. Also starring with her were Frederica Von Stade as Magnolia, Jerry Hadley as Gaylord Ravenal, and Bruce Hubbard as Joe. This was the first-ever complete recording of the score, using Robert Russell Bennett's original 1927 orchestrations, Will Vodery's vocal arrangements, and all of Oscar Hammerstein II's uncensored lyrics. Critics acclaimed it as the finest recording of Show Boat ever made.
In the 1980s Stratas travelled to Calcutta and worked with Mother Teresa in an orphanage and at the Kalighat Home for the Dying. In the 1990s she again took time from her career to move into a Romanian hospital to clean cots and wash and care for the sick and dying orphans.
On September 25, 2008, Teresa Stratas returned to New York for an interview with the Metropolitan Opera Guild, her first public appearance in over a decade. She lives in Florida.
Gian Franco Corsi Zeffirelli was an Italian stage and film director, producer, production designer and politician. He was one of the most significant opera and theatre directors of the post–World War II era, gaining both acclaim and notoriety for his lavish stagings of classical works, as well as his film adaptations of the same. A member of the Forza Italia party, he served as the Senator for Catania between 1994 and 2001.
Renata Scotto was an Italian soprano, opera director, and voice teacher. Recognised for her sense of style, her musicality, and as a remarkable singer-actress, Scotto is considered to have been one of the preeminent opera singers of her generation.
Anja Silja Regina Langwagen is a German soprano singer.
Karan Armstrong was an American operatic soprano, who was celebrated as a singing actress. After winning the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions in 1966, she was given small roles at the Metropolitan Opera, and appeared in leading roles at the New York City Opera from 1969, including Conceptión in Ravel's L'heure espagnol, Blonde in Mozart's Die Entführung aus dem Serail, and the title roles in Verdi's La traviata, Offenbach's La belle Hélène and Puccini's La fanciulla del West. After she performed in Europe from 1974, first as Micaëla in Bizet's Carmen, and then as a sensational Salome at the Opéra du Rhin, she enjoyed a career at major opera houses, appearing in several opera recordings and films. Armstrong was for decades a leading soprano at the Deutsche Oper Berlin, where her husband Götz Friedrich was director. She appeared in world premieres, including Gottfried von Einem's Jesu Hochzeit, Luciano Berio's Un re in ascolto and York Höller's Der Meister und Margarita. She was awarded the title Kammersängerin twice.
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.
Cornell MacNeil was an American operatic baritone known for his exceptional voice and long career with the Metropolitan Opera, which spanned 642 performances in twenty-six roles. Opera News opined he "was a great baritone in era of great baritones — Warren, Gobbi, Merrill, Milnes — and in the contemporary press, comparisons to his colleagues were frequent. But MacNeil's performances had singular musical richness, and moral and intellectual complexity that were his alone. MacNeil may have had rivals, but he had no equals."
Nancy Shade is an American spinto soprano, best known as a singing-actress. She made her formal debut as Leonora in Il trovatore, in Louisville, in 1967. In 1971, she made her first of many appearances at the New York City Opera, as Musetta in La bohème. She also sang there in Mefistofele, Madama Butterfly, Pagliacci, Susannah, and Die tote Stadt.
Verónica Villarroel González is a Chilean soprano. In 1989 she won the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions. She studied singing with Ellen Faull at the Juilliard School.
Gabriella Tucci was an Italian operatic soprano who was particularly associated with the Italian repertory and performed at notable opera houses worldwide. She appeared at the Metropolitan Opera in 11 Verdi roles across 13 seasons, including Violetta in La traviata and Desdemona in Otello.
Mary Elizabeth Mills is an American opera singer.
Elena Mauti Nunziata was an Italian operatic soprano. Her voice had spinto qualities, with a slightly dark timbre and an easy upper register. She gained international recognition with the title role in Verdi's La traviata at the Teatro Real in Madrid in 1977. At the Metropolitan Opera in New York City, she performed as Mimi in Puccini's La bohème, as La traviata, and as Nedda in Leoncavallo's Pagliacci.
Stella Zambalis is an American spinto soprano born in Cleveland, Ohio. She has been called one of the best sopranos in the world today.
Pagliacci is a 1982 Italian film of Ruggero Leoncavallo's opera Pagliacci, directed by Franco Zeffirelli. All the actors, including Plácido Domingo and Teresa Stratas in the starring roles, were opera singers who sang their own parts. Pagliacci was shot at Milan's La Scala opera house and on a movie sound stage. Georges Prêtre conducted the Orchestra and Choir of La Scala.
Maralin Niska was an American operatic soprano. Well known as a singing-actress, she was a mainstay of the New York City Opera during the 1960s and 1970s. She was also a regular performer at the Metropolitan Opera from 1970 to 1977.
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.
Kenneth Riegel was an American opera tenor.
Svetla Vassileva is a Bulgarian opera singer (soprano).
Barbara Daniels is an American operatic soprano.
The soprano Renata Scotto made many recordings, some of complete operas, others of collections of arias. Some of her performances can be seen on video, recorded live, especially in Metropolitan Opera broadcasts.
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