name	Maurice Abravanel
background	non_vocal_instrumentalist
alias	Maurice de Abravanel
born	January 06, 1903, Thessaloniki, Ottoman Empire
died	September 22, 1993, Salt Lake City, Utah, United States
origin	Berlin, Weimar Republic
instrument	Piano
occupation	Conductor }}

Maurice Abravanel (January 6, 1903 – September 22, 1993) was a Swiss-American Jewish conductor of classical music. He is remembered as the conductor of the Utah Symphony Orchestra for over 30 years.

Life

Abravanel was born in the Greek Macedonian city of Salonika (now Thessaloniki, Greece), then within the Ottoman Empire . He came from an illustrious Sephardic Jewish family, which was expelled from Spain in 1492 (see Isaac Abrabanel). Abravanel's ancestors settled in Salonika in 1517, and his parents were both born there. In 1909, the Abravanel family moved to Lausanne, Switzerland, where the father, Edouard de Abravanel, was a successful pharmacist.

For several years, the Abravanels lived in the same house as Ernest Ansermet, the conductor of the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande. The young Abravanel played four-hand piano arrangements with Ansermet, began to compose, and met composers such as Darius Milhaud and Igor Stravinsky. He was passionate about music and knew he wanted a career as a musician. He became the pianist for the municipal theatre and music critic for the city's daily newspaper.

Maurice's father, however, insisted on a career in medicine and sent him to the University of Zürich, where he was miserable at having to dissect corpses. He wrote to his father that he would rather be second percussionist in an orchestra than a doctor, and his father finally relented.

Abravanel lived in Germany from 1922 to 1933, heavily involving himself in the music scene there. He lived in Paris from 1933 to 1936, serving as music director of Balanchine's Paris Ballet, then conducting for two years in Australia. In 1936 Abravanel accepted a post at New York's Metropolitan Opera, becoming at age 33 the youngest conductor the Met had ever hired. He became a U.S. citizen in 1943. In 1947 he was hired as music director of the Utah Symphony, and over the next 30 years raised the ensemble to international prominence, leading the symphony in live radio broadcasts and releasing more than 100 commercial recordings.

Abravanel was known as ''Maurice de Abravanel'' until 1938. He married singer Friedel Schako in 1933 and the couple moved to Paris that year when the Nazis came to power. The marriage ended in divorce in 1940. In 1947, Abravanel married Lucy Menasse Carasso; they remained married until her death, some 50 years later. He married his third wife, Carolyn Firmage, in 1987. He died in 1993 in Salt Lake City, Utah, at the age of 90.

Music career

In 1922, during the depths of the depression of the Weimar Republic, Abravanel, then age 19, moved to Berlin. Despite the difficult economic situation, Berlin supported three opera houses, which staged performances every night of the year. Wilhelm Furtwängler, Bruno Walter, Richard Strauss and Otto Klemperer were all conducting opera in Berlin at that time.

Abravanel became a student of the composer Kurt Weill (3 years his senior), who had to accept up to 46 students to make ends meet. Abravanel later commented that Weill was "a lousy teacher", but became his close friend and enthusiastic supporter. After a year of study, Abravanel landed a job as an accompanist at the opera in Neustrelitz, just north of Berlin. At the time, this was a good career path towards becoming a conductor because the accompanist rehearsed and coached the singers and would sometimes be called on to substitute when the conductor was unable to conduct at short notice.

In 1924, the theatre in Neustrelitz burned down, and the four conductors found work elsewhere. The members of the orchestra asked Abravanel if he would conduct performances at the castle. He conducted orchestra concerts twice a week at the castle with no rehearsal. He even received some pay.

In 1925, Abravanel received a position as choral director in Zwickau, in Saxony. He spent two years there, conducting the operetta repertoire. Because of his success in Zwickau, he was given a position as regular conductor at a better theatre in Altenburg.

After two years in Altenburg, Abravanel was appointed conductor at his first major opera house in Kassel. In 1931, the director of the Berlin State Opera saw him conduct a performance of Verdi's ''La forza del destino''. He asked him to come to Berlin and conduct a performance at the Berlin State Opera. The orchestra was impressed and applauded Abravanel. This was important because at that time the orchestra decided whether a guest conductor would be asked to return. Abravanel became a regular guest conductor.

Because of the rise of Adolf Hitler, prominent Jewish musicians were being forced to leave Germany. Feeling this danger, Abravanel chose to relocate to Paris along with Kurt Weill in 1933.

In Paris, he worked with Bruno Walter. Walter was a friend of and authority on the music of Gustav Mahler. Walter recommended Abravanel as a guest conductor at the Paris Opera, and he was able to cast, rehearse, and conduct Mozart's ''Don Giovanni'' there. He also had the opportunity to conduct the Orchestre Symphonique de Paris, the regular conductor of which was Pierre Monteux. He also met George Balanchine in Paris and conducted his ballets, as well as conducting the works of his old teacher and friend, Kurt Weill. Weill and Balanchine collaborated on a ballet, ''The Seven Deadly Sins'', which had its premiere in Paris. Abravanel was the conductor.

Weill left Paris for London, and then New York (1935), and the Abravanels left Paris for Australia (1934). Maurice had been offered a chance to direct both the Melbourne and the Sydney opera. After a six-week journey through the Suez Canal and across the Indian Ocean, he arrived to be acclaimed as the "eminent continental conductor."

He conducted a 13-week season in Melbourne and a two-month season in Sydney with Verdi's ''Aida'' as the opener in both cities and a balanced selection of the standard repertoire, including Puccini, Wagner and Bizet.

In mid-spring of 1936, he received an offer from the Metropolitan Opera in New York to come and conduct the German and French repertoire. At age 33, Abravanel became the youngest contracted conductor in the history of the Met. He was offered a three-year contract, only two years of which were fulfilled, due to internal politics at the Met. For the next several years, Abravanel filled several temporary conducting stints on and around Broadway, and tried to emphasize Weill's music wherever possible.

In 1946 the community orchestra known as the Utah State Symphony Orchestra began advertising for a conductor, and Abravanel applied, stating that he wanted to build a permanent orchestra of his own. He was selected from a field of 40 applicants for the position, receiving a one-year contract. In accepting the Utah offer he had to reject a lucrative contract from Radio City Music Hall, and he ended up working without pay several times during the orchestra's darkest days. The one-year contract became a 32-year career. During that time Abravanel built the orchestra from a part-time community orchestra into a well-respected, professional ensemble with recording contracts with Vanguard, Vox, Angel, and CBS. He lobbied for years for a permanent home for the orchestra, and realized this dream when Salt Lake's Symphony Hall opened in September 1979, shortly after he retired for health reasons.

In addition to becoming known as a definitive interpreter of classical composers, Abravanel championed contemporary music, recording the music of Crawford Gates and Leroy Robertson among others.

Abravanel also directed the Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara, California, where young musicians gathered for summer music camps. He taught conducting at Tanglewood, where he was appointed artist-in-residence for life. In his later years he received various honors: The American Symphony Orchestra League gave him its Gold Baton in 1981; President Bush presented him with the National Medal of Arts in 1991; and in 1993 Salt Lake City renamed its Symphony Hall Abravanel Hall.

Abravanel is remembered for making the first-ever complete recording of the nine Mahler symphonies, as well as classic recordings of the Berlioz Requiem, several orchestral works by Edgar Varèse, and Vaughan Williams.

Honors

Received Tony Award for conducting the music of Marc Blitzstein's opera, ''Regina'' on Broadway (1950)

Member of the first music panel of the US National Endowment for the Arts (1970)

Served on the National Council of the Arts (1970–1976)

Received "Golden Baton" award from the American Symphony Orchestra League (1981)

Appointed "Artist in Residence for Life" from the Tanglewood Music Festival (1981)

Received the National Medal of Arts from US President George H. W. Bush (1991)

Received Grammy Award nominations for several of his over 100 classical recordings with the Utah Symphony Orchestra

References

Sources

Durham, Lowell, ''Abravanel!'', Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 1989.

Category:Abravanel family Category:Jewish classical musicians Category:Jewish American musicians Category:Swiss conductors (music) Category:American conductors (music) Category:Vanguard Records artists Category:United States National Medal of Arts recipients

Category:Ottoman Jews Category:Swiss Jews Category:Swiss nobility

Category:Swiss expatriates in Germany Category:German Jews Category:German exiles Category:Jewish refugees Category:German refugees Category:German expatriates in France Category:Swiss expatriates in France Category:Immigrants to Australia Category:People who emigrated to escape Nazism

Category:American people of Ottoman-Jewish descent Category:Swiss emigrants to the United States

Category:American Sephardic Jews Category:Jews from Thessaloniki Category:People from Lausanne Category:1903 births Category:1993 deaths

de:Maurice Abravanel fr:Maurice Abravanel he:מוריס אברבנאל ja:モーリス・アブラヴァネル pt:Maurice de Abravanel

Name	Leroy Anderson
Birth date	June 29, 1908
Birth place	Cambridge, Massachusetts
Death date	May 18, 1975
Death place	Woodbury, Connecticut
Known for	Light orchestral music composer
Occupation	Composer
Nationality	United States
Spouse	Eleanor Firke (married in 1942) }}

Leroy Anderson (June 29, 1908 – May 18, 1975) was an American composer of short, light concert pieces, many of which were introduced by the Boston Pops Orchestra under the direction of Arthur Fiedler. John Williams described him as "one of the great American masters of light orchestral music."

Early life

Born in Cambridge, Massachusetts to Swedish parents, Anderson was given his first piano lessons by his mother, who was a church organist. He continued studying piano at the New England Conservatory of Music. In 1925 Anderson entered Harvard University, where he studied theory with Walter Spalding, counterpoint with Edward Ballantine, harmony with George Enescu, composition with Walter Piston and double bass with Gaston Dufresne. He also studied organ with Henry Gideon. He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1929 and Master of Arts in 1930.

Career

Anderson continued studying at Harvard, working towards a PhD in German and Scandinavian languages. (Anderson spoke English and Swedish during his youth but he eventually became fluent in Danish, Norwegian, Icelandic, German, French, Italian, and Portuguese.) During this time he was also working as organist and choir director at the East Milton Congregational Church, leading the Harvard University Band, and conducting and arranging for dance bands around Boston. His arranging work came to the attention of Arthur Fiedler in 1936 and Anderson was asked to show Fiedler any original compositions. Anderson's first work was ''Jazz Pizzicato'' in 1938. Fiedler suggested that a companion piece be written and thus Anderson wrote ''Jazz Legato'' in 1938.

In 1942 Leroy Anderson joined the U.S. Army, and was assigned to Iceland as a translator and interpreter. Later in 1945 he was assigned to The Pentagon as Chief of the Scandinavian Desk of Military Intelligence. But his duties did not prevent him from composing, and in 1945 he wrote "The Syncopated Clock" and "Promenade". Anderson was a reserve officer and was recalled to active duty for the Korean War. In 1951 Anderson wrote his first hit, "Blue Tango", earning a Golden Disc and the No. 1 spot on the Billboard charts.

His pieces and his recordings during the fifties conducting a studio orchestra were immense commercial successes. "Blue Tango" was the first instrumental recording ever to sell one million copies. His most famous pieces are probably "Sleigh Ride" and "The Syncopated Clock", both of which are instantly recognizable to millions of people. In 1950, WCBS-TV in New York City selected "Syncopated Clock" as the theme song for ''The Late Show'', the WCBS late-night movie. Mitchell Parish added words to "Syncopated Clock", and later wrote lyrics for other Anderson tunes, including "Sleigh Ride", which was not written as a Christmas piece, but as a work that describes a winter event. Anderson started the work during a heat wave in August 1946. The Boston Pops' recording of it was the first pure orchestral piece to reach No. 1 on the Billboard Pop Music chart. From 1952 to 1961, Anderson's composition "Plink, Plank, Plunk!" was used as the theme for the CBS panel show ''I've Got A Secret.''

Anderson's musical style employs creative instrumental effects and occasionally makes use of sound-generating items such as typewriters and sandpaper. (Krzysztof Penderecki also uses a typewriter in his orchestral music, in "Fluorescences", but with a decidedly less humorous effect.)

Anderson wrote his Piano Concerto in C in 1953 but withdrew it, feeling that it had weak spots. In 1988 the Anderson family decided to publish the work. Erich Kunzel and the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra released the first recording of this work; three other recordings have since been released. It is a conservative Romantic work in sonata form, heavily influenced by Rachmaninoff and American popular music, and somewhat resembles Copland's tonal works in style.

In 1958, Anderson composed the music for the Broadway show ''Goldilocks'' with orchestrations by Philip J. Lang. Even though it earned two Tony awards, ''Goldilocks'' did not achieve commercial success. Anderson never wrote another musical, preferring instead to continue writing orchestral miniatures. His pieces, including "The Typewriter", "Bugler's Holiday", and "A Trumpeter's Lullaby" are performed by orchestras and bands ranging from school groups to professional organizations.

Anderson would occasionally appear on the Boston Pops regular concerts on PBS to conduct his own music while Fiedler would sit on the sidelines. For "The Typewriter" Fiedler would don a green eyeshade, roll up his sleeves, and mime working on an old typewriter while the orchestra played.

Anderson was initiated as an honorary member of the Gamma Omicron chapter of Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia at Indiana State University in 1969.

In 1975, Anderson died of cancer in Woodbury, Connecticut and was buried there.

For his contribution to the recording industry, Leroy Anderson has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1620 Vine Street. He was posthumously inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1988 and his music continues to be a staple of "pops" orchestra repertoire. In 1995 the Harvard University Band's new headquarters was named the Anderson Band Center in honor of Leroy Anderson.

In 2006, one of his piano works, "Forgotten Dreams", written in 1954, became the background for a British TV advertisement for mobile phone company '3'. Previously, Los Angeles station KABC-TV used the song as its sign-off theme at the end of broadcast days in the 1980s, and Mantovani's recording of the song had been the closing theme for WABC-TV's "Eyewitness News" for much of the 1970s.

''The Typewriter'' was used as the theme song for ''Esto no tiene nombre'', a Puerto Rican television comedy program -loosely based on the US television series Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In- produced by Tommy Muñiz between the late 1960s and late 1970s.

His first name was pronounced the classical way, with the stress on the second syllable: , rather than with the now-prevalent pronunciation of that name, .

Works

Alma Mater (1954)

Arietta (1962)

Balladette (1962)

Belle of the Ball (1951)

Birthday Party (1970)

Blue Tango (1951)

Bugler's Holiday (1954)

Cambridge Centennial March of Industry (1946)

The Captains and the Kings (1962)

Chatterbox (1966)

Chicken Reel (1946)

China Doll (1951)

A Christmas Festival (1950) (9:00)

A Christmas Festival (1952) (5:45)

Clarinet Candy (1962)

Classical Jukebox (1950)

Concerto in C Major for Piano and Orchestra (Pianokonsert i C-dur) (1953)

The Cowboy and His Horse (1966)

Do You Think That Love Is Here To Stay? (1935)

Easter Song (194-)

Fiddle-Faddle (1947)

The First Day of Spring (1954)

Forgotten Dreams (1954)

The Girl in Satin (1953)

The Golden Years (1962)

Goldilocks (1958)

Goldilocks Overture (1958)

Come to Me (1958)

Guess Who (1958)

Heart of Stone (Pyramid Dance) (1958)

He'll Never Stray (1958)

Hello (1958)

If I Can't Take it With Me (1958)

I Never Know When to Say When (1958)

Lady in Waiting (1958)

Lazy Moon (1958)

Little Girls (1958)

My Last Spring (1958)

Save a Kiss (1958)

Shall I Take My Heart and Go? (1958)

Tag-a-long Kid (1958)

The Pussy Foot (1958)

Town House Maxixe (1958)

Who's Been Sitting in My Chair ? (1958)

Governor Bradford March (1948)

Harvard Fantasy (1936)

Hens and Chickens (1966)

Home Stretch (1962)

Horse and Buggy (1951)

The Irish Suite (1947 & 1949)

The Irish Washerwoman (1947)

The Minstrel Boy (1947)

The Rakes of Mallow (1947)

The Wearing of the Green (1949)

The Last Rose of Summer (1947)

The Girl I Left Behind Me (1949)

Jazz Legato (1938)

Jazz Pizzicato (1938)

Love May Come and Love May Go (1935)

Lullaby of the Drums (1970)

March of the Two Left Feet (1970)

Melody on Two Notes (1966)

Mother's Whistler (1940)

The Music in My Heart (1935)

An Old Fashioned Song (196-)

Old MacDonald Had a Farm (1947)

The Penny Whistle Song (1951)

The Phantom Regiment (1951)

Piece for Rolf (1961)

Plink, Plank, Plunk! (1951)

Promenade (1945)

Sandpaper Ballet (1954)

Saraband (1948)

Scottish Suite (1954)

The Bluebells of Scotland

Turn Ye To Me

Second Regiment Connecticut National Guard March (1973)

Serenata (1947)

Sleigh Ride (1948)

Song of Jupiter (1951)

Song of the Bells (1953)

Suite of Carols for Strings (1955)

Suite of Carols for Brass (1955)

Suite of Carols for Woodwinds (1955)

Summer Skies (1953)

The Syncopated Clock (1945)

Ticonderoga March (1939)

To a Wild Rose (1970) (Edward MacDowell)

A Trumpeter's Lullaby (1949)

The Typewriter (1950)

You Can Always Tell a Harvard Man (1962)

Waltz Around the Scale (1970)

The Waltzing Cat (1950)

Wedding March for Jane and Peter (1972)

What's the Use of Love? (1935)

The Whistling Kettle (1966)

Woodbury Fanfare (1959)

References

"Leroy Anderson: A Bio-Bibliography", Praeger 2004, Chapter 2 – "Works", Pages 25–81.

"Published Music" of the Leroy Anderson's official website, maintained by his family.

External links

Official Leroy Anderson website maintained by his family.

Leroy Anderson Foundation official website maintained by his family.

Once Upon a Sleigh Ride PBS website devoted to a 1999 documentary about Anderson; biographical sketches, photographs, etc.

Leroy Anderson Papers at Yale University Music Library

The Typewriter, played on a Garrard 4HF.

The Typewriter, Martin Breinschmid with Strauß Festival Orchestra Vienna.

Category:1908 births Category:1975 deaths Category:20th-century classical composers Category:American classical musicians Category:Harvard University alumni Category:American composers Category:American military personnel of World War II Category:Light music composers Category:Musicians from Massachusetts Category:People from Cambridge, Massachusetts Category:Songwriters Hall of Fame inductees Category:American people of Swedish descent Category:Easy listening music

ar:ليروي أندرسون ca:Leroy Anderson da:Leroy Anderson de:Leroy Anderson es:Leroy Anderson fr:Leroy Anderson it:Leroy Anderson he:לרוי אנדרסון la:Rex Anderson lb:Leroy Anderson nl:Leroy Anderson ja:ルロイ・アンダーソン no:Leroy Anderson ru:Андерсон, Лерой fi:Leroy Anderson sv:Leroy Anderson

Eileen Farrell (February 13, 1920March 23, 2002) was an American soprano who had a nearly 60 year long career performing both classical and popular music in concerts, theatres, on radio and television, and on disc. While she was active as an opera singer, her concert engagements far outnumbered her theatrical appearances. Her career was mainly based in the United States, although she did perform internationally. ''The Daily Telegraph'' stated that she "was one of the finest American sopranos of the 20th century; she had a voice of magnificent proportions which she used with both acumen and artistry in a wide variety of roles."

Farrell began her career in 1940 as a member of the CBS Chorus on CBS Radio. In 1941 CBS Radio offered Farrell her own program, ''Eileen Farrell Sings'', on which she performed both classical and popular music for 5 years. In 1947 she launched her career as a concert soprano and nine years later began performing on the opera stage. The pinnacle of her opera career was five seasons performing at the Metropolitan Opera from 1960-1966. She continued to perform and record both classical and popular music throughout her career, and is credited for releasing the first successful crossover album: "I've Got a Right to Sing the Blues" (1960). After announcing her retirement from performance in 1986, she still continued to perform and record music periodically up into the late 1990s. She was also active as a voice teacher, both privately and for nine years at Indiana University.

Early life and education

Farrell was born in Willimantic, Connecticut, the youngest of four children born to Irish American Catholics Michael Farrell and Catherine Farrell (née Kennedy). Her parents were vaudeville singers who had performed under the name 'The Singing O'Farrells' prior to having children. The family moved quite frequently during Farrell's childhood to various towns in Connecticut. Eileen's first clear memories were of her family's home in Storrs, Connecticut which was where her parents were working as teachers of music and drama at Storrs Agricultural College (now the University of Connecticut).

When Farrell was five years old her family moved back to Willimantic. After attending first grade there, her family moved once again to Norwich, Connecticut after her mother obtained the post of organist at St. Mary's Church in that city. The family remained in Norwich for almost the next 10 years with Farrell completing her Freshman year of high school at Norwich Free Academy in 1935. The family then moved to Woonsocket, Rhode Island and Farrell entered Woonsocket High School in Fall 1936. She graduated from the school in 1939.

Farrell received her early vocal training from her parents during her childhood. Her mother, a talented coloratura soprano, was her primary teacher but her father, a baritone, also occasionally taught her. After graduating from highschool, she moved to New York City in August 1939 to study with retired Metropolitan Opera contralto Merle Alcock. While studying singing with Alcock, she received language coaching from Charlie Baker who was the music director of Rutgers Presbyterian Church. After working with him for a few months, he hired her as a paid singer at Rutgers. When her radio career took off, Baker became Farrell's vocal coach and helped her prepare most of her music. In her autobiography, ''Can't help singing: the life of Eileen Farrell'' (1999), she credits Baker with helping her succeed during the early years of her career on radio. Farrell later was a student of vocal and opera coach Eleanor McLellan with whom she credited for giving her a solid technique.

Early career in radio

In 1940 Farrell began her career as a member of the CBS Chorus. After three months with the chorus, CBS offered her her own weekly half hour radio program, ''Eileen Farrell Sings'' (also sometimes called ''Eileen Farrell Presents''), on which she would perform both classical and popular music accompanied by the CBS Orchestra under conductor Howard Barlow. The program was coordinated by music director Jim Fassett and was mostly recorded at what is now the Ed Sullivan Theater. On the program she got to sing with several notable guest artists, including Margaret Harshaw, Frank Sinatra, Martial Singher, and Risë Stevens. The program first aired in early 1941 and quickly became popular. It ran through 1946.

While singing on her own program, Farrell also appeared as a guest on several other radio programs. She was a regular guest on Andre Kostelanetz's ''The Pause That Refreshes'' and Bernard Herrmann's ''Invitation to Music''. She also made appearances on ''The Bell Telephone Hour'', ''The Prudential Family Hour'', ''Songs of the Centuries'', and ''Your Hit Parade'' among others. In 1944 she made a special Christmas recording that was for the American soldiers stationed abroad during World War II with Shirley Temple as mistress of ceremonies.

Concert and opera career

During 1947–1948, she toured the US as a concert singer, and in 1949 she toured South America.

Farrell's song recital in New York in October 1950 was enthusiastically acclaimed and gained her immediate recognition. That year, she also appeared in a concert performance of Berg's ''Wozzeck'' as Marie. In 1952, she was engaged by Arturo Toscanini for his first and only studio recording of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, with the NBC Symphony Orchestra.

In the 1955 film ''Interrupted Melody'', which starred Eleanor Parker as Australian soprano Marjorie Lawrence, Eileen Farrell supplied the singing voice. As early as 1956 she appeared before an audience of over 13,000 under the direction of the conductor Alfredo Antonini in a performance of arias from Verdi's ''Ernani'' at the Lewisohn Stadium in New York City.

In 1956 she made her stage debut as Santuzza in Mascagni's ''Cavalleria rusticana'' with the San Carlo Opera in Tampa, Florida. In 1957 she debuted with the Lyric Opera of Chicago; in 1958, with the San Francisco Opera. She made her Metropolitan Opera debut on December 6, 1960, singing the title role in Gluck's ''Alceste''. She opened the 1962–63 Met season as Maddalena in Giordano's ''Andrea Chénier'', opposite Franco Corelli. She remained on the Met roster through the 1963–64 season, singing forty-four performance in six roles, then returned in March 1966 for two final performances as Maddalena. Her other roles at the Met included the title role in Ponchielli's ''La Gioconda'', Leonora in Verdi's ''La forza del destino'', Isabella in de Falla's ''Atlàntida'', and Santuzza.

Farrell was equally at home singing pop material and opera. She made four Columbia albums of popular music: ''I've Got a Right to Sing the Blues'', ''Here I Go Again'', ''This Fling Called Love'' and ''Together with Love''.

Throughout the 1960s she was a frequent soloist with the New York Philharmonic under the direction of Leonard Bernstein; she was also a favourite of Thomas Schippers. With Eugene Ormandy, the Philadelphia Orchestra, and the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, she was a featured soloist in an abridged recording of Handel's ''Messiah''. The other featured soloists were Martha Lipton, Davis Cunningham and William Warfield.

From 1971 to 1980, Farrell was professor of music at the Indiana University School of Music in Bloomington. From 1983 to 1985, she was professor of music at the University of Maine in Orono. She also made several recordings of blues music late in her career, as well as a well-received duet with Frank Sinatra on his "Trilogy" album, in which they sang a version of the country music hit "For the Good Times". This introduced her to a new group of fans, especially Sinatra expert Charles Fasciano, who considered this song his personal favorite. She published a memoir, ''Can't Help Singing,'' in 1999.

Beginning in 1987 she began to record pop albums again. Her first was for the Audiophile label called ''With Much Love''. She later recorded several albums for the Reference label that were well received.

Farrell was married to a New York City police officer with whom she maintained a home in the Grymes Hill neighborhood section of Staten Island, NY. She was elected to Woonsocket's Hall of Fame. She died in March 2002, aged 82.

References

Sources

External links

Biography and discography

MetOpera database

Category:1920 births Category:2002 deaths Category:American female singers Category:American musicians of Irish descent Category:American opera singers Category:American sopranos Category:Deaths from cardiovascular disease Category:Grammy Award winners Category:Indiana University faculty Category:Operatic sopranos Category:People from New York City Category:People from Staten Island Category:People from Willimantic, Connecticut Category:People from Woonsocket, Rhode Island

ca:Eileen Farrell de:Eileen Farrell es:Eileen Farrell fr:Eileen Farrell

Beverly Sills (May 25, 1929July 2, 2007) was an American operatic soprano whose peak career was between the 1950s and 1970s. In her prime she was the only real rival to Joan Sutherland as the leading bel canto stylist.

Although she sang a repertoire from Handel and Mozart to Puccini, Massenet, Wagner, and Verdi, she was known for her performances in coloratura soprano roles in live opera and recordings. Sills was largely associated with the operas of Donizetti, of which she performed and recorded many roles. Her signature roles include the title role in Donizetti's ''Lucia di Lammermoor'', the title role in Massenet's ''Manon'', Marie in Donizetti's ''La fille du régiment'', the three heroines in Offenbach's ''Les contes d'Hoffmann'', Rosina in Rossini's ''The Barber of Seville'', Violetta in Verdi's ''La traviata'', and most notably Elisabetta in ''Roberto Devereux''.

After retiring from singing in 1980, she became the general manager of the New York City Opera. In 1994, she became the Chairman of Lincoln Center and then, in 2002, of the Metropolitan Opera, stepping down in 2005. Sills lent her celebrity to further her charity work for the prevention and treatment of birth defects.

Biography

Sills was born Belle Miriam Silverman in Brooklyn, New York to Shirley Bahn (née Sonia Markovna), a musician, and Morris Silverman, an insurance broker. Her parents were Jewish immigrants from Odessa, Ukraine (then part of Russia) and Bucharest, Romania. She was raised in Brooklyn, where she was known, among friends, as "Bubbles" Silverman. As a child, she spoke Yiddish, Russian, Romanian, French and English. She attended Erasmus Hall High School in Brooklyn, as well as Manhattan's Professional Children's School.

At the age of three, Sills won a "Miss Beautiful Baby" contest, in which she sang "The Wedding of Jack and Jill". Beginning at age four, she performed professionally on the Saturday morning radio program, "Rainbow House", as "Bubbles" Silverman. Sills began taking singing lessons with Estelle Liebling at the age of seven and a year later sang in the short film ''Uncle Sol Solves It'' (filmed August 1937, released June 1938 by Educational Pictures), by which time she had adopted her stage name, Beverly Sills. Liebling encouraged her to audition for CBS Radio's ''Major Bowes' Amateur Hour'', and on October 26, 1939 at the age of 10, Sills was the winner of that week's program. Bowes then asked her to appear on his ''Capitol Family Hour'', a weekly variety show. Her first appearance was on November 19, 1939, the 17th anniversary of the show, and she appeared frequently on the program thereafter.

In 1945, Sills made her professional stage debut with a Gilbert and Sullivan touring company produced by Jacob J. Shubert, playing twelve cities in the US and Canada, offering seven different Gilbert and Sullivan operas. In her 1987 autobiography, she credits that tour with helping to develop the comic timing she soon became famous for: "I played the title role in ''Patience'', and I absolutely loved the character, because Patience is a very funny, flaky girl.... I played her as a dumb Dora all the way through and really had fun with the role.... My Patience grew clumsier and clumsier with each performance, and audiences seemed to like her.... I found that I had a gift for slapstick humor, and it was fun to exercise it onstage." Sills sang in light operas for several more years.

On July 9, 1946, Sills appeared as a contestant on Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts (radio). She sang under the pseudonym of "Vicki Lynn", as she was under contract to Shubert. Shubert did not want Godfrey to be able to say he had discovered "Beverly Sills" if she won the contest (although she did not ultimately win). Sills sang "Romany Life" from Victor Herbert's ''The Fortune Teller''.

In 1947, she made her operatic stage debut as the Spanish gypsy Frasquita in Bizet's ''Carmen'' with the Philadelphia Civic Grand Opera Company. She toured North America with the Charles Wagner Opera Company, in the fall of 1951 singing Violetta in ''La traviata'' and, in the fall of 1952, singing Micaëla in ''Carmen''. On September 15, 1953, she made her debut with the San Francisco Opera as Helen of Troy in Boito's ''Mefistofele'' and also sang Donna Elvira in ''Don Giovanni'' the same season. In a step outside of the repertoire she is commonly associated with, Sills gave four performances of the title role of Aida in July of 1954 in Salt Lake City. On October 29, 1955, she first appeared with the New York City Opera as Rosalinde in Johann Strauss II's ''Die Fledermaus'', which received critical praise. As early as 1956 she performed before an audience of over 13,000 guests at the landmark Lewisohn Stadium with the noted operatic conductor Alfredo Antonini in an aria from Vincenzo Bellini's ''I puritani''. Her reputation expanded with her performance of the title role in the New York premiere of Douglas Moore's ''The Ballad of Baby Doe'' in 1958.

On November 17, 1956, Sills married journalist Peter Greenough, of the Cleveland, Ohio newspaper ''The Plain Dealer'' and moved to Cleveland. She had two children with Greenough, Meredith ("Muffy") in 1959 and Peter, Jr. ("Bucky") in 1961. Muffy is profoundly deaf and has multiple sclerosis and Peter is severely mentally disabled. Sills restricted her performing schedule to care for her children.

In 1960, Sills and her family moved to Milton, Massachusetts, near Boston. In 1962, Sills sang the title role in Massenet's ''Manon'' with the Opera Company of Boston, the first of many roles for opera director Sarah Caldwell. Manon continued to be one of Sills' signature roles throughout most of her career. In January 1964, she sang her first Queen of the Night in Mozart's ''The Magic Flute'' for Caldwell. Although Sills drew critical praise for her coloratura technique and for her performance, she was not fond of the latter role; she observed that she often passed the time between the two arias and the finale addressing holiday cards.

Peak singing years

In 1966, the New York City Opera revived Handel's then virtually unknown opera seria ''Giulio Cesare'' (with Norman Treigle as Cæsar), and Sills' performance as Cleopatra made her an international opera star. Sills also made her "unofficial" Met debut in its "Opera in the Parks" program as Donna Anna in ''Don Giovanni'', though nothing further came of this other than offers from Rudolf Bing for roles such as Flotow's ''Martha''. In subsequent seasons at the NYCO, Sills had great successes in the roles of the Queen of Shemakha in Rimsky-Korsakov's ''The Golden Cockerel'', the title role in ''Manon'', Donizetti's ''Lucia di Lammermoor'', and the three female leads Suor Angelica, Giorgetta, and Lauretta in Puccini's trilogy ''Il trittico''.

In 1969, Sills sang Zerbinetta in the American premiere (in a concert version) of the 1912 version of Richard Strauss's ''Ariadne auf Naxos'' with the Boston Symphony. Her performance of the role, especially Zerbinetta's aria, "Grossmächtige Prinzessin", which she sang in the original higher key, won her acclaim. Home video-taped copies circulated among collectors for years afterwards, often commanding large sums on Internet auction sites (the performance was released commercially in 2006, garnering high praise). The second major event of the year was her debut as Pamira in Rossini's ''The Siege of Corinth'' at La Scala, a success that put her on the cover of ''Newsweek''.

Sills's now high-profile career landed her on the cover of ''Time'' in 1971, where she was described as "America's Queen of Opera". The title was appropriate because Sills had purposely limited her overseas engagements because of her family. Her major overseas appearances include London's Covent Garden, Milan's La Scala, La Fenice in Venice, the Vienna State Opera, the Théâtre de Beaulieu in Lausanne, Switzerland, and concerts in Paris. In South America, she sang in the opera houses of Buenos Aires and Santiago, a concert in Lima, Peru, and appeared in several productions in Mexico City, including ''Lucia di Lammermoor'' with Luciano Pavarotti. On November 9, 1971, her performance in the New York City Opera's production of ''The Golden Cockerel'' was telecast live to cable TV subscribers.

During this period, she made her first television appearance as a talk-show personality on ''Virginia Graham's Girl Talk'', a weekday series syndicated by ABC Films. An opera fan who was Talent Coordinator for the series persuaded the producer to put her on the air and she was a huge hit. Throughout the rest of her career she shone as a talk show guest, sometimes also functioning as a guest host. Sills underwent successful surgery for ovarian cancer in late October 1974 (sometimes misreported as breast cancer). Her recovery was so rapid and complete that she opened in ''Daughter of the Regiment'' at the San Francisco Opera a month later.

Following Sir Rudolf Bing's departure as director, Sills finally made her debut at the Metropolitan Opera on April 7, 1975 in ''The Siege of Corinth'', receiving an eighteen-minute ovation. Other operas she sang at the Met include ''La traviata'', ''Lucia di Lammermoor'', ''Thaïs'', and ''Don Pasquale'' (directed by John Dexter). In an interview after his retirement, Bing stated that his refusal to use Sills, as well as his preference for engaging, almost exclusively, Italian stars such as Renata Tebaldi – due to his notion that American audiences expected to see Italian stars – was the single biggest mistake of his career. Sills attempted to downplay her animosity towards Bing while she was still singing, and even in her two autobiographies. But in a 1997 interview, Sills spoke her mind plainly, "Oh, Mr. Bing is an ass. [W]hile everybody said what a great administrator he was and a great this, Mr. Bing was just an improbable, impossible General Manager of the Metropolitan Opera.... The arrogance of that man."

Sills was a recitalist, especially in the final decade of her career. She sang in mid-size cities and on college concert series, bringing her art to many who might never see her on stage in a fully staged opera. She also sang concerts with a number of symphony orchestras. Sills continued to perform for New York City Opera, her home opera house, essaying new roles right up to her retirement, including the leading roles in Rossini's ''Il Turco in Italia'', Franz Lehár's ''Die lustige Witwe'' and Gian Carlo Menotti's ''La loca'', a role written especially for her.

Although Sills' voice type was characterized as a "lyric coloratura", she took a number of heavier spinto and dramatic coloratura roles more associated with heavier voices as she grew older, including Donizetti's ''Lucrezia Borgia'' (with Susanne Marsee as Orsini) and the same composer's Tudor Queens, ''Anna Bolena'', ''Maria Stuarda'' and ''Roberto Devereux'' (opposite Plácido Domingo in the title part). She was admired in those roles for transcending the lightness of her voice with dramatic interpretation, although it may have come at a cost: Sills later commented that ''Roberto Devereux'' shortened her career by at least four years.

Sills popularized opera through her talk show appearances, including Johnny Carson, Dick Cavett, David Frost, Mike Douglas, Merv Griffin, and Dinah Shore. Sills hosted her own talk show, ''Lifestyles with Beverly Sills'', which ran on Sunday mornings on NBC for two years in the late 1970s; it won an Emmy Award. In 1979 she even appeared on ''The Muppet Show''. Down-to-earth and approachable, Sills helped dispel the traditional image of the temperamental opera diva.

Later years and death

In 1978, Sills announced she would retire on October 27, 1980, in a farewell gala at the New York City Opera. In the spring of 1979, she began acting as co-director of NYCO, and became its sole general director as of the fall season of that year, a post she held until 1989, although she remained on the NYCO board until 1991. During her time as general director, Sills helped turn what was then a financially struggling opera company into a viable enterprise. She also devoted herself to various arts causes and such charities as the March of Dimes and was sought after for speaking engagements on college campuses and for fund raisers.

From 1994 to 2002, Sills was chairman of Lincoln Center. In October 2002, she agreed to serve as chairman of the Metropolitan Opera, for which she had been a board member since 1991. She resigned as Met chairman in January 2005, citing family as the main reason (she had to place her husband, whom she had cared for over eight years, in a nursing home). She stayed long enough to supervise the appointment of Peter Gelb, formerly head of Sony Classical Records, as the Met's General Manager, to succeed Joseph Volpe in August 2006.

Peter Greenough, Sills's husband, died on September 6, 2006, at the age of 89. They would have had their 50th wedding anniversary on November 17, 2006.

She co-hosted ''The View'' for Best Friends Week on November 9, 2006, as Barbara Walters' best friend. She said that she didn't sing anymore, even in the shower, to preserve the memory of her voice.

She appeared on screen in movie theaters during HD transmissions live from the Met, interviewed during intermissions by the host Margaret Juntwait on January 6, 2007 (''I puritani'' simulcast), as a backstage interviewer on February 24, 2007 (''Eugene Onegin'' simulcast) and then, briefly, on April 28, 2007 (''Il trittico'' simulcast).

On June 28, 2007, the Associated Press and CNN reported that Sills was hospitalized as "gravely ill", from lung cancer. With her daughter at her bedside, Beverly Sills succumbed to cancer on July 2, 2007, at the age of 78.

Operatic repertoire

These are the roles that Sills has performed on stage or for television or radio.

{|class="wikitable sortable" !Composer!!Opera!!Role!!In repertoire!!Performed with!!Recorded |- |Bellini||''I Capuleti e i Montecchi''||Giulietta||1975||Opera Company of Boston||Yes |- |Bellini||''I puritani''||Elvira||1972–1978||Philadelphia Lyric Opera Company, New York City Opera, San Francisco Opera, Tulsa Opera||Yes |- |Bellini||''Norma''||Norma||1972–1978||Opera Company of Boston, Opera Theatre of New Jersey, Connecticut Opera, Ravinia Festival, San Diego Opera, San Antonio Opera||Yes |- |Bizet||''Carmen''||Frasquita||1951||Philadelphia Civic Grand Opera Company||No |- |Bizet||''Carmen''||Micaela||1952–1958||Charles Wagner Opera Company, Robin Hood Dell West, Cosmopolitan Opera||No |- |Bizet||''Carmen''||Carmen||1956||Musicarnival||No |- |Bizet||''Les pêcheurs de perles''||Leila||1956||DuMont Television Network||Yes |- |Boito||''Mefistofele''||Helen of Troy||1953||San Francisco Opera||No |- |Charpentier||''Louise''||Louise||1962–1977||New York City Opera||Yes |- |Donizetti||''Anna Bolena''||Anna ||1973–1975||New York City Opera||Yes |- |Donizetti||''Don Pasquale''||Norina||1978–1980||Opera Company of Boston, Metropolitan Opera, Houston Grand Opera, San Diego Opera||Yes |- |Donizetti||''La fille du régiment''||Marie||1970–1977||Opera Company of Boston, Carnegie Hall, San Antonio Opera, Philadelphia Lyric Opera, San Diego Opera, Cincinnati Opera, Edmonton Opera, Houston Grand Opera, Wolf Trap Opera, San Francisco Opera, New York City Opera, Opera Memphis, Palm Beach Opera ||Yes |- |Donizetti||''L'elisir d'amore''||Adina||1964||Opera Company of Boston||No |- |Donizetti||''Lucia di Lammermoor''||Lucia||1968–1977||Fort Worth Opera, Cincinnati Opera, Edmonton Opera, Opera Company of Boston, New York City Opera, Palacio de Bellas Artes, La Scala, San Antonio Grand Opera, Ravinia Festival, Philadelphia Lyric Opera Company, Covent Garden, Tulsa Opera, Houston Grand Opera, Mississippi Opera Association, Zoo Opera, Wolf Trap Opera, New Orleans Opera, Pittsburgh Opera, Seattle Opera, Teatro Colón, San Francisco Opera, Opera Memphis, San Antonio Symphony, Florentine Opera, Opera Omaha, Metropolitan Opera ||Yes |- |Donizetti||''Lucrezia Borgia''||Lucrezia Borgia||1975–1976||New York City Opera ||Yes |- |Donizetti||''Maria Stuarda''||Maria Stuarda||1972–1974||New York City Opera ||Yes |- |Donizetti||''Roberto Devereux''||Elizabeth I||1970–1975||New York City Opera, Cincinnati Opera, Wolf Trap Opera ||Yes |- |Gounod||''Faust''||Marguerite||1963–1970||Boston Opera Group, New York City Opera, Cincinnati Opera, Orlando Opera, San Antonio Grand Opera Festival, Duluth Symphony Orchestra||Yes |- |Handel||''Ariodante''||Ginevra||1971||Kennedy Center||Yes |- |Handel||''Giulio Cesare''||Cleopatra||1966–1971||New York City Opera, Teatro Colón, Cincinnati May Festival ||Yes |- |Handel||''Semele''||Semele||1967–1969||Cleveland Orchestra, Caramoor Festival ||Yes |- |Hanson||''Merry Mount''||Lady Marigold Sandys||1964||San Antonio Symphony||No |- |Hindemith||''Hin und zurück''||Helene||1965||WGBH-TV||Yes |- |Kálmán||''Gräfin Mariza''||Countess Mariza||1946||Hartman Theatre in Columbus, Ohio||No |- |Lehár||''The Merry Widow''||Sonia||1956–1965||Musicarnival, New York City Opera, Casa Mañana, Robin Hood Dell||No |- |Leoncavallo||''Pagliacci''||Nedda||1965||Fort Worth Opera||No |- |Lehár||''The Merry Widow''||Hanna Glawari||1977–1979||San Diego Opera, Houston Grand Opera, New York City Opera||No |- |Massenet||''Manon''||Manon||1953–1978||Baltimore Opera Company, New York City Opera, Palacio de Bellas Artes, Teatro Colón, San Francisco Opera, Opera Company of Philadelphia||Yes |- |Massenet||''Thaïs''||Thaïs||1954–1978||DuMont Television Network, San Francisco Opera, Metropolitan Opera||Yes |- |Menotti||''La Loca''||Juana La Loca||1979||San Diego Opera, New York City Opera||Yes |- |Meyerbeer||''Les Huguenots''||Marguerite||1969||Carnegie Hall||Yes |- |Montemezzi||''L'amore dei tre re''||Fiora||1956||Philadelphia Grand Opera Company||No |- |Moore||''The Ballad of Baby Doe''||Baby Doe||1958–1969||New York City Opera, Musicarnival||Yes |- |Moore||''The Wings of the Dove''||Milly Theale||1962||New York City Opera||No |- |Mozart||''Der Schauspieldirektor''||Madame Goldentrill||1956||New York City Opera||No |- |Mozart||''Die Entführung aus dem Serail''||Konstanze||1965–1975||Boston Opera Group, New York City Opera, Fort Worth Opera, Grant Park, Tanglewood Music Festival, Frederic R. Mann Auditorium, Ravinia Festival||Yes |- |Mozart||''Die Zauberflöte''||Queen of the Night ||1964–1967||Boston Opera Group, Théâtre de Beaulieu, Tanglewood Music Festival, Houston Grand Opera, Vienna State Opera, New York City Opera, CBC Radio||Yes |- |Mozart||''Don Giovanni''||Donna Elvira||1953–1955||San Francisco Opera, Chattanooga Opera Association||No |- |Mozart||''Don Giovanni''||Donna Anna||1963–1967||New York City Opera, Opera Company of Boston, Metropolitan Opera, Palacio de Bellas Artes, Théâtre de Beaulieu, Baltimore Opera Company ||Yes |- |Mozart||''Le nozze di Figaro''||Countess||1965||Miami Opera||No |- |Offenbach||''Les contes d'Hoffmann''||Three Heroines||1964–1973||New Orleans Opera, Grant Park, Opera Company of Boston, Cincinnati Opera, New York City Opera, Baltimore Opera Company, Palacio de Bellas Artes, San Antonio Grand Opera, San Antonio Symphony, Shreveport Opera, Municipal Theater of Santiago, San Diego Opera, Houston Grand Opera, Florida Symphony ||Yes |- |Puccini||''La bohème''||Musetta||1958–1963||Cosmopolitan Opera, New York City Opera||No |- |Puccini||''La bohème''||Mimi||1965||Seattle Opera||No |- |Puccini||''Gianni Schicchi''||Lauretta||1967||New York City Opera||Yes |- |Puccini||''Suor Angelica''||Suor Angelica||1967||New York City Opera||Yes |- |Puccini||''Il tabarro''||Giorgetta||1967||New York City Opera||Yes |- |Puccini||''Tosca''||Tosca||1957–1960||Murrah High School Auditorium for the Jackson Opera Guild, Musicarnival|| No |- |Rameau||''Hippolyte et Aricie''||Aricie||1966||Opera Company of Boston||Yes |- |Rimsky-Korsakov||''Le Coq d'Or''||Queen Shemakha||1967–1971||New York City Opera||Yes |- |Romberg||''The Student Prince''||Kathie||1954||''Chicago Theater of the Air''||Yes |- |Rossini||''The Barber of Seville''||Rosina||1974–1980||Opera Company of Boston, San Antonio Symphony, New York City Opera, Kennedy Center, Fort Worth Opera, Palm Beach Opera, Festival Internacional Cervantino, Robin Hood Dell ||Yes |- |Rossini||''Il turco in Italia''||Fiorilla||1978–1979||New York City Opera||Yes |- |Rossini||''The Siege of Corinth''||Pamira||1969–1976|| La Scala, Metropolitan Opera||Yes |- |Johann Strauss II||''Die Fledermaus''||Rosalinda||1955–1980||Musicarnival, New York City Opera, Cincinnati Opera, Opera Company of Boston||Yes |- |Johann Strauss II||''Die Fledermaus''||Adele||1977–1980||New York City Opera, San Diego Opera||Yes |- |Richard Strauss||''Ariadne auf Naxos(original version)''||Zerbinetta||1969||Boston Symphony Orchestra||Yes |- |Richard Strauss||''Elektra''||Fifth Maidservant||1953||San Francisco Opera ||No |- |Sullivan||''H.M.S. Pinafore''||Josephine||1945||Providence, Rhode Island at the Metropolitan Theater and Hartford, Connecticut at the Bushnell Memorial Auditorium||No |- |Sullivan||''The Pirates of Penzance''||Mabel||1945||Hartford, Connecticut at the Bushnell Memorial Auditorium||No |- |Suppé||''Die schöne Galathee''||Galatea||1965||Fort Worth Opera||No |- |Tchaikovsky||''Cherevichki'' (performed under the title ''The Golden Slipper'')||Oxana||1955||New York City Opera||No |- |Thomas||''Mignon''||Philine||1956||New York City Opera||No |- |Verdi||Aida||Aida||1954–1960||University of Utah football stadium, Paterson, New Jersey, Central City Opera|| Yes |- |Verdi||''La traviata''||Violetta||1951–1977||Kingston High School (Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania), Charleston Municipal Auditorium, Orlando Municipal Auditorium, Saenger Theatre, Duke University, Academy of Music, Erie Philharmonic Orchestra, Portland Civic Opera Association, DuMont Television Network, New York City Opera, Fort Worth Opera, Tulsa Opera, Cincinnati Opera, San Antonio Symphony, Grant Park, Teatro di San Carlo, Connecticut Opera, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Opera Company of Boston, La Fenice, San Antonio Grand Opera, San Francisco Opera, Houston Grand Opera, Ravinia Festival, Palm Beach Opera, Metropolitan Opera, Wolf Trap Opera Company, San Diego Opera || Yes |- |Verdi||''Rigoletto''||Gilda||1957–1977|| Grant Park, Opera Company of Boston || Yes |- |Wagner||''Die Walküre''||Gerhilde||1953||San Francisco Opera||No |- |Weisgall||''Six Characters in Search of an Author''||Coloratura||1959–1960||New York City Opera||Yes |- |-class="sortbottom" |}

Honors and awards

Sills received many honors and awards from the 1970s through her final years. Here are a list of her major awards, divided by category:

Grammy Award Nominations:

*1969 - Scenes and Arias from French Opera;

*1970 - Mozart and Strauss Arias;

*1976 - Music of Victor Herbert (WINNER)

Emmy Award Nominations:

*1975 - Profile in Music: Beverly Sills, Festival '75 (WINNER);

*1977 - Sills and Burnett at the Met;

*1978 - Lifestyles with Beverly Sills (WINNER);

*1980 - Beverly Sills in Concert;

*1981 - Great Performances: Beverly! Her Farewell Performance

Honorary Doctorates in Music:

*1972 - Temple University;

*1973 - New York University & New England Conservatory of Music;

*1974 - Harvard University

*1975 - California Institute of the Arts

Other Music-related awards:

*1970 - Musical America - Musician of the Year;

1971 - Inducted as a National Patroness of Delta Omicron, an international professional music fraternity on May 1

*1972 - Edison Award - Manon recording;

*1973 - Handel Medallion from New York City for artistic achievement;

*1979 - Recording Industry of America Cultural Award;

*1980 - Golden Baton, American Symphony Orchestra League;

*1985 - Kennedy Center Honors;

*1990 - National Medal of Arts from National Endowment for the Arts;

1996 - The 2nd Annual Heinz Award in Arts and Humanities

*2005 - Beverly Sills Artist Award established by the Metropolitan Opera ($50,000 annual award);

*2007 - Inducted into the Long Island Music Hall of Fame

Charitable and Humanitarian Awards:

*1979 - Pearl S. Buck Women's Award;

*1980 - Presidential Medal of Freedom;

*1981 - Barnard College Medal of Distinction;

*1984 - Charles S. Hughes Gold Medal Award - Nat. Conf. of Christians and Jews;

*1985 - Gold Medal from National Institute of Social Sciences

Recordings and broadcasts

During her operatic career, Sills recorded eighteen full-length operas:

''The Ballad of Baby Doe'' (Bible, Cassel; Buckley, 1959)

''Giulio Cesare'' (Wolff, Forrester, Treigle; Rudel, 1967)

''Roberto Devereux'' (Wolff, Ilosfalvy, Glossop; Mackerras, 1969)

''Lucia di Lammermoor'' (Bergonzi, Cappuccilli, Díaz; Schippers, 1970)

''Manon'' (Gedda, Souzay, Bacquier; Rudel, 1970)

''La traviata'' (Gedda, Panerai; Ceccato, 1971)

''Maria Stuarda'' (Farrell, Burrows, L.Quilico; Ceccato, 1971)

''The Tales of Hoffmann'' (Marsee, Burrows, Treigle; Rudel, 1972)

''Anna Bolena'' (Verrett, Burrows, Plishka; Rudel, 1972)

''I puritani'' (Gedda, L.Quilico, Plishka; Rudel, 1973)

''Norma'' (Verrett, di Giuseppe, Plishka; Levine, 1973)

''The Siege of Corinth'' (Verrett, Theyard, Díaz; Schippers, 1974)

''Il barbiere di Siviglia'' (Barbieri, Gedda, Milnes, Raimondi; Levine, 1974–75)

''I Capuleti e i Montecchi'' (Baker, Gedda, Herincx, Lloyd; G.Patanè, 1975)

''Thaïs'' (Gedda, Milnes; Maazel, 1976)

''Louise'' (Gedda, van Dam; Rudel, 1977)

''Don Pasquale'' (Kraus, Titus, Gramm; Caldwell, 1978)

''Rigoletto'' (M.Dunn, Kraus, Milnes, Ramey; Rudel, 1978)

Sills also recorded nine solo recital albums of arias and songs, and was soprano soloist on a 1967 recording of Mahler's Symphony No. 2.

She starred in eight opera productions televised on PBS and several more on other public TV systems. She participated in such TV specials as ''A Look-in at the Met'' with Danny Kaye in 1975, ''Sills and Burnett at the Met'', with Carol Burnett in 1976, and ''Profile in Music'', which won an Emmy Award for its showing in the US in 1975, although it had been recorded in England in 1971.

Some of those televised performances have been commercially distributed on videotape and DVD:

''Ariadne auf Naxos'' (Watson, Nagy; Leinsdorf, 1969) [Concert Version]

''La fille du régiment'' (Costa-Greenspon, McDonald, Malas; Wendelken-Wilson, Mansouri, 1974)

''Roberto Devereux'' (Marsee, Alexander, Fredricks; Rudel, Capobianco, 1975)

''La traviata'' (H.Price, Fredricks; Rudel, Capobianco, 1976)

''Il barbiere di Siviglia'' (H.Price, Titus, Gramm, Ramey; Caldwell, Caldwell, 1976)

''Manon'' (H.Price, Fredricks, Ramey; Rudel, Capobianco, 1977)

Others not available commercially include:

''The Magic Flute'' (Pracht, Shirley, Reardon; NN, NN, 1966)

''Le coq d'or'' (Costa-Greenspon, di Giuseppe, Treigle; Rudel, Capobianco, 1971)

''Die lustige Witwe'' (H.Price, Titus; Alcántara, Capobianco, 1977)

''Il Turco in Italia'' (Marsee, H.Price, Titus, Gramm; Rudel, Capobianco, 1978)

''Don Pasquale'' (Kraus, Hagegård, Bacquier; Rescigno, Dexter, 1979)

After her retirement from singing in 1980 up through 2006, Sills was the host for many of the PBS ''Live from Lincoln Center'' telecasts.

Further reading/listening/viewing

Sills, Beverly (1976). ''Bubbles: A Self-Portrait''. New York: Bobbs-Merrill. ISBN 0-446-81520-9. A revised edition was issued in 1981 as ''Bubbles: An Encore''.

Sills, Beverly (with Lawrence Linderman) (1987). ''Beverly: An Autobiography''. New York: Bantam Books.ISBN

0-553-05173-3.

Sills, Beverly (1987). ''Beverly Sills: On My Own''. ISBN 0-553-45743-8. An audio book designated as a companion to ''Beverly: An Autobiography'', with Sills speaking in interview about her life, interspersed with narration and live musical excerpts. There is no direct text from the printed autobiography.

Paolucci, Bridget (1990). ''Beverly Sills''. New York: Chelsea House Publishers. ISBN 1-55546-677-X.

Sargeant, Withrop (1973). ''Divas''. New York: Coward, McCann & Geoghegan. ISBN 0-698-10489-7.

''Beverly Sills: Made in America'' (2006). Deutsche Grammophon B0007999-09. A 90-minute documentary on Sills's singing career with many rare video performance and interview clips.

References

External links

Beverly Sills Online: tribute site with discography, bibliography, photo gallery, sound and video clips, timeline, press articles and other resources.

Beverly Sills:Special mother to the special children: summarizes Sills' charitable work for disabled children.

: Filmography

Beverly Sills: National Women's Hall of Fame profile

Beverly Sills at BrainyQuote: quotations

Beverly Sills: Made in America (PBS Great Performances)

Beverly Sills at OperaMom.com

''NY Times'' five-page obituary, dated July 3, 2007

Category:1929 births Category:2007 deaths Category:American female singers Category:American Jews Category:American opera singers Category:American singers Category:American sopranos Category:American people of Romanian-Jewish descent Category:American people of Ukrainian-Jewish descent Category:Cancer deaths in New York Category:Deaths from lung cancer Category:Erasmus Hall High School alumni Category:Gilbert and Sullivan performers Category:Grammy Award winners Category:Jewish actors Category:Jewish American musicians Category:Jewish classical musicians Category:Jewish opera singers Category:Kennedy Center honorees Category:Opera managers Category:Operatic sopranos Category:People associated with the Metropolitan Opera Category:People from Brooklyn Category:United States National Medal of Arts recipients

de:Beverly Sills es:Beverly Sills fr:Beverly Sills it:Beverly Sills he:בוורלי סילס nl:Beverly Sills ja:ビヴァリー・シルズ pl:Beverly Sills pt:Beverly Sills simple:Beverly Sills sr:Беверли Силс sv:Beverly Sills zh:贝弗利·希尔斯

Darius Milhaud (; 4 September 1892 – 22 June 1974) was a French composer and teacher. He was a member of ''Les Six''—also known as ''The Group of Six''—and one of the most prolific composers of the 20th century. His compositions are influenced by jazz and make use of polytonality (music in more than one key at once).

Life and career

Born in Marseilles to a Jewish family from Aix-en-Provence, Milhaud studied in Paris at the Paris Conservatory where he met his fellow group members Arthur Honegger and Germaine Tailleferre. He studied composition under Charles Widor and harmony and counterpoint with André Gedalge. He also studied privately with Vincent d'Indy. As a young man he worked for a while in the diplomatic entourage of Paul Claudel, the eminent poet and dramatist, who was serving as French ambassador to Brazil.

On a trip to the United States in 1922, Darius Milhaud heard "authentic" jazz for the first time, on the streets of Harlem, which left a great impact on his musical outlook. The following year, he completed his composition ''"La création du monde"'' ("The Creation of the World"), using ideas and idioms from jazz, cast as a ballet in six continuous dance scenes.

In 1925, Milhaud married his cousin, Madeleine (1902 - 2008), an actress and reciter. In 1930 she bore him a son, the painter and sculptor Daniel Milhaud, to be the couple's only child.

The Milhauds left France in 1939 and emigrated to America in 1940 (his Jewish background made it impossible for him to return to his native country until after its Liberation). He secured a teaching post at Mills College in Oakland, California, where he collaborated with Henri Temianka and the Paganini Quartet. In an extraordinary concert there in 1949, the Budapest Quartet performed the composer's 14th String Quartet, followed by the Paganini's performance of his 15th; and then ''both'' ensembles played the two pieces together as an octet. The following year, these same pieces were performed at the Aspen Music Festival in Colorado, by the Paganini and Juilliard Quartet.

The jazz pianist Dave Brubeck became one of Milhaud's most famous students when Brubeck furthered his music studies at Mills College in the late 1940s (he named his eldest son Darius). In a February 2010 interview with Jazzwax, Brubeck said he attended Mills, a women's college (men were allowed in graduate programs), specifically to study with Milhaud, saying "Milhaud was an enormously gifted classical composer and teacher who loved jazz and incorporated it into his work. My older brother Howard was his assistant and had taken all of his classes."

Milhaud's former students also include popular songwriter Burt Bacharach. Milhaud told Bacharach, "Don't be afraid of writing something people can remember and whistle. Don't ever feel discomfited by a melody".

Milhaud (like his contemporaries Paul Hindemith, Gian Francesco Malipiero, Bohuslav Martinů and Heitor Villa-Lobos) was an extremely rapid creator, for whom the art of writing music seemed almost as natural as breathing. His most popular works include ''Le bœuf sur le toit'' (a ballet which lent its name to the legendary cabaret frequented by Milhaud and other members of Les Six), ''La création du monde'' (a ballet for small orchestra with solo saxophone, influenced by jazz), ''Scaramouche'' (for Saxophone and Piano, also for two pianos), and ''Saudades do Brasil'' (dance suite). His autobiography is titled ''Notes sans musique'' (''Notes Without Music''), later revised as ''Ma vie heureuse'' (''My Happy Life'').

From 1947 to 1971 he taught alternate years at Mills and the Paris Conservatoire, until poor health, which caused him to use a wheelchair during his later years (beginning sometime before 1947), compelled him to retire. He died in Geneva, aged 81.

Works

Darius Milhaud was very prolific and composed for a wide range of genres. His opus list ended at 443. : See List of compositions by Darius Milhaud. :

Notable students

Larry Austin

Burt Bacharach

Louis W. Ballard

Irwin Bazelon

Robert Beadell

William Bolcom

Dave Brubeck

Walter Buczynski

Edvard Hagerup Bull

Roger Calmel

Charles Dodge

Pierre Max Dubois

Don Freund

Steven Gellman

Janice Giteck

Philip Glass

Olga Gorelli

Stanley Hollingsworth

Ben Johnston

Betsy Jolas

György Kurtág

Eugene Kurtz

Anne Lauber

Vincent McDermott

Boyd McDonald

Zenobia Powell Perry

Steve Reich

John Donald Robb

Neil Rolnick

Marcel Rubin

Pete Rugolo

Carol Sams

Bill Smith

Karlheinz Stockhausen (though he left his studies early)

Morton Subotnick

Gloria Wilson Swisher

Lester Trimble

Iannis Xenakis

Archival collections

There is a Darius Milhaud Collection at Mills College in California.

There is another Darius Milhaud Collection at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts in New York City.

The Western Jewish History Center, of the Judah L. Magnes Museum, in Berkeley, California has librettos for Milhaud's opera, ''David'', as well as a program for its American premiere, in Los Angeles, at the Hollywood Bowl, and photocopies of newspaper coverage in the B'nai B'rith Messenger of Los Angeles, of this event (1956) [WJHC Collection Number 1970.002].

External links

Complete categorized list of Darius Milhaud's composed works, with opus numbers.

Darius Milhaud biography and works on the UE website (publisher)

Biography and audio from'' Service Sacrée'' at the Milken Archive of American Jewish Music

Darius Milhaud 1892–1974 by Ronald Crichton. Musical Times, August 1974.

The Boeuf Chronicles – How the ox got on the roof: Darius Milhaud and the Brazilian sources of "Le Boeuf sur le Toit" by Daniella Thompson.

Darius Milhaud's maximum card from Israel

- Riccardo Caramella performs the Fantaisie pastorale, Suite Provençale, and Le carnaval d'Aix

- Part 2 of Jazzwax interview with Dave Brubeck, in which Milhaud is discussed in detail.

František Sláma (musician) Archive. More on the history of the Czech Philharmonic between the 1940s and the 1980s: ''Conductors''

References

Category:1892 births Category:1974 deaths Category:People from Marseille Category:French Jews Category:20th-century classical composers Category:French composers Category:Modernist composers Category:Jewish classical musicians Category:Jewish composers and songwriters Category:People from Aix-en-Provence Category:Ballet composers Category:Alumni of the Conservatoire de Paris Category:Academics of the Conservatoire de Paris Category:Members of the Académie des beaux-arts Category:Mills College faculty Category:Les six Category:People who emigrated to escape Nazism Category:French emigrants to the United States

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