Born on Dec. 30, 1952, soprano June Anderson was the first non-Italian opera star to take home the famed Bellini d’Oro prize.

Born in Boston and raised in Wallingford, Connecticut, she began vocal studies at age 11 and wound up becoming a finalist of the Met Opera auditions at the age of 17. A Yale graduate in French, she went on to pursue a career in New York City, though she found it challenging in the early going.

Still, she made her professional opera debut in “The Magic Flute” at the New York City Opera; she would sing the role of the Queen of the Night in the famed film “Amadeus.” She would score major success at the New York City Opera throughout the 1970s and left for Europe in 1982 where she would make her debut in Rome in 1983. It was in Europe where she really started to find her way in the bel canto repertory.

In 1989, she made her debut at the Metropolitan Opera in a performance of “Rigoletto” that starred Luciano Pavarotti.

She would continue to expand her repertoire and performance engagements through the early 2010s.

Signature Roles

Anderson was a quintessential bel canto specialist, dominating the works of Rossini, Donizetti, and Bellini. Of the operas she recorded, the majority were from those three composers, with Rossini leading the pack with four operas in her discography. In Europe, she became a leading interpreter of the operas of these three composers.

She was also a noted interpreter of Cunegonde in “Candide” and famously recorded the work under the baton of Leonard Bernstein.

Read More on Anderson

Three Rare Operas She Championed

Watch and Listen

Here she is Rossini’s “Maometto Secondo.”

Here is an aria from “La Sonnambula.”