Soprano Mary Ellen Pracht has died at the age of 87. The soprano born in Ohio in 1934 joined the roster of the Metropolitan Opera in New York in 1961-1962 season and made her debut as Annina in “La Traviata.” She would go on to sing 35 roles in 314 performances including Mimi in “La Boheme,” the First Lady in {…}
María Adela Estévez Campos, a lyric singer, actor, and editor of “Diario Lírico,” died on March 17, 2021 after losing a 4-month battle wth COVID-19, further complicated by her underlying rheumatoid arthritis. She was 58-years-old. Estévez began her musical studies at the conservatory in her hometown of A Coruña, Spain and there she began her acting career as a voice {…}
Lady Valerie Solti, president of the Solti Foundation, died at the age of 83 on March 31, 2021. Born Valerie Pitts in Leeds, England, a large part of her life was dedicated to cultural organizations, theater, music, and the children’s opera. But before all that, she was a noted presenter on British television and was part of the original BBC {…}
Soprano and music teacher Veronica Dunne has died at the age of 93. Born in Dublin on August 2, 1927, Dunne began her vocal studies at the age of 12 under Hubert Rooney and went on to study in Rome in the 1940s to study with Soldini Calcagni and Francesco Calcatelli. She made her operatic debut in 1948 with the Dublin Grand {…}
Czech opera soprano Jadwiga Wysoczanská-Štrosová has died at the of 93. Born on May 24, 1927, in Prague, Wysoczanská-Štrosová studied with Vojtěch Bořivoj between 1943–1945 at the Prague Conservatory. Following her studies at the conservatory, she went on to work privately with J. Logačová-Klemensová. The soprano performed in Liberec and Opava, and at the State Theater in Brno where she {…}
Baritone Giorgio Gatti has died at the age of 72 of COVID-19. The baritone was intensive care in Rome after contracting a severe case of the illness. Born in 1948 in Poggio a Caiano, Province of Prato, Tuscany, Italy, Gatti studied in Florence with tenor Vincenzo Guerrieri and went to the Conservatorio Santa Cecilia in Rome. Following his studies in {…}
(Credit: Derek Tamea) Soprano, writer, and music teacher Jane Marian Manning died on March 31, 2021 at the age of 82. Manning was educated at the Norwich High Scholl for Girls, the Royal Academy of Music in 1958, and the Scuola Di Canto in Cureglia, Switzerland. She earned a Ph.D. from York College, a Ph.D. in Music from Keele College, {…}
Dr. Scott Beard has passed away at the age of 56. Born in 1964, Beard was a recognized pianist, teacher, clinician, author, and recording artist and the Associate Professor of Music and Coordinator of Keyboard Studies at Shepherd University in West Virginia. At the University, he began in 1998 as the coordinator of keyboard studies and in 2010 was named {…}
Diane Martindale, co-artistic director and co-founder of the Dicapo Opera Theater, died on March 19 at the age of 87 of natural causes. Born on December 17, 1933, in Evansville, Indiana, Martindale received a master’s degree from Northwestern University in voice, piano, and opera, eventually making major productions of American operas and overseeing the artistic growth of the Dicapo Opera {…}
Des Moines Metro Opera‘s founder and director emeritus, Robert L. Larsen, passed away on Sunday, March 21. Larsen was born in Walnut, Iowa on November 28, 1934 and at age 10 he was already immersed in piano classes, and eventually entered Simpson College. He then continued his studies at the University of Michigan before returning to the music faculty at {…}
Yevgeny Nesterenko has died at the age of 83 of COVID-19 in Vienna, Austria. The basses family confirmed the news noting that the bass had died in the hospital after contracting a severe case of COVID-19. Born in Moscow, Russia on Jan. 8, 1938, Nesterenko first took up architecture and graduated from the Leningrad Civil Engineering Institute in Leningrad. However, {…}