Bass-baritone Antoine Hodge has died after a two-month battle with COVID-19. Hodge was a rising star in the opera world who performed leading roles at the Atlanta Opera, On Site Opera, Central City Opera, Opera Colorado, Regina Opera Company, Ash Lawn Opera, Colorado Springs Philharmonic, and Winter Opera St Louis, among many others. Among the roles he performed were Antonio/Gusmano {…}
Violeta Dávalos Lara has died at the age of 52 after suffering from peritonitis. The Mexican ministry of culture announced the news and Alejandra Frosto Guerrero, Culture Secretary, said, “We are shocked by the loss. Violeta is extraordinary. The Mexican opera is in mourning. My condolences to her family, friends, and colleagues.” Born in 1969, Lara studied at the Escuela Nacional {…}
French soprano Andréa Guiot has died at the age of 93 due to COVID-19. The French soprano passed on Feb. 15 in Nîmes. Born in Garons, France, Guiot studied voice with the tenor Marcello Santalouna and later studied at the Conservatoire de Paris for four years. She went on to make her stage debut in 1955 at the Opéra de Nancy {…}
Vassilis Nikolaidis has died at the age of 67. Born in Athens, Nikolaidis went on to study archeology at the University of Athens and theatrology in Paris, with a specialization in opera. He began his directing career in 1985 and started working with the Greek National Opera in 1991 at the Athens Concert Hall in 1992 and with the National {…}
Kevin McCutcheon had died at the age of 66 due to COVID-19. Born in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, McCutcheon studied conducting, piano, and composition at the Philadelphia Music Academy and went on to appear as a soloist and accompanist for well-known instrumentalists. Additionally, from 1976 to 1979 he conducted at the Opera of Philadelphia. In 1985 McCutcheon made his debut as a {…}
Czech soprano Libuše Domanínská died on Feb. 2, 2021, at the age of 96. Born in Brno, Czechoslovakia, on July 4, 1924, Domanínská and her family moved to from a Moravian region to Kosice in the Slovakian part. There she gave her first stage performance at the age of five and at the age of eight she became known and {…}
American soprano Margaret Roberts, better known as Margherita Roberti, has passed away at the age of 95. With a career spanning four decades, she is remembered for her interpretation of Verdi heroines throughout the stages of Italy. Born in 1925, Roberts grew up on her father’s cattle-breeding farm until they moved to Muscatine, Iowa when she was 12. The following {…}
(Credit: © D.R) Opera director Stefano Mazzonis di Pralafera has died at the age of 72. Stefano Mazzonis di Pralafera was born in the capital of Italy. He studied law and music in Rome, and at the same time pursued directing with the University Theatre in Rome. He directed his first operas in 1983 and was subsequently invited by the {…}
Michel Trempont has died at the age of 92. The beloved Belgian baritone died on Jan. 30 of old age according to his family. Born on July 28, 1928 in Hainaut, Belgium, the baritone studied at the Mons Conservatory and made his operatic debut in Liège in 1952 as Valentin in “Faust.” He would remain with the company until his {…}
Soprano Friedl Teller-Blum has died at the age of 88. Born in Austria as Frieda to the cabaret artist Oskar Teller, her family escaped to the USA after the 1938 Anschluss. In the USA, Teller studied at Hunter College and Columbia University in New York. At the age of 16, she made her first appearance on stage and became a {…}
Soprano Marcella Reale has died of COVID-19 at the age of 84. The American soprano died on Jan. 17, 2021, after having been infected with the coronavirus. Born in Brooklyn, New York in 1937 to Italian parents, Reale went on to study with Armand Tokatyan and Lotte Lehmann at the University of Music and Performing Arts Munich on a Fulbright {…}