Post by edie2u on Jul 3, 2007 16:57:12 GMT -6
Beverly Sills was everyone’s favorite diva
By Keith Powers/ Appreciation
Tuesday, July 3, 2007 - Updated: 05:46 PM EST
She made opera safe for American singers.
And when she was done being a diva, she changed the cultural landscape of New York as an enterprising, gracious and outgoing executive for some of the major music presenters in the city.
With the passing of Beverly Sills, who died at age 78 in New York City on Monday night from inoperable lung cancer, America lost a great artist, an astute executive and a disarming presence who could make everyone feel like a special friend.
Sills wasn’t larger than life like a Maria Callas or Joan Sutherland, who also dominated the bel canto repertory during the ’60s and ’70s. Beverly - and everyone called her that - was a matter-of-fact child prodigy who still managed to have an international reputation even though she championed smaller companies and spent most of her time singing in America.
She was born Belle Silverman in Brooklyn in 1929 (makes you wonder why she changed her name). At 3, Beverly made her debut as Bubbles in a baby contest. Her professional career was slow to develop, although she said in one interview, “I always knew that I would be an opera star. Not just an opera singer, but a star.”
She chose what appeared an unlikely road to success except to those who knew her. She worked for years at the City Opera in New York before making her triumphant Lincoln Center debut - and the standing ovation reportedly lasted 20 minutes.
Sills had strong Boston connections. Many young opera-goers, including this writer, remember her days at the Opera Company of Boston, where she worked with Sarah Caldwell. Sills had moved to Milton with her husband, Peter Greenough, a wealthy newspaper publisher, and Caldwell took advantage of her presence to cast her in unusual - for Sills at least - roles, such as singing with a young Placido Domingo in Rameau’s “Hippolyte et Aricie” and Luigi Nono’s “Intolleranza.”
Sills retired in 1980, but only from the stage. After a time running New York’s City Opera, she took over Lincoln Center before finally leading the Metropolitan Opera from 2002 through 2005.
This writer met her once at a breakfast at Lincoln Center. When I told her my name, she said, “I read your stuff all the time. You and (New York Times [NYT] critic) John Rockwell are my favorite writers.”
I knew it wasn’t true, but the way Beverly delivered those words, I wasn’t about to disagree. That was Beverly, a true American idol.
[url=http://theedge.bostonherald.com/artsNews/view.bg?articleid=1009514
]Source[/url]
Interestingly she died of lung cancer and never smoked.
By Keith Powers/ Appreciation
Tuesday, July 3, 2007 - Updated: 05:46 PM EST
She made opera safe for American singers.
And when she was done being a diva, she changed the cultural landscape of New York as an enterprising, gracious and outgoing executive for some of the major music presenters in the city.
With the passing of Beverly Sills, who died at age 78 in New York City on Monday night from inoperable lung cancer, America lost a great artist, an astute executive and a disarming presence who could make everyone feel like a special friend.
Sills wasn’t larger than life like a Maria Callas or Joan Sutherland, who also dominated the bel canto repertory during the ’60s and ’70s. Beverly - and everyone called her that - was a matter-of-fact child prodigy who still managed to have an international reputation even though she championed smaller companies and spent most of her time singing in America.
She was born Belle Silverman in Brooklyn in 1929 (makes you wonder why she changed her name). At 3, Beverly made her debut as Bubbles in a baby contest. Her professional career was slow to develop, although she said in one interview, “I always knew that I would be an opera star. Not just an opera singer, but a star.”
She chose what appeared an unlikely road to success except to those who knew her. She worked for years at the City Opera in New York before making her triumphant Lincoln Center debut - and the standing ovation reportedly lasted 20 minutes.
Sills had strong Boston connections. Many young opera-goers, including this writer, remember her days at the Opera Company of Boston, where she worked with Sarah Caldwell. Sills had moved to Milton with her husband, Peter Greenough, a wealthy newspaper publisher, and Caldwell took advantage of her presence to cast her in unusual - for Sills at least - roles, such as singing with a young Placido Domingo in Rameau’s “Hippolyte et Aricie” and Luigi Nono’s “Intolleranza.”
Sills retired in 1980, but only from the stage. After a time running New York’s City Opera, she took over Lincoln Center before finally leading the Metropolitan Opera from 2002 through 2005.
This writer met her once at a breakfast at Lincoln Center. When I told her my name, she said, “I read your stuff all the time. You and (New York Times [NYT] critic) John Rockwell are my favorite writers.”
I knew it wasn’t true, but the way Beverly delivered those words, I wasn’t about to disagree. That was Beverly, a true American idol.
[url=http://theedge.bostonherald.com/artsNews/view.bg?articleid=1009514
]Source[/url]
Interestingly she died of lung cancer and never smoked.