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Born: February 20, 1914 - Compton, California, USA
Died: March 1, 2003 - Los Angeles, California, USA |
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The American soprano, Nadine Conner, received her training at the University of South California by Amado Fernandez and Horatio Cogswell. She also studied with Florence Easton in New York.
Nadine Conner appeared first in broadcast transmissions at various American broadcasting stations. From 1939 to 1941 she was member of an Opera Company in Los Angeles, which was led by the English conductor Albert Coates (California Opera company). Her opera debut was in 1940 as Marguerite in Los Angeles. In 1941 she received a call from the Metropolitan Opera New York and there made a very successful debut as Pamina in Zauberflöte. Until 1960 she worked as lyric soprano at the Metropolitan Opera (parting 1960 as Marguerite in Faust by Charles Gounod). Then she had a chain of successes with guest appearances at the big American opera stages. At the Metropolitan Opera she sang 18 seasons and in altogether 118 roles from the repertoire of lyric and coloratura soprano. Of those should be mentioned Gilda in Rigoletto, Micaela in Carmen, Susanna in Nozze di Figaro, Saline in Don Giovanni, Marguerite in Faust by C. Gounod, Rosina in Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Mélisande, Mimi in La Bohème, Lauretta in Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi and Sophie in Rosenkavalier. From 1945 to 1948 she also appeared at the Opera of San Francisco as Marzelline in the Fidelio, as Gilda and as Sophie in Rosenkavalier. Since 1953 she made guest appearances also in Europe, including England, France, Belgium and Italy. At the Teatro Comunale Florenz she could be heard in 1955 as Lucy in The Telephone by G.C. Menotti and as Monica in The Medium by the same composer.
Nadine Conner’s repertoire was very comprehensive and contained both roles for lyric soprano and roles from the field of coloratura. She was best known for her Mozart roles, Zerlina and Susanna. She also appeared in the concert hall in a wide-ranging repertoire.
Recordings: on CBS (Gretel in complete rendition of Hänsel und Gretel, Carmen), on Cetra (Susanna in Nozze di Figaro from the Metropolitan Opera), in addition private recordings, also from the Metropolitan Opera, among them as Marzelline in complete Fidelio, as Sophie in Rosenkavalier by R. Strauss (Melodram) and as Micaela in Carmen (Discocorp / Teatro Dischi). On the label Camden she sang opera cut-outs from films with Lauritz Melchior as partner, on Bruno Walter Society the soprano solo in Deutschen Requiem by Brahms under the baton of Bruno Walter (New York, 1952). |
