Regina Sarfaty

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Regina Sarfaty (born 1934), later Regina Sarfaty Rickless after her marriage to Elwood A. Rickless in 1963, is an American

Zurich Opera
.

Biography

Born in November 1934 in

The Juilliard School,[2] She matriculated there in 1952 and studied voice with Florence Kimball.[1] She graduated five years later with a Bachelor of Music.[1]

Sarfaty won several awards in her years as a young singer. These included the Florence Eaton Award from the

Naumburg Award.[2] While a student at Juilliard, she began to perform professionally in concerts.[1] In 1956 she created the role of Zinida in the world premiere of Robert Ward's He Who Gets Slapped at the Juilliard School; a role she would later perform with the New York City Opera in 1959.[3]

Sarfaty made her professional opera debut in 1957 as Suzuki in

Wuthering Heights in 1958 (with Phyllis Curtin) and Agave in the United States premiere of Hans Werner Henze's The Bassarids in 1968 with the SFO.[1][5]

In 1958 Sarfaty made her debut with the

La cenerentola, Cherubino in The Marriage of Figaro, the title role in Maria Golovin, and Jocasta in Oedipus Rex.[1] She sang in two world premieres with the company, the role of "the Mezzo" in Hugo Weisgall's Six Characters in Search of an Author (opposite Beverly Sills),[6] and in Douglas Moore's The Wings of the Dove.[7] In 1960 she starred as the Secretary in the third New York City Center revival of Gian Carlo Menotti's The Consul alongside fellow artists Patricia Neway as Magda, Chester Ludgin as John, and Werner Torkanowsky conducting. This production which recorded and broadcast on the Telemeter network in March 1961.[8] In 2004 this recording was released by VAI.[8]

In 1959, the mezzo-soprano sang Adele in Bellini's Il pirata, opposite Maria Callas, for the American Opera Society, at Carnegie Hall, a performance that was much later issued by EMI on Compact Discs.[9] In 1960, she portrayed The Secretary in a film of Menotti's The Consul, with Patricia Neway and Chester Ludgin, conducted by Werner Torkanowsky. The film was not seen until 2004, when it was published on DVD by VAI. On the concert stage she was performed with the New York Philharmonic as the alto soloist in Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 in 1964 under conductor Leonard Bernstein; sharing the stage with fellow soloists Martina Arroyo, Nicholas di Virgilio, and Norman Scott.[10] The performance was recorded and released by Columbia Records in 1969.[11]

Sarfaty made her European debut as Octavian in

Opéra National de Paris.[1]

Sarfatay joined the roster of principal singers at

Zurich Opera in the early 1960s and remained active there up through the late 1970s. In Zurich she was particularly admired for her portrayal of Countess Geschwitz in Alban Berg's Lulu. She also appeared in the world premiere of Rudolf Kelterborn's Die Befreiung Thebens in Zurich in 1963.[1]

Sarfaty continued to appear in operas into the mid-1980s. In 1981 she sang Mrs Herring in

Baltimore Opera in 1984 as Madame Croissy in Dialogues of the Carmelites.[1]

Sources

  1. ^
    ISBN 978-3-59-844088-5
    .
  2. ^ a b c "REGINA SARFATY IN DEBUT RECITAL; Mezzo-Soprano Who Won Naumburg Award Presents Town Hall Program". The New York Times. February 12, 1958. p. 32.
  3. ^ Robert Ward and Bernard Stambler (May 13, 1956). "Writing An Opera Is A Collaborative Effort". The New York Times. p. 125.
  4. ^ Kathleen Roberts (June 26, 2016). "Retired singer recounts birth of Santa Fe Opera". Albuquerque Journal.
  5. ISBN 9781442247970
    .
  6. ^ Howard Taubman (April 27, 1959). "Weisgall's 'Six Characters'; Opera Based on Play by Pirandello Bows". The New York Times. Retrieved May 20, 2009.
  7. ^ Harold C. Schonberg (October 13, 1961). "Opera: Wings of Dove in Premiere; Douglas Moore's New Work at City Center". The New York Times.
  8. ^
    ISBN 9781442235052
    .
  9. ISBN 9780931340901
    .
  10. ^ "Music: Bernstein Leads Beethoven; Philharmonic Starts Its Seasonal Farewell". The New York Times. May 15, 1964. p. 41.
  11. ISBN 9780810858541
    .

See also
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