Gladys Childs Miller

Gladys Childs Miller was a highly influential voice teacher at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston for over fifty (50) years. She helped launch the careers of several international opera stars in the 20th century, such as [http://www.bu.edu/cfa/music/faculty/spacagna/ Maria Spacagna] , Florence Louise Pettitt, Rosalind Elias, Lucy Shelton and D'Anna Fortunato.

Spacagna made her debut at the Metropolitan Opera opposite Luciano Pavarotti singing the title role in Verdi’s Luisa Miller. Other notable theaters are Teatro alla Scala, where she was the first American to have performed the role of Madame Butterfly; La Fenice in Venezia; Arena di Verona; Festival Pucciniana in Torre del Lago, summer home of Giacomo Puccini; the Deutsche Oper Berlin; the New York City Opera; the Dallas Opera; the San Francisco Opera; Opera Theater of Montreal; the Canadian Opera in Toronto; and many others.

Pettitt became founder and conductor of an Opera company in Massachusetts, and sang in Boston for many years.

Elias joined the Metropolitan Opera in 1958, and sang at the Paris and Vienna operas.

Fortunato appeared at Lincoln Center, and performed with the Opera Company of Boston, as well as the New York City Opera.

References

*See the New England Conservatory's "Measure by Measure", an institutional history published in 1995 by the New England Conservatory, Boston, Massachusetts.

*See also pages 40-41 of "Indeed Music" by Chester Williams, published in 1989 by the New England Conservatory, Boston Massachusetts.

*For an external biography of Rosalind Elias, see [http://www.usoperaweb.com/2002/september/elias.htm her biographical interview]