Florence Quivar

Florence Quivar (b. March 3, 1944 in Philadelphia, PA) is an American operatic mezzo-soprano who is considered to be "one of the most prominent singers of her generation." [All Media Guide, LLC (2006). [http://72.14.205.104/search?q=cache:KXHbG77K7nwJ:www.allclassical.com/cg/amg.dll%3Fp%3Damg%26sql%3D41:47432+Florence+Quivar&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=30&gl=ca Florence Quivar Allmusic Biography] through Google cache. Retrieved on February 8, 2007.] She has variously been described as having a "rich, earthy sound and communicative presence" [New York Times Company (August 25, 2001). [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E02E2D81331F936A1575BC0A9679C8B63 Understated Elegance Spiced With Surprises] by Anthony Tommasini. Retrieved on February 8, 2007.] as "always reliable" [New York Times Company (May 29, 1999). [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9A0CEEDF1730F93AA15756C0A96F958260 Masur Adds Some Curves To the Angles Of the Missa] by Bernard Holland. Retrieved on February 8, 2007.] and as "a distinguished singer, with a warm, rich voice and a dignified performing presence." [New York Times Company (July 31, 1998). [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E02E2D81331F936A1575BC0A9679C8B63 Classical Music and Dance Guide] (various authors). Retrieved on February 8, 2007.]

Early life and education

Quivar first became interested in music as a child. Her mother was a piano and voice teacher who also formed the gospel group the "Harmonic Choraliers". Quivar studied piano and voice with her mother as a child and began singing solos at church by age six. As a teenager she became interested in opera when she saw the Metropolitan Opera's touring production of "Madama Butterfly" to Philadelphia. Although she wanted to pursue a performing career, Quivar initially decided to pusue a career as an elementary school teacher and enrolled in a teachers' college. After just one day of classes, she realized that her true love was really music, and soon enrolled in the Philadelphia Academy of Music. After graduating, she entered the Julliard School in 1975. Although she did not stay at the school very long, she did appear as Ježibaba and the Foreign Princess in Dvorak's "Rusalka" at the Julliard Opera Center. [Forbes, Grove Music Online] Quivar returned to Philadelphia to study in master classes with Maureen Forrester where she began to focus in on lieder and oratorio repetoire. She made her professional recital debut in Philadelphia in 1976 as part of the Franklin Concert Series. That same year, she won the Baltimore Lyric Opera Competition and then returned to New York where she won the Marian Anderson Award. These competition wins drew the attention of noted impresario Harold Shaw and quickly led to engangements at the Metropolitan Opera and orchestras throughout the United States. [ [http://www.answers.com/topic/florence-quivar-classical-musician All Music Guide] ]

Career

In 1976, Quivar portrayed Serena in the Cleveland Orchestra's production of Gershwin's "Porgy and Bess". The concert was recorded and went on to win a Grammy Award for best opera recording. The following year Quivar made her debut at the Tanglewood Festival singing in the world premiere of Roger Sessions "When Lilacs Last In The Dooryard Bloom'd" with the Boston Symphony Orchestra. She also made her Metropolitan Opera début on October 10, 1977 as Marina in "Boris Godunov". [Forbes, Grove Music Online] She became a regular at the Met during the 1980s and 1990s, appearing as Jocasta in "Oedipus Rex", Suzuki in "Madame Butterfly", Isabella in "L'italiana in Algeri", Federica in "Luisa Miller", Fidès in "Le prophète", Frugola in "Il Tabarro", Mother Marie in "Dialogues des Carmélites", Louis XV Chair in "L'Enfant et les Sortilèges", the Princess in "Suor Angelica", Ulrica in "Un Ballo in Maschera", and Serena in "Porgy and Bess". Her 101st and last performance at the Met was in a concert performance of Verdi's "Requiem" in 1997 where she sang the mezzo soprano solos under the baton of James Levine. [ [http://archives.metoperafamily.org/archives/frame.htm Metropolitan Opera Archives] ]

Quivar's other opera credits include performances at the Deutsche Oper Berlin, Bavarian State Opera, La Scala, Teatro la Fenice, Teatro dell'Opera di Roma, the Theatro Municipal in Rio de Janeiro, Teatro Colón, Royal Opera at Covent Garden, Houston Grand Opera, Seattle Opera, and Los Angeles Opera among others. Her other roles includes Adalgisa in "Norma", the title role in "Carmen", Erda in "Siegfried" and "Das Rheingold", Brangäne in "Tristan und Isolde" and Orpheus in Gluck’s "Orfeo ed Euridice", the latter being a role with which she became particularly associated. [Forbes, Grove Music Online]

She has also performed with many of the world's premiere orchestras, including the New York Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Cincinnati Symphony, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Philadelphia Orchestra, Cleveland Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, Toronto Symphony, Orchestre de Paris, Berlin Philharmonic, London Philharmonic, Montreal Symphony and the BBC Symphony Orchestra to name just a few.cite book | last = Mauro | first = Lucia | year = 1997 | title = Careers for Stagestruck & Other Dramatic Types | publisher = VGM Career Horizons | location = Lincolnwood, Illinois | pages = Pages 89 | id = ISBN 0844243272]

Quivar has taken on the task of rescuing the works of forgotten composers, concentrating on those of African American composers of the 19th and 20th centuries. Her stated goal is to "to compile a program of these neglected composers and someday record them." She has also performed in productions of African American composer works, including a 1981 revival of Virgil Thomson's "Four Saints". [cite book | last = J. Southern | first = Eileen | year = 1997 | title = The Music of Black Americans: A History | publisher = W. W. Norton & Company | location = Lincolnwood, Illinois | pages = Pages 448 | id = ISBN 0393038432]

She has also been a champion of new music. In 1999 she performed the role of The Goddess of the Waters in the world premier of Anthony Davis' opera "Amistad" at the Lyric Opera of Chicago. She also premiered William Bolcom's song cycle "From the Diary of Sally Hemmings" at the Library of Congress in 2001. She has sense performed the cycle in recitals throughout the United States in a tour with Harolyn Blackwell in 2002-2003.

Quivar remained active in opera performances until the mid 2000s when she retired from the operatic stage. She remains active as a concert and recital performer.

Watch and listen

*To hear Quivar sing Ulrica in Verdi's "Un ballo in maschera" [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y8bbG0AAsSc watch here]
*To hear Quivar sing with Luciano Pavarotti [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6HVXqDZ_Ivg Watch here]

Discography

Choral and symphonic

References

ources

*wikicite|id=idGroveMusicOnline|reference=Elizabeth Forbes: "Florence Quivar", "Grove Music Online" ed. L. Macy (Accessed September 21, 2008), [http://www.grovemusic.com (subscription access)]

ee also

[http://www.cami.com/?webid=388 CAMI page]