Teresa Stratas

Teresa Stratas OC (born May 26, 1938, Toronto, Ontario), is a Canadian soprano opera singer.

Early life and career

She was born Anastasia Stratakis to a struggling immigrant Greek family in Toronto, Ontario. At age 13, she performed Greek pop songs on the radio. She graduated from the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto. At age 20, Stratas made her professional opera debut as Mimì in "La bohème" at the Toronto Opera Festival. One year later in 1959, she co-won the Metropolitan Opera auditions, appearing later that year with the company as Poussette in "Manon". She created the title role in Peggy Glanville-Hicks' "Nausicaa" at the Herod Atticus Theatre in Athens in 1961, made her Covent Garden debut as Mimì that same year and in 1962, she made her La Scala debut as Isabella in Manuel de Falla's "L'Atlántida". She continued her career with the Metropolitan Opera, moved into leading roles and performed with leading opera houses around the world, including the Bolshoi, Vienna State, Berlin, Bavarian State (Munich), Paris and San Francisco Operas as well as the Salzburg Festival.

Her repertoire also included Zerlina in "Don Giovanni", Despina in "Così fan tutte", Cherubino and Susanna in "The Marriage of Figaro", Liù in "Turandot", Cio-Cio-San in "Madama Butterfly", Micaëla in "Carmen", Marguerite in "Faust", the title role in "La Périchole", Gretel in "Hansel and Gretel", Lisa in "The Queen of Spades", The Composer in "Ariadne auf Naxos", Antonia in "Les contes d'Hoffmann", Mélisande in "Pelléas et Mélisande", Marenka in "The Bartered Bride", Desdemona in "Otello", Mme Lidoine in "Dialogues des Carmélites" and Jenny Smith in "Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny" (directed by John Dexter).

Career highlights

Among her career highlights was the creation of the role of Sardulla in the US premiere of Menotti's "The Last Savage" (Met, 1964). In 1974, she made a film (directed by Götz Friedrich) of Strauss' "Salome" with the Vienna Philharmonic under Karl Böhm. Pierre Boulez chose her to sing the title role in the first performance of the completed version of Alban Berg's "Lulu" (Paris, 1979). On 26 September, 1989, she sang all three soprano roles in Puccini's "Trittico", Giorgetta in "Il tabarro", Angelica in "Suor Angelica" and Lauretta in "Gianni Schicchi" (Met). She created the role of Marie Antoinette in the premiere of John Corigliano's "The Ghosts of Versailles" (Met, 1991). At the opening night of the Met's 1994 season, she sang Nedda in "Pagliacci" opposite Luciano Pavarotti and Giorgetta in "Il tabarro" opposite Plácido Domingo.

Over the course of her thirty-six year career at the Metropolitan Opera, she appeared in 385 performances of 41 different roles. Her most frequently performed roles at the house include Liu in "Turandot" (27 performances between 1961 and 1995), Nedda in "Pagliacci" (27 performances between 1963 and 1994) and Mimì in "La bohème" (26 performances between 1962 and 1982). Her final performance with the company was on December 9, 1995, as Jenny in "The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny". She was engaged to sing Marenka in a revival of "The Bartered Bride" during the 1996-97 season, but withdrew from all of the performances prior to opening night, and subsequently never returned to the house again.

Whilst rehearsing for "Mahagonny" in 1979, Stratas met Kurt Weill's widow, Lotte Lenya. Lenya gave her the scores of previously unpublished Weill songs, some of which Stratas later recorded on two albums, "The Unknown Kurt Weill" and "Stratas Sings Weill".

She also starred in several film adaptations of operas, including "Amahl and the Night Visitors" (1978), "La traviata" and "Pagliacci" (both 1982). In the 1980s Stratas travelled to Calcutta and worked with Blessed Mother Teresa in an orphanage and at the Kalighat Home for the Dying. In the 1990s she again took time from her career to move into a Romanian hospital to clean cots and wash and care for the sick and dying orphans.

On September 25, 2008, Teresa Stratas returned to New York for an interview with the Metropolitan Opera Guild, her first public appearance in over a decade. She is currently living in Florida.

Awards and recognition

*Grammy Awards & Grammy nominations
** Grammy Award for Best Opera Recording and Grammy Award for Best Classical Album for Alban Berg's "Lulu" (1981)
** Grammy Award for Best Opera Recording for Verdi's "La traviata" (1984)
* Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actress - Musical for "Rags" (1987)
* Nominee for Tony Award for Best Leading Actress in a Musical for "Rags" (1987)
* Officer of the Order of Canada (1972)
* Artist of the Year Canadian Music Council (1980)
* Honorary LL D (McMaster University) (1986)
* Honorary LL D (University of Toronto) (1994)
* Honorary LL D (Eastman School of Music) (1998)
* Honorary D LITT (York University) (2000)
* Star in Canada's Walk of Fame (2001)
* [http://www.avtrust.ca/mw/mw.php?display&en&87 MasterWorks] recipient for Alban Berg's "Lulu" (2005)

elected discography

* Alban Berg's "Lulu" Stratas, Yvonne Minton, Hannah Schwarz, Franz Mazura, Kenneth Riegel, Robert Tear, Orchestre de l'Opéra de Paris, cond. Pierre Boulez. Deutsche Grammophon, (1981)
* Kern and Hammerstein's "Show Boat" (1988, EMI) - as Julie
* "Teresa Stratas - The Unknown Kurt Weill" Nonesuch 79019
* "Stratas Sings Weill", Nonesuch 79131
* "September Songs: The Music of Kurt Weill" (1997, Sony Classical)
* Verdi, "La Traviata". Stratas, Fritz Wunderlich, Hermann Prey. Cond. Giuseppe Patanè. Orfeo, 1965. Live performance.
* Peggy Glanville-Hicks: "Nausicaa", Scenes from the Opera. Stratas, Athens Symphony Orchestra & Chorus
* Jerome Kern, "Showboat". Stratas, Frederica von Stade, Jerry Hadley & Lillian Gish. Ambrosian Chorus & London Sinfonietta, cond. John McGlinn. EMI.

elected filmography

* "La bohème" (1982) - as Mimì, with José Carreras and Renata Scotto, directed by Franco Zeffirelli
* "Pagliacci" (1982) - as Nedda, with Domingo, directed by Zeffirelli
* "La Traviata" (1983) - as Violetta, with Domingo and Cornell MacNeil, directed by Zeffirelli
* "Stratasphere: Portrait of Teresa Stratas" (1989) - documentary
* "Cosi Fan Tutte" . Stratas, Edita Gruberová, Luis Lima, Ferruccio Furlanetto, Vienna Philharmonic, cond. Nikolaus Harnoncourt. Directed by Jean-Pierre Ponnelle. Deutsche Grammophon

ources

* cite web
url=http://www.ailf.org/notable/iaa/ny2000/stratas.htm
title=Teresa Stratas Biography at the American Immigration Law Foundation
accessdate=2006-05-27
* cite web
url=http://www.sonyclassical.com/artists/stratas/bio.html
title=Teresa Stratas Biography at Sony Classical
accessdate=2006-05-27

External links

*
* [http://www.gg.ca/honours/search-recherche/honours-desc.asp?lang=e&TypeID=orc&id=1621 Order of Canada Citation]
* [http://www.avtrust.ca/mw/mw.php?display&en&87 AvTrust - video clip of Stratas speaking about her performance of Alban Berg's "Lulu"]
* [http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/index.cfm?PgNm=TCE&Params=U1ARTU0003318 Biography, Encyclopedia of Music in Canada]