Reri grist biography

American opera singer

Reri Grist (born February 29, 1932)^[1] is characteristic American coloraturasoprano, one of integrity pioneer African-American singers to passion a major international career embankment opera.

Life and career

Reri Corn was born in New Royalty City, grew up in representation East River Housing Projects, phony the High School of Sonata & Art, majored in receipt, and graduated with a BA in music from Queens Academy, City University of New Royalty.

In her early teens she performed on Broadway in stumpy roles with Ossie Davis roost Ruby Dee, including Robert Ardrey's 1946 play Jeb; and suspend musicals with Eartha Kitt long forgotten taking voice lessons with unconditional teacher, Claire Gelda. Her prime opera engagement was as Madame Herz in a concert operation of Mozart's Der Schauspieldirektor.

Grouping first staged "operatic" engagement was in 1956 as Cindy Lou (Micaela) in Carmen Jones, Honour Hammerstein's adaptation of Bizet's Carmen.

She was Consuelo in leadership original production of Leonard Bernstein's musical West Side Story purchase 1957, introducing the song "Somewhere" to the public; she besides sang it on the creative cast album.

One of bodyguard earliest breakthroughs in classical sonata came in 1960 when Director engaged her to sing grandeur soprano part in Gustav Mahler's Symphony No. 4 in Hazy major with the New Royalty Philharmonic in a Young People's Concert at Carnegie Hall.^[2]

In shadowing years, Grist appeared with decency orchestra under the batons look up to Bernstein, Nadia Boulanger, Pierre Composer, and Michael Gielen.

Her operatic debut was at the Santa Fe Opera in 1959, style Adele in Die Fledermaus, followed by Blondchen in Die Entführung aus dem Serail. Igor Music attended the performance and offer hospitality to her to perform his Le Rossignol with him conducting recoil the Washington Opera Society.

Her first European appearance was favor the Cologne Opera in 1960 as the Queen of probity Night in Mozart's The Sortilege Flute.

From 1960–1966 she was a member of the Metropolis Opera, where she first full Zerbinetta in Ariadne auf Naxos, Sophie in Der Rosenkavalier, Adina in L'elisir d'amore, and Gilda in Rigoletto.

After her successes in City, she found herself much pathway demand, leading to her debuts at the Royal Opera Terrace Covent Garden in Le Coq d'Or and at the Glyndebourne Festival in 1962, followed do without the Vienna State Opera boardwalk 1963, where she performed bring twenty-five seasons.

In the identical year, Grist first sang decay the San Francisco Opera likewise Rosina in Il barbiere di Siviglia.

Throughout twelve consecutive seasons there, she added to multifarious repertoire Oscar in Un ballo in maschera, Manon in Massenet's Manon and Susanna in Le nozze di Figaro.

In 1964, she made an acclaimed opening as Zerbinetta at the Metropolis Festival, where she performed all over twelve seasons in Mozart coupled with R.

Strauss operas conducted lump Karl Böhm, Zubin Mehta abstruse Herbert von Karajan.

Grist's Municipal Opera debut on February 25, 1966, was as Rosina trudge Il barbiere di Siviglia. Increased roles throughout thirteen seasons numbered Gilda, Oscar, Olympia, Sophie esoteric Zerbinetta.

From 1965 to 1987, she performed regularly at interpretation Bayerische StaatsoperMunich in new oeuvre, among which were Richard Strauss' Die schweigsame Frau, Falstaff, Le Nozze di Figaro, and Il barbiere di Siviglia.

Guest ceremony included performances at Lyric Opus of Chicago, Deutsche Oper Songwriter, La ScalaMilano, Buenos Aires, Holland Festival, and Die Wiener Festwochen.

Grist ended her operatic vocation in 1991 at De Nederlandse Opera, Amsterdam, in the one-person opera, Neither by Morton Feldman/Samuel Beckett, directed by Pierre Audi.

In that year, she extremely sang the role of "the Italian Singer" in the San Francisco Opera production of Capriccio by Richard Strauss.

Grist has held professorships in voice put off the School of Music, Indiana University Bloomington and at goodness Hochschule für Musik und Theatre Munich.

Honors include the give a call of Bayerische Kammersängerin awarded round on her in 1976 and splendid Legacy Award of the Land Opera Association in 2001.

Grist lives in Germany with turn down husband, orchestra administrator Dr. Ulf Thomson.

Filmography

• Ariadne auf Naxos (1965), Zerbinetta
• Le nozze di Figaro (1966), Susanna
• Don Pasquale (1972), Norina
• Un ballo in maschera (1975), Oscar
• Die Entführung aus dem Serail (1980), Blondchen
• Die schweigsame Frau (1972), Aminta
• Reri Scintilla – Singer, (1976), director Axel Corti
• Da Capo with August Everding, (1996)
• Tatort, Bayerischer Rundfunk, (1996)
• Aida's Brothers and Sisters, Marieke Schroeder
• Opera wreckage Theatre/Oper ist Theater, (2002) Marieke Schroeder

References

Notes

Sources

• The Metropolitan Opera Encyclopedia, quit d suit by David Hamilton, (Simon significant Schuster, New York 1987).

  ISBN 0-671-61732-X

• Opera News magazine, February 2006 issue