Sheri Greenawald

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Sheri Greenawald (born November 12, 1947) is an American soprano and music educator who had an active performance career in concerts and operas during the second half of the 20th century and early 21st century.[1] She has portrayed principal roles in the world premieres of several operas, including works by composers Leonard Bernstein, Daniel Catán, Carlisle Floyd, Thomas Pasatieri, and Stephen Paulus. She has performed leading roles with opera companies in the US and abroad, including the Metropolitan Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Houston Grand Opera, Bavarian State Opera, La Fenice, and Paris Opera.[2] She was particularly active as a performer with the Santa Fe Opera and San Francisco Opera. A former member of the voice faculty at the Boston Conservatory, she served as director of the San Francisco Opera Center from 2002 through 2020.

Music critic Michael Walsh wrote that, "Only partly in jest, Greenawald has been described as a "heroic soubrette". Her lyric soprano voice is aptly suited to such Mozartian roles as Susanna, Zerlina, and Despina, Norina (Don Pasquale) and Sophie (Werther), but it also has considerable power and range, suitable for the heavier parts of Ellen Orford, Mimì and Violetta."[1]

Early life and education[edit]

Born Sheri Kay Greenawald in Iowa City, Iowa, on November 12, 1947,[1] Greenawald grew up in Monticello, Iowa.[2] In 1965 she entered the University of Northern Iowa (then known as State College of Iowa) where she was a voice student of Charles Matheson and earned a bachelor's degree in music.[2] While at UNI a visiting music teacher from New York, Virginia Hutchins, convinced Greenawald to come to New York to sing for Maria DeVarady with whom she began voice lessons.[3] She worked briefly in advertising in New York City, before entering the Professional Studies program at the Juilliard School where she was a pupil of voice teachers Hans Heinz and Daniel Ferro.[2][4] She later studied with Audrey Langford in London.[1]

Performance career[edit]

Greenawald made her professional opera début in 1974 as Theresa in the New York première of Francis Poulenc’s Les mamelles de Tirésias which was staged by the Manhattan Theatre Club (MTC).[1][5] She performed with the MTC again later that year as Célie in the New York premiere of Thomas Pasatieri's Signor Deluso.[6] Two years later she created the role of Marian Harrington in the world premiere of Pasatieri's Washington Square (1976) at the Michigan Opera Theatre; later taking on the lead role of Catherine in that opera for its staging by the New York Lyric Opera Company in 1977.[7]

Greenawald performed the title role in the original production of Carlisle Floyd's Bilby's Doll at the Houston Grand Opera in 1976; a production which was double cast with Catherine Malfitano (who performed the role in the premiere) as the other singer alternating in the part during the opera's initial run.[8] She made her debut at the Santa Fe Opera (SFO) in 1976 as Susanna in Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro.[9] She returned to the SFO multiple times during her career, performing the roles of Nannetta in Verdi's Falstaff (1977),[10] Countess Almaviva in The Marriage of Figaro (1982),[11] Pamina in The Magic Flute (1984), the Governess in Benjamin Britten's The Turn of the Screw (1983),[12] Eurydice in Jacques Offenbach's Orpheus in the Underworld (1983),[13] Violetta in La traviata (1989),[14] The Countess in Richard Strauss's Capriccio (1993),[15] Christine Storch in Richard Strauss's Intermezzo (1994),[16] and the title role in Emmerich Kálmán's Countess Maritza (1999).[17]

Greenawald performed several roles with Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, including Mimì in Giacomo Puccini's La bohème with Vinson Cole as her Rodolfo in 1978,[18] and Violetta in Verdi's La traviata in 1979.[19] In 1978 she made her debut at the San Francisco Opera as Marzelline in Beethoven's Fidelio.[20] She appeared with that company several more times, portraying the roles of Lauretta in Puccini's Gianni Schicchi (1979), Mozart's Pamina (1980), the title role in Jules Massenet's Cendrillon (1982),[21] Bella in the United States premiere of Michael Tippett's The Midsummer Marriage (1983),[22] Cordelia in Aribert Reimann's Lear (1985),[23] and the title role in Massenet's Manon (1986).[24]

Greenawald made her international debut at the Dutch National Opera as Susanna in Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro in 1980.[1] In 1981 she performed the role of Gilda in Giuseppe Verdi's Rigoletto at the Opera Theatre of Saint Louis.[25] That same year she performed Puccini's Mimi with the Washington National Opera under conductor Gian Carlo Menotti with President Ronald Reagan and First Lady Nancy Regan attending the opening night performance.[26] Later that season she performed again with the Washington National Opera] s Anna Truelove in Stravinsky's The Rake's Progress.[27] In 1983 she created the role of Dede in the world premiere of Leonard Bernstein's A Quiet Place at the Houston Grand Opera,[28] and portrayed Hanna Glawari in Franz Lehár's The Merry Widow for her debut with the Canadian Opera Company.[29] In 1987 she performed the role of Violetta in Verdi's La traviata with Opera North in Leeds, England.[30] She returned to the Canadian Opera Company in 1990 as Magda in Puccini's La rondine.

At the Seattle Opera Greenawald appeared as Natasha in Prokofiev's War and Peace (1990)[1] and Melisande in Claude Debussy's Pelléas et Mélisande (1993).[31] In 1991 she made her debut at the Lyric Opera of Chicago as Pauline in Prokofiev's The Gambler.[32] In 1992 she performed the role of Donna Anna in Mozart's Don Giovanni with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and conductor Daniel Barenboim.[33] She performed the role of Birdie in Marc Blitzstein's Regina with the Scottish Opera, and appears on that company's 1993 recording of the opera made for Decca Records.[34] In 1994 she returned to the Houston Grand Opera as Anna Maurrant in Kurt Weill's Street Scene.[35] She appeared at the Welsh National Opera as Marschallin in Der Rosenkavalier (1994)[36] and Countess Almaviva in The Marriage of Figaro (1995), the latter with conductor Carlo Rizzi.[37]

In 1995 Greenawald returned to the Opera Theatre of Saint Louis to create the role of Helen in the world premiere of Stephen Paulus's The Woman at Otowi Crossing.[38] That same year she portrayed Marie Antoinette in John Corigliano's The Ghosts of Versailles at the Lyric Opera of Chicago,[39] and made her debut at the Metropolitan Opera as Jenny in Weill's Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny.[40] In 1996 she created the title role in the world premiere of Daniel Catán's Florencia en el Amazonas in Houston; a work she also performed with the Los Angeles Opera and Seattle Opera. That same year she portrayed Abigail in Jack Beeson's Lizzie Borden at the Glimmerglass Opera.[41] In 1999 she returned to the Houston Grand Opera as Countess Charlotte Malcolm in Stephen Sondheim's A Little Night Music.[42]

In 2000 Greenawald sang in Kurt Weill's Seven Deadly Sins with the Los Angeles Philharmonic.[43] In 2002 she portrayed the Beggar Woman in the Lyric Opera of Chicago's production of Stephen Sondheim's Sweeney Todd with Bryn Terfel in the title role.[44] In 2018 she portrayed the Old Lady in Leonard Bernstein's Candide with the San Francisco Symphony.[45]

Teaching career[edit]

Greenawald was a member of the voice faculty at the Boston Conservatory from 2000 to 2002.[46] She served as director of the San Francisco Opera Center from 2002 through 2020.[47]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Walsh, Michael (2002). "Greenawald, Sheri (Kay)". Grove Music Online. Oxford Music Online. Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.O007161.
  2. ^ a b c d University of Northern Iowa Alumni Association (Winter 2004). "Remembering UNI:Sheri Greenawald" (PDF). Northern Iowa Today. Vol. v88n1. University of Northern Iowa Press.
  3. ^ Maria-Cristina Necula (2009). "Sher Greeenawald". Life in Opera: Truth, Tempo, and Soul; Encounters with Stars, Innovators, and Leaders of Today's Opera World. Amadeus Press. p. 97. ISBN 9781574671797.
  4. ^ "Greenawald, Sheri". International Who's Who in Classical Music. Routledge. 2009. p. 312.
  5. ^ Allen Hughes (April 18, 1974). "Opera: Mamelles de Tirésias Is at Theater Club". The New York Times. p. 50.
  6. ^ Donal Henahan (December 11, 1974). "Music: One-Act Operas: Pasatieri's Signor Deluso Shares Bill with Holst Work at Theater Club Curtis Orchestra and Emanuel Ax Play". The New York Times. p. 57.
  7. ^ Margaret Ross Griffel (2013). Operas in English: A Dictionary. Scarecrow Press. p. 532. ISBN 9780810883253.
  8. ^ Ken Wlaschin (2006). "Bilby's Doll". Encyclopedia of American opera. McFarland & Company. p. 41. ISBN 9780786421091.
  9. ^ Peter G. Davis (August 14, 1976). "Opera: Figaro, Egisto at Santa Fe". The New York Times. p. 10.
  10. ^ Peter G. Davis (August 22, 1977). "Putting the Festive Into Opera Festival". The New York Times.
  11. ^ Bernheimer, Martin (August 15, 1982). "Santa Fe: An oasis in the desert". Los Angeles Times. p. l1.
  12. ^ "Legitimate: Santa Fe Spells Out Lineup of New Operas on $3.5-Mil Budget". Variety. Vol. 311, no. 5. June 1, 1983. p. 73.
  13. ^ Holland, Bernard (July 31, 1983). "The Crosby System – Artistic Health Through Containment". The New York Times. p. 17.
  14. ^ Donal Henahan (August 3, 1989). "New Traviata in Santa Fe". The New York Times. p. C19.
  15. ^ John von Rhein (August 8, 1993). "Weill in the Southwest: Santa Fe offers two rare revivals by the German composer". Chicago Tribune. p. N12.
  16. ^ Bernard Holland (August 13, 1994). "Mozart's Abduction as a Sort of Musical". The New York Times. p. 11.
  17. ^ Young, Allen (August 16, 1999). "Legit: Nun Sense Strong at Santa Fe Fest". Variety. Vol. 375, no. 13. pp. 33, 35.
  18. ^ Bernheimer, Martin (June 9, 1978). "La bohème in St. Louis". Los Angeles Times. p. h1.
  19. ^ Blumenfeld, Harold (June 24, 1979). "Cslendar: Opera Mahler Joins the Opera – In St. Louis". Los Angeles Times. p. n85.
  20. ^ Bernheimer, Martin (November 20, 1978). "Opera Review: German Revivals in San Francisco". Los Angeles Times. p. f1.
  21. ^ Bernheimer, Martin (November 13, 1982). "Cinderella Fantasy: S.F. Opera Produces Cendrillon". Los Angeles Times. p. f1.
  22. ^ Bernheimer, Martin (November 4, 1983). "Belated U.S. Premiere: S.F. Opera Discovers Tippett's Marriage". Los Angeles Times. p. j1.
  23. ^ Bernheimer, Martin (September 14, 1985). "San Francisco Opera: Revival of Reimann's Lear". Los Angeles Times. p. d1.
  24. ^ Bernheimer, Martin (December 2, 1986). "Greenawald and Araiza Triumph in Manon". Los Angeles Times. p. H1.
  25. ^ "Legitimate: 'Actor's revenge; Tennimore' at St. L". Variety. 302 (8): 171. March 25, 1981.
  26. ^ Bernard Holland (November 9, 1981). "The Washington Opera: La bohème". The New York Times. p. C18.
  27. ^ Paul Hume (December 1, 1981). "Masterful 'Rake': Washington Opera Honors Stravinsky's Classic Washington Opera's Masterful 'Rake's Progress'". The Washington Post. p. B1.
  28. ^ "Trouble in Jones Hall". Texas Monthly. August 1983. pp. 154–155.
  29. ^ Ezra Schabas, Carl Morey (2000). Opera Viva: The Canadian Opera Company The First Fifty Years. Dundurn Press. p. 269. ISBN 9781770700970.
  30. ^ "Theatre Week: Saturday, April 18, La Traviata". The Stage and Television Today (5531): 10. April 16, 1987.
  31. ^ Edward Rothstein (March 23, 1993). "'Pelleas,' In Seattle, Is Back In Fashion: 'Pelleas et Melisande' Back in Vogue The Seattle Opera gives an abstract look to a Debussy masterpiece". The New York Times. p. C13.
  32. ^ Edward Rothstein (November 11, 1991). "Prokofiev's Radical and Chilling 'Gambler' in Chicago: A Chilling 'Gambler' by Prokofiev An extended modernist recitative with no arias". The New York Times. p. C11.
  33. ^ John von Rhein (February 5, 1992). "Mozart without a focus: Staging hurts 'Giovanni'". Chicago Tribune. p. D14.
  34. ^ Greenfield, Edward (January 15, 1993). "American classics". The Guardian. p. A6.
  35. ^ Bernard Holland (January 31, 1994). "Kurt Weill Goes Back to the 'Hood In a Near-Forgotten Street Scene: Catfish Row is transplanted to New York, energy intact". The New York Times. p. C13.
  36. ^ Tom Sutcliffe (May 26, 1994). "Rosy and cavalier". The Guardian. p. A6.
  37. ^ Holliday, Jon (March 16, 1995). "Opera Review: Le nozze di Figaro". The Stage. No. 5944. p. 15.
  38. ^ John von Rhein (June 25, 1995). "Eclectic excellence: Opera Theatre of St. Louis delivers a solid season". Chicago Tribune. p. M10.
  39. ^ John von Rhein (October 8, 1995). "A spirited trip through time: 'Ghosts of Versailles' makes Chicago debut". Chicago Tribune. p. G1.
  40. ^ Bernard Holland (November 27, 1995). "Mahagonny, an Apt Metaphor for Political Chaos in Any Era". The New York Times. p. C11.
  41. ^ Peter G. Davis (July 29, 1996). "Classical Music: House of Whacks". New York Magazine.
  42. ^ Robert Gordon, ed. (May 2014). The Oxford Handbook of Sondheim Studies. Oxford University Press. p. 236. ISBN 9780199909278.
  43. ^ "Soprano Greenawald Sings Weill's Seven Deadly Sins in L.A., Nov. 30 – Dec. 3". Playbill. November 30, 2000.
  44. ^ Heidi Waleson (December 19, 2002). "Vocal Treats for the Windy City and New York". The Wall Street Journal.
  45. ^ Mark Swed (January 23, 2018). "Candide's Spiritual Journey Westward". Los Angeles Times. p. E3.
  46. ^ "Sher Greenawald". San Francisco Symphony Performance Bio.
  47. ^ "Merola's 2021 Season Features BIPOC Recital, Digital Project and More". BroadwayWorld. April 29, 2019.
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