Beverly Sills facts for kids

Beverly Sills in 1956, photo by Carl Van Vechten

Beverly Sills (born Belle Miriam Silverman; May 25, 1929 – July 2, 2007) was a famous American opera singer. She was a soprano, which is the highest female singing voice. Her most active years were from the 1950s to the 1970s.

Beverly Sills was especially known for her amazing performances in roles that required a special singing style called "coloratura." This style involves very fast, fancy, and high notes. She was often linked with the operas of Gaetano Donizetti, performing and recording many of his works. Some of her most famous roles were in operas like Lucia di Lammermoor, Manon, La fille du régiment, and Roberto Devereux.

After she stopped singing in 1980, Sills became a leader in the opera world. She was the general manager of the New York City Opera. Later, she became the chairwoman of important arts organizations like Lincoln Center and the Metropolitan Opera. Beverly Sills also used her fame to help charities that worked to prevent and treat birth defects.

Biography
Later Years and Legacy
Voice and Style
Operatic Roles
Awards and Honors
Recordings and TV Shows
Images for kids
See also

Biography

Beverly Sills was born Belle Miriam Silverman in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, New York City. Her mother, Shirley Bahn, was a musician, and her father, Morris Silverman, worked in insurance. Her parents were immigrants from Ukraine and Romania. Growing up in Brooklyn, her friends called her "Bubbles" Silverman. As a child, she learned to speak several languages, including Yiddish, Russian, Romanian, French, and English. She went to Erasmus Hall High School and the Professional Children's School in Manhattan.

Early Life and Career

Beverly Sills started performing very young. At just three years old, she won a "Miss Beautiful Baby" contest by singing. By age four, she was already singing professionally on a radio show called "Rainbow House," where she was known as "Bubbles" Silverman.

She began taking singing lessons at age seven with a teacher named Estelle Liebling. A year later, she appeared in a short film. Around this time, she started using her stage name, Beverly Sills. When she was 10, Sills won a radio talent show called Major Bowes' Amateur Hour. After that, she often appeared on another weekly radio show called Capitol Family Hour.

In 1945, Sills began her professional stage career with a touring company that performed Gilbert and Sullivan operas. She traveled to many cities in the US and Canada. This experience helped her develop her comedic timing, which she later became famous for. She enjoyed playing funny characters and found she had a talent for humor on stage.

Opera Debut and Family Life

In 1947, Beverly Sills made her first appearance in a full opera. She played the role of Frasquita in Bizet's Carmen with the Philadelphia Civic Grand Opera Company. She then toured North America, singing lead roles in operas like La traviata. In 1953, she debuted with the San Francisco Opera.

On October 29, 1955, she performed for the first time with the New York City Opera (NYCO) in Die Fledermaus. Critics praised her performance. Her reputation grew even more when she sang the main role in the New York premiere of The Ballad of Baby Doe in 1958.

In 1956, Sills married journalist Peter Greenough and moved to Cleveland, Ohio. They had two children, Meredith (born 1959) and Peter Jr. (born 1961). To care for her children, Beverly Sills chose to perform less often. Her daughter, Meredith, had significant health challenges, and her son, Peter Jr., had severe developmental disabilities.

In 1960, her family moved to Milton, Massachusetts. Sills continued to sing, taking on roles like Manon in Massenet's Manon in 1962. This became one of her most famous roles.

Becoming an International Star

Beverly Sills became an international opera star in 1966. This happened after her amazing performance as Cleopatra in Handel's opera Giulio Cesare at the New York City Opera. She continued to have great success at the NYCO in roles like the Queen of Shemakha in The Golden Cockerel and Lucia in Lucia di Lammermoor.

In 1969, Sills sang Zerbinetta in a concert version of Richard Strauss's Ariadne auf Naxos. Her performance, especially of Zerbinetta's difficult aria, earned her huge praise. That same year, she debuted at La Scala in Milan, Italy, in The Siege of Corinth, which was a big success.

By 1971, Sills was so famous that she appeared on the cover of Time magazine, which called her "America's Queen of Opera." She purposely limited her performances overseas to be with her family. However, she did sing in major opera houses in London, Milan, Venice, Vienna, and Paris. She also performed in South America and Mexico City. Many of her performances were televised, bringing opera to more people.

Beverly Sills also became a popular guest on talk shows, helping to make opera more accessible and showing her down-to-earth personality. In late 1974, she had successful surgery for a health challenge and recovered so quickly that she was back on stage a month later.

On April 7, 1975, Sills finally made her debut at the Metropolitan Opera in The Siege of Corinth. She received a huge, eighteen-minute ovation from the audience. She sang other famous roles at the Met, including Violetta in La Traviata and Lucia in Lucia di Lammermoor.

Sills also gave many concerts in smaller cities and at colleges, sharing her talent with audiences who might not have seen her in full opera productions. She continued to perform new roles at the New York City Opera until her retirement from singing in 1980. Her final performance was in Die Fledermaus in San Diego.

As she got older, Sills took on some more challenging opera roles that required a stronger voice. She was admired for bringing dramatic power to these parts, even with her lighter voice.

Beverly Sills helped make opera popular by appearing on many TV talk shows, like Johnny Carson and The Muppet Show, where she even had a "high-note contest" with Miss Piggy. Her friendly and approachable manner helped change the idea that opera singers were always serious or temperamental.

Later Years and Legacy

In 1978, Beverly Sills announced she would retire from singing in 1980. In 1979, she became the co-director, and then the sole general director, of the New York City Opera. She held this position until 1989. During her time as general director, Sills helped the opera company, which was having financial difficulties, become successful again.

After her time at the NYCO, she dedicated herself to supporting the arts and various charities, especially the March of Dimes. From 1994 to 2002, Sills was the chairwoman of Lincoln Center, a major performing arts complex in New York City. In 2002, she became the chairwoman of the Metropolitan Opera, a role she held until 2005. She stepped down to care for her husband, Peter Greenough, who passed away in 2006.

Beverly Sills herself passed away on July 2, 2007, at the age of 78, after a health challenge. She is buried in Kensico Cemetery in Valhalla, New York. Her daughter, Meredith, passed away in 2016.

Voice and Style

Beverly Sills's voice was described in many ways: "rich," "silvery," "precise," and "multicolored." People noted its "cutting edge" that could easily be heard over a large orchestra. Her singing technique and musical skills were highly praised. One conductor said she had "the fastest voice alive."

The New York Times wrote that she could sing very fast and fancy musical patterns, reaching high notes with seemingly effortless skill. She sang with great musical accuracy and a clear understanding of the words. Her vocal range was impressive, extending to very high notes.

Operatic Roles

Here are some of the opera roles Beverly Sills performed on stage, television, or radio:

Composer	Opera	Role	In repertoire	Performed with	Recorded
Bellini	I Capuleti e i Montecchi	Giulietta	1975	Opera Company of Boston	Yes
Bellini	I puritani	Elvira	1972–1978	Philadelphia Lyric Opera Company, New York City Opera, San Francisco Opera, Tulsa Opera	Yes
Bellini	Norma	Norma	1972–1978	Opera Company of Boston, Opera Theatre of New Jersey, Connecticut Opera, Ravinia Festival, San Diego Opera, San Antonio Opera	Yes
Bizet	Carmen	Frasquita	1951	Philadelphia Civic Grand Opera Company	No
Bizet	Carmen	Micaela	1952–1958	Charles Wagner Opera Company, Robin Hood Dell West, Cosmopolitan Opera	No
Bizet	Les pêcheurs de perles	Leila	1956	DuMont Television Network	Yes
Boito	Mefistofele	Helen of Troy	1953	San Francisco Opera	No
Charpentier	Louise	Louise	1962–1977	New York City Opera	Yes
Donizetti	Anna Bolena	Anna	1973–1975	New York City Opera	Yes
Donizetti	Don Pasquale	Norina	1978–1980	Opera Company of Boston, Metropolitan Opera, Houston Grand Opera, San Diego Opera	Yes
Donizetti	La fille du régiment	Marie	1970–1977	Opera Company of Boston, Carnegie Hall, San Antonio Opera, Philadelphia Lyric Opera, San Diego Opera, Cincinnati Opera, Edmonton Opera, Houston Grand Opera, Wolf Trap Opera, San Francisco Opera, New York City Opera, Opera Memphis, Palm Beach Opera	Yes
Donizetti	L'elisir d'amore	Adina	1964	Opera Company of Boston	No
Donizetti	Lucia di Lammermoor	Lucia	1968–1977	Fort Worth Opera, Cincinnati Opera, Edmonton Opera, Opera Company of Boston, New York City Opera, Palacio de Bellas Artes, La Scala, San Antonio Grand Opera, Ravinia Festival, Philadelphia Lyric Opera Company, Covent Garden, Tulsa Opera, Houston Grand Opera, Mississippi Opera Association, Zoo Opera, Wolf Trap Opera, New Orleans Opera, Pittsburgh Opera, Seattle Opera, Teatro Colón, San Francisco Opera, Opera Memphis, San Antonio Symphony, Florentine Opera, Opera Omaha, Metropolitan Opera	Yes
Donizetti	Lucrezia Borgia	Lucrezia Borgia	1975–1976	New York City Opera	Yes
Donizetti	Maria Stuarda	Maria Stuarda	1972–1974	New York City Opera	Yes
Donizetti	Roberto Devereux	Elizabeth I	1970–1975	New York City Opera, Cincinnati Opera, Wolf Trap Opera	Yes
Gounod	Faust	Marguerite	1963–1970	Boston Opera Group, New York City Opera, Cincinnati Opera, Orlando Opera, San Antonio Grand Opera Festival, Duluth Symphony Orchestra	Yes
Handel	Ariodante	Ginevra	1971	Kennedy Center	Yes
Handel	Giulio Cesare	Cleopatra	1966–1971	New York City Opera, Teatro Colón, Cincinnati May Festival	Yes
Handel	Semele	Semele	1967–1969	Cleveland Orchestra, Caramoor Festival	Yes
Hindemith	Hin und zurück	Helene	1965	WGBH-TV	Yes
Lehár	The Merry Widow	Hanna Glawari	1977–1979	San Diego Opera, Houston Grand Opera, New York City Opera	Yes
Massenet	Manon	Manon	1953–1978	Baltimore Opera Company, New York City Opera, Palacio de Bellas Artes, Teatro Colón, San Francisco Opera, Opera Company of Philadelphia	Yes
Massenet	Thaïs	Thaïs	1954–1978	DuMont Television Network, San Francisco Opera, Metropolitan Opera	Yes
Menotti	La Loca	Juana La Loca	1979	San Diego Opera, New York City Opera	Yes
Meyerbeer	Les Huguenots	Marguerite	1969	Carnegie Hall	Yes
Moore	The Ballad of Baby Doe	Baby Doe	1958–1969	New York City Opera, Musicarnival	Yes
Mozart	Die Entführung aus dem Serail	Konstanze	1965–1975	Boston Opera Group, New York City Opera, Fort Worth Opera, Grant Park, Tanglewood Music Festival, Frederic R. Mann Auditorium, Ravinia Festival	Yes
Mozart	Die Zauberflöte	Queen of the Night	1964–1967	Boston Opera Group, Théâtre de Beaulieu, Tanglewood Music Festival, Houston Grand Opera, Vienna State Opera, New York City Opera, CBC Radio	Yes
Mozart	Don Giovanni	Donna Elvira	1953–1955	San Francisco Opera, Chattanooga Opera Association	No
Mozart	Don Giovanni	Donna Anna	1963–1967	New York City Opera, Opera Company of Boston, Metropolitan Opera, Palacio de Bellas Artes, Théâtre de Beaulieu, Baltimore Opera Company	Yes
Nono	Intolleranza 1960	The Companion	1965	Opera Company of Boston	Yes
Offenbach	Les contes d'Hoffmann	Three Heroines	1964–1973	New Orleans Opera, Grant Park, Opera Company of Boston, Cincinnati Opera, New York City Opera, Baltimore Opera Company, Palacio de Bellas Artes, San Antonio Grand Opera, San Antonio Symphony, Shreveport Opera, Municipal Theatre of Santiago, San Diego Opera, Houston Grand Opera, Florida Symphony	Yes
Puccini	La bohème	Musetta	1958–1963	Cosmopolitan Opera, New York City Opera	No
Puccini	Gianni Schicchi	Lauretta	1967	New York City Opera	Yes
Puccini	Suor Angelica	Suor Angelica	1967	New York City Opera	Yes
Puccini	Il tabarro	Giorgetta	1967	New York City Opera	Yes
Rameau	Hippolyte et Aricie	Aricie	1966	Opera Company of Boston	Yes
Rimsky-Korsakov	Le Coq d'Or	Queen Shemakha	1967–1971	New York City Opera	Yes
Rossini	The Barber of Seville	Rosina	1974–1980	Opera Company of Boston, San Antonio Symphony, New York City Opera, Kennedy Center, Fort Worth Opera, Palm Beach Opera, Festival Internacional Cervantino, Robin Hood Dell	Yes
Rossini	Il turco in Italia	Fiorilla	1978–1979	New York City Opera	Yes
Rossini	The Siege of Corinth	Pamira	1969–1976	La Scala, Metropolitan Opera	Yes
Johann Strauss II	Die Fledermaus	Rosalinda	1955–1980	Musicarnival, New York City Opera, Cincinnati Opera, Opera Company of Boston	Yes
Johann Strauss II	Die Fledermaus	Adele	1977–1980	New York City Opera, San Diego Opera	Yes
Richard Strauss	Ariadne auf Naxos (original version)	Zerbinetta	1969	Boston Symphony Orchestra	Yes
Sullivan	H.M.S. Pinafore	Josephine	1945	Providence, Rhode Island at the Metropolitan Theater and Hartford, Connecticut at the Bushnell Memorial Auditorium	No
Sullivan	The Pirates of Penzance	Mabel	1945	Hartford, Connecticut at the Bushnell Memorial Auditorium	No
Verdi	Aida	Aida	1954–1960	University of Utah football stadium, Paterson, New Jersey, Central City Opera	Yes
Verdi	La traviata	Violetta	1951–1977	Kingston High School, Charleston Municipal Auditorium, Orlando Municipal Auditorium, Saenger Theatre, Duke University, Academy of Music, Erie Philharmonic Orchestra, Portland Civic Opera Association, DuMont Television Network, New York City Opera, Fort Worth Opera, Tulsa Opera, Cincinnati Opera, San Antonio Symphony, Grant Park, Teatro di San Carlo, Connecticut Opera, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Opera Company of Boston, La Fenice, San Antonio Grand Opera, San Francisco Opera, Houston Grand Opera, Ravinia Festival, Palm Beach Opera, Metropolitan Opera, Wolf Trap Opera Company, San Diego Opera	Yes
Verdi	Rigoletto	Gilda	1957–1977	Grant Park, Opera Company of Boston	Yes
Wagner	Die Walküre	Gerhilde	1953	San Francisco Opera	No
Weisgall	Six Characters in Search of an Author	Coloratura	1959–1960	New York City Opera	Yes

Awards and Honors

Beverly Sills received many awards and honors throughout her life. Here are some of the most important ones:

Grammy Awards:
- 1976 – Won for "Music of Victor Herbert"
Emmy Award nominations and wins:
- 1975 – Won for "Profile in Music: Beverly Sills, Festival '75"
- 1978 – Won for "Lifestyles with Beverly Sills" (her own talk show)
Honorary Doctorates in Music:
- Received degrees from many universities, including Harvard University (1974).
Other Music Awards:
- 1970 – Named "Musician of the Year" by Musical America.
- 1972 – Won an Edison Award for her Manon recording.
- 1985 – Received the Kennedy Center Honors, a top award for artists.
- 1990 – Awarded the National Medal of Arts from the US government.
- 2005 – The Metropolitan Opera created the "Beverly Sills Artist Award" in her honor, a $50,000 annual award for talented young American opera singers.
Charity and Humanitarian Awards:
- 1980 – Received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, one of the highest civilian awards in the United States.
- 1998 – Inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame.

Recordings and TV Shows

Beverly Sills recorded eighteen full-length operas during her career. She also released nine solo albums of arias (songs from operas) and other songs.

She starred in eight opera productions that were shown on PBS television, and more on other public TV channels. She also appeared in TV specials like "A Look-in at the Met" with Danny Kaye and "Sills and Burnett at the Met" with Carol Burnett. One of her TV specials, "Profile in Music," won an Emmy Award.

Some of her televised performances are available on DVD, including:

Ariadne auf Naxos (1969)
La fille du régiment (1974)
Roberto Devereux (1975)
La traviata (1976)
Il barbiere di Siviglia (1976)
Manon (1977)

After she retired from singing in 1980, Beverly Sills hosted many of the "Live from Lincoln Center" telecasts on PBS until 2006.

Images for kids

Sills in Manon, 1969
Sills in 1984
The tombstone of Beverly Sills in Kensico Cemetery