Evelyn Lear facts for kids
Evelyn Shulman Lear (born January 8, 1926 – died July 1, 2012) was a famous American opera singer. From 1959 to 1992, she performed in over 40 different opera shows. She sang with almost every major opera company in the United States. In 1966, she won a Grammy Award for her singing. Evelyn Lear was known for being able to sing many different types of music. She even sang all three main female parts in the opera Der Rosenkavalier. She was also famous for singing songs by modern composers like Robert Ward and Alban Berg. Evelyn Lear was married to another opera singer, Thomas Stewart, who had a deep voice. He passed away in 2006.
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Early Life and Music Studies
Evelyn Shulman was born in Brooklyn, New York. Her mother, Nina, was a singer who could sing very high notes. Her grandfather, Zavel Kwartin, was a famous religious singer. Evelyn's family was Russian Jewish. She studied music at Hunter College, New York University, and the Juilliard School of Music. There, she learned to sing, play piano, French horn, and write music.
She first married Walter Lear, a doctor, but they divorced in the mid-1950s. While at Juilliard, she met her future husband, Thomas Stewart. Both Evelyn and Thomas won special scholarships called Fulbright scholarships. These allowed them to study music in Berlin, Germany. Evelyn studied singing with a teacher named Maria Ivogün there. Later, she also learned from Beverley Peck Johnson.
Starting Her Opera Career
Evelyn Lear began her opera career with the Städtische Oper Berlin in Germany. Her first big role was playing the Composer in Richard Strauss's opera Ariadne auf Naxos. She later sang this important role in many other famous opera houses.
In 1960, she sang the main part in Alban Berg's opera Lulu for its first concert performance in Austria. She only had three weeks to learn the whole role! Her performance was so good that she sang the role again in 1962. This was the first time Lulu was fully staged since World War II. It happened at the Theater an der Wien during the Vienna Festival, with Karl Böhm leading the music. They repeated the show in 1964 and even recorded it. Years later, in the late 1980s, she sang in Lulu again, but this time she played a different, supporting role called Countess Geschwitz.
Evelyn Lear also appeared in a movie! She played Nina Cavallini in the 1976 film Buffalo Bill and the Indians, or Sitting Bull's History Lesson. In 1989, she played Queen Elizabeth I of England in a musical called Elizabeth and Essex.
New Roles She Created
Evelyn Lear was the first person to sing many new roles in operas.
- In 1955, right after finishing Juilliard, she created the role of Nina in Marc Blitzstein's opera Reuben, Reuben. This role was so special that Leonard Bernstein named his daughter Nina after it!
- In 1961, she created the main role in Giselher Klebe's Alkmene in Berlin.
- Two years later, she created another role as Jeanne in Werner Egk's Die Verlobung in San Domingo. This was for the reopening of the Munich Nationaltheater.
- Her first time singing at the famous Metropolitan Opera was when she created the role of Lavinia Mannon. This was for the very first performance of Marvin David Levy's Mourning Becomes Electra in 1967.
After this, she had some vocal problems and lost some of her high notes. She thought it was because she sang so much modern music. But this didn't stop her from performing new roles!
- In 1974, she created the role of Irma Arkadina in Thomas Pasatieri's The Seagull at the Houston Grand Opera.
- In 1982, Evelyn Lear created the role of Magna in Robert Ward's Minutes to Midnight.
- In 1984, she created the role of Ranyevskaya in Rudolf Kelterborn's Der Kirschgarten in Zurich.
Her Love for Richard Strauss's Music
Evelyn Lear was very successful when she performed the works of composer Richard Strauss. She made her first performance in London singing his Four Last Songs.
However, her longest connection was with Strauss's opera Der Rosenkavalier. She sang all three main female roles in this opera!
- She started by singing the role of Sophie in smaller German opera houses and with the Berlin State Opera.
- Then, she moved on to sing Octavian in major opera houses in Vienna, Berlin, and New York.
- Her biggest success in this opera was her role as the Marschallin. She first sang this part in 1971 and performed it in leading opera houses like La Scala. Her very last performance at the Metropolitan Opera in 1985 was also as the Marschallin.
Awards and Special Honors
The Senate of Berlin gave Evelyn Lear the special title of Kammersängerin. This was to honor her important contributions to opera in that city. The Salzburg Festival also gave her the Max Reinhardt Award.
She won a Grammy Award for Best Opera Recording in 1966. This was for her work with Karl Böhm, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Fritz Wunderlich, and the German Opera and Chorus. They won for their performance of Berg's Wozzeck.
Her Family Life
Evelyn Lear and Thomas Stewart got married in 1955. They were together until Thomas passed away on September 24, 2006, at age 78. Evelyn had two children from her first marriage. Evelyn Lear died on July 1, 2012, at a nursing center in Sandy Spring, Maryland. She was 86 years old.
Selected Recordings
- Bernstein: On the Town, conducted by Michael Tilson Thomas, Deutsche Grammophon
- Strauss: Der Rosenkavalier, conducted by Edo de Waart, Philips
See also
In Spanish: Evelyn Lear para niños
