Maria Ewing facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Maria Ewing
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Ewing in 1968
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| Born | March 27, 1950 |
| Died | January 9, 2022 (aged 71) Detroit, Michigan, U.S.
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| Alma mater | Cleveland Institute of Music |
| Occupation | Opera singer |
| Spouse(s) | |
| Children | Rebecca Hall |
| Relatives | Bazabeel Norman (great-great-great grandfather) |
Maria Louise Ewing (born March 27, 1950 – died January 9, 2022) was a famous American opera singer. She started her career singing as a mezzo-soprano, which is a type of female singing voice that is lower than a soprano but higher than a contralto. Later, she also sang many soprano roles, which are for higher female voices. Maria Ewing was known for her powerful performances and was considered one of the best singing actresses of her time. Some of her most famous roles included Blanche in Dialogues of the Carmelites, Carmen, Dorabella in Così fan tutte, Rosina in The Barber of Seville, and Salome.
Contents
Early Life and Musical Beginnings
Maria Louise Ewing was born in Detroit, Michigan, on March 27, 1950. She was the youngest of four daughters. Her mother, Hermina Ewing, was from the Netherlands and loved collecting classical music. Her father, Norman Isaac Ewing, was an electrical engineer who played the piano very well.
Maria started piano lessons when she was thirteen. She sometimes played the piano for her sister, Frances, and they would sing duets. Her mother was impressed by Maria's voice and encouraged her to study singing too. Maria joined the alto section of her high school chorus at Jared W. Finney High School in Detroit. She soon began winning singing competitions.
Meeting James Levine
When Maria was seventeen, she began studying with Marjorie Gordon, a voice teacher. After only a year, Gordon suggested Maria try out for the Oakland University's Meadow Brook Music Festival. Maria auditioned for a role in an opera called Rigoletto. The conductor was a young man named James Levine.
This meeting was very important for Maria. Levine was amazed by her expressive singing and told her she could become a major artist. For Maria, Levine became a teacher, mentor, and friend. She won a scholarship to the Cleveland Institute of Music to study with him. After graduating in 1970, she continued her training in New York City with the famous mezzo-soprano Jennie Tourel. Maria supported herself by working in offices and clothing stores.
Opera Career Highlights
Maria Ewing began her professional career as a lyric mezzo-soprano. Her first big performance was as Rosina in Il barbiere di Siviglia in Detroit in 1970. She played this role many times throughout her career.
In 1973, she performed at the Ravinia Festival with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. A music critic from the Chicago Tribune wrote that he couldn't remember a young singer who had impressed him more. He said she had "the clear stamp of greatness."
First Major Roles
Maria's first performances with a leading opera company were with San Francisco's. She played Mercédès in Carmen in 1973. In 1975, Santa Fe Opera featured her as Dorabella in Così fan tutte. This became one of her most famous roles. Critics praised her for her natural timing and funny expressions.
In 1976, Maria Ewing performed in Europe for the first time as Cherubino in Le nozze di Figaro at Salzburg. She also made her debut at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City in this role on October 14, 1976. The director Lotfi Mansouri said she was "an alluring mezzo who could convince audiences... that her enchantingly sung Cherubino was really a boy."
Expanding Her Voice
As Maria's career grew, she sang many different types of roles. She performed in works from the 1600s by composers like Monteverdi and Purcell, and also in 20th-century pieces by Shostakovich and Poulenc. She even began singing soprano roles, which have a higher vocal range.
Some of her important soprano roles included the main character in La Périchole, Blanche in Dialogues des Carmélites, and Mélisande in Pelléas et Mélisande. She was highly praised for her performances as the title character in Salome, which she performed in Los Angeles, London, Chicago, and San Francisco.
Concerts and Other Music
Maria Ewing also performed in many concerts. She sang pieces by composers like Berg, Berlioz, Debussy, Mozart, and Verdi. She was known for being very dramatic in her concert performances, just like she was on stage.
Maria had a special love for jazz music. She discovered it when she was eight years old with Dave Brubeck's Take Five. She sometimes spent whole nights listening to jazz records. In 1989, she performed cabaret songs with Richard Rodney Bennett at the BBC Proms festival. She also released a DVD of her performing with the band Kymaera at Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club in London.
Personal Life
Maria Ewing' met the English director Peter Hall when they worked together on an opera in 1978. They got married on Valentine's Day, 1982. Their only child, Rebecca Hall, who is now a famous actress, was born three months later.
Maria Ewing and Peter Hall divorced in 1990. She never remarried.
Death
Maria Ewing died from cancer at her home near Detroit on January 9, 2022. She was 71 years old.
Recordings
Videography
- Bizet: Carmen, Covent Garden; d. Nuria Espert, c. Zubin Mehta; Arthaus DVD
- Bizet: Carmen, Earls Court; d. Steven Pimlott, c. Jacques Delacôte; Image Entertainment DVD
- Bizet: Carmen, Glyndebourne; d. Peter Hall, c. Bernard Haitink; Kultur DVD
- Gustav Mahler: Symphony No. 4; Concertgebouw Orchestra, c. Bernard Haitink; Arthaus DVD
- Monteverdi: L'incoronazione di Poppea, Glyndebourne; d. Peter Hall, c. Raymond Leppard; Kultur DVD
- Mozart: Le nozze di Figaro, Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra; d. Jean-Pierre Ponnelle, c. Karl Böhm; Deutsche Grammophon DVD
- Mozart: Requiem; Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, c. Leonard Bernstein; Deutsche Grammophon DVD
- Purcell: Dido and Aeneas, Hampton Court; d. Peter Maniura, c. Richard Hickox; Kultur DVD
- Rossini: Il barbiere di Siviglia, Glyndebourne; d. John Cox, c. Sylvain Cambreling; Kultur DVD
- Richard Strauss: Salome, Covent Garden; d. Peter Hall, c. Edward Downes; Pioneer DVD
- Various: Maria Ewing with Kymaera, live at Ronny Scott's; String Jazz Productions DVD
Discography
- Berlioz: La damnation de Faust; Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra, c. Eliahu Inbal; Brilliant Classics CD
- Debussy: La damoiselle élue; London Symphony Orchestra, c. Claudio Abbado; Deutsche Grammophon CD
- Debussy: Pelléas et Mélisande; Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, c. Claudio Abbado; Deutsche Grammophon CD
- Mozart: Don Giovanni; London Philharmonic Orchestra, c. Bernard Haitink; EMI Classics CD
- Mozart: Requiem; Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, c. Leonard Bernstein; Deutsche Grammophon CD
- Purcell: Dido and Aeneas; Collegium Musicum 90, c. Richard Hickox; Chaconne CD
- Ravel: Shéhérazade; City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, c. Simon Rattle; EMI Classics CD
- Richard Rodgers: Rodgers and Hammerstein at the Movies; John Wilson Orchestra, c. John Wilson; EMI Classics CD
- Shostakovich: Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk; Orchestre de l'Opéra Bastille, c. Myung-Whun Chung; Deutsche Grammophon CD
- Various: From this moment on; Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, c. Neil Richardson; IMP Masters CD
- Various: Simply Maria; BBC CD
See also
In Spanish: Maria Ewing para niños
