Tatiana Troyanos facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Tatiana Troyanos
Born	(1938-09-12)September 12, 1938 New York City, New York, U.S.
Died	August 21, 1993(1993-08-21) (aged 54) New York City, New York
Occupation	Mezzo-soprano

Tatiana Troyanos (September 12, 1938 – August 21, 1993) was an American mezzo-soprano singer. People remember her as a very important singer of her time. Her voice was amazing and unique. It was powerful yet warm, and once you heard it, you would never forget it.

Tatiana Troyanos performed in many operas around the world for thirty years. She also made many opera recordings. One famous recording was Carmen with Plácido Domingo. Many years later, it was still called "the finest of all Carmens." After living in Hamburg for ten years, she became well-known for her work with the Metropolitan Opera starting in 1976. She performed there over 270 times in twenty-two main roles. Many of these performances were shown on TV or radio.

Growing Up and Starting Music

Tatiana Troyanos was born in New York City, New York. She spent her early childhood in the same area where the Metropolitan Opera would later be built. She grew up in Forest Hills, Queens, and went to Forest Hills High School. Her parents, who were also opera singers, separated when she was a baby. She said they "had beautiful voices." Her father was from Greece, and her mother was from Germany.

She was cared for by her Greek relatives and lived for about ten years at the Brooklyn Home for Children. She said this home was "bleak but marvelous." This is where her musical journey began. She studied piano for seven years. Her first teacher was Louis Pietrini, a musician from the Metropolitan Opera. He taught children different instruments and also taught them solfège, which Tatiana called "the basis of my musical education." She continued her piano studies on a scholarship at the Brooklyn Music School.

Tatiana often thought she would become a concert pianist. However, she was also determined to be an opera singer from a young age. She sang in school choirs and the New York All City High School Chorus. When she was sixteen, a teacher heard her voice and helped her get into the Juilliard Preparatory School. There, she found her first voice teacher.

In her late teens, she moved to Manhattan. She worked as a secretary at Random House, a publishing company. She also sang in different choirs, including church choirs and musical theater groups. In 1958, a reviewer wrote that Tatiana's voice "came soaring through with a pellucid and magnificent quality of tone."

She continued her studies at the Juilliard School. She was chosen as a soloist for famous works like Bach's St. John Passion in 1959 and the Verdi Requiem in 1962. During this time, she began studying with Hans Heinz, who helped her improve her voice. She continued to study with him after graduating in 1963. She called him "the major influence in my life."

Opera Career: 1963–1993

Early Performances and Hamburg Years

After singing in the chorus of the Broadway show The Sound of Music, Tatiana Troyanos joined the New York City Opera. She made her first professional opera appearance in April 1963. She played Hippolyta in the New York premiere of Britten's A Midsummer Night's Dream. She sang many other roles there until 1965. During these years, she also performed in other places, including Carmen at the Kentucky Opera and Herodias in Salome with the Toronto Symphony.

She was offered a contract with the Metropolitan Opera, but it had limited stage chances. So, in 1965, she decided to go to Europe for more performing experience. She successfully auditioned for three companies. She chose the Hamburg State Opera as her main base for the next ten years. She started as a member of their group and later became a guest artist. She recalled, "It made sense to go to Germany." She wanted to learn roles slowly and without pressure. Her first roles there included Lola in Cavalleria rusticana and Preziosilla in La forza del destino. By the end of that year, she was singing Carmen, a role she would later perform in Geneva, London, and at the Metropolitan Opera.

Her big breakthrough came at the Aix-en-Provence Festival in 1966. She performed as the Composer in Richard Strauss's Ariadne auf Naxos. A music critic wrote that her voice "soared into the warm, Provencal night and seemed to hang there like the stars of a rocket." This performance, along with her first Octavian in Strauss's Der Rosenkavalier in London in 1968, started her international career.

In 1967, a Hamburg Opera tour brought her to the Metropolitan Opera's new home at Lincoln Center. She sang in different 20th-century operas, including Stravinsky's The Rake's Progress. She was especially good as Baba the Turk with her "rich voice."

In 1971, she performed in Handel's Ariodante at the opening week of the Kennedy Center. This helped reintroduce her to American opera audiences. She then made her debuts at other major opera houses. These included the Lyric Opera of Chicago (as Charlotte in Massenet's Werther, 1971) and San Francisco Opera (as Poppea in Monteverdi's L'incoronazione di Poppea, 1975). A reviewer from the Chronicle wrote that her singing as Poppea "could liquefy even stone."

The Metropolitan Opera Years

Tatiana Troyanos returned to New York for her Metropolitan Opera debut in 1976. She first sang Octavian, then the Composer. A reviewer called her "the most aristocratic Octavian at the Met in years." Her singing was described as "perfection itself." Octavian was her most frequent role at the Met, with thirty performances. She also became well-known for another "trouser role" (a male role sung by a female singer), Sesto in Mozart's La clemenza di Tito.

She was a very important and loved artist at the Metropolitan Opera from 1976 until her death in 1993. People around the world admired her unique, warm voice, her ability to sing many different roles, and the exciting energy she brought to all her performances. One writer noted that her "burning intensity" sometimes made people forget the beauty of her voice itself.

From 1981 to 1983, she sang on the opening nights of three Met seasons. Each time, she sang in a different style and language. These included Adalgisa in Bellini's Norma (1981), Octavian in Strauss's Der Rosenkavalier (1982), and Didon in Berlioz's Les Troyens (1983). She also appeared in seven new productions at the Met. In 1977, she made her La Scala debut in Norma. This was the first opera performance ever televised live around the world.

Opera and Concert Roles

Tatiana Troyanos was famous for her passionate performances. She sang everything from male roles to strong female characters. She once said, "I'm lucky that I look like the roles I do, whether it's Octavian or Carmen or Kundry or Giulietta... I must get ahold of a role or die."

When asked if she preferred playing "somebody's mother or some guy," she joked, "I prefer the guys — but maybe a guy who also wears a beautiful dress from time to time."

In Handel's Giulio Cesare, she sang both main parts: Cleopatra (a soprano role) and the male title role of Caesar.

Other roles she sang on opera stages included:

• Diana in Cavalli's La Calisto
• Orfeo in Gluck's Orfeo ed Euridice
• Cherubino in Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro
• Amneris in Verdi's Aida
• Suzuki in Puccini's Madama Butterfly
• Venus in Wagner's Tannhäuser
• Hansel in Humperdinck's Hansel and Gretel
• Marguerite in Berlioz's La damnation de Faust
• Dalila in Saint-Saëns' Samson and Delilah

She also created two new roles:

• Sister Jeanne in Penderecki's The Devils of Loudun (Hamburg State Opera, 1969)
• Queen Isabella in Glass's The Voyage (Metropolitan Opera, 1992)

Her singing was saved in thirty-five live Metropolitan Opera radio broadcasts. Many of these have been restored for the Met's satellite radio channel. Eight more Met performances were televised. These, along with other telecasts, have been released for home video.

Tatiana Troyanos also sang in concert performances of operas. She performed with the Philadelphia Orchestra in the world premiere of Act I of Rachmaninoff's opera Monna Vanna. She also sang with major American orchestras, performing works by Berlioz and Mahler. She gave song recitals, including her debut at Carnegie Hall in 1978. She also performed in duo recitals with soprano Benita Valente.

Recordings and Videos

Tatiana Troyanos had a very successful career as a recording artist. Her first recording as a soloist was as Dorabella in Mozart's Così fan tutte in 1967. This recording won a Grammy Award for Best Opera Recording in 1969. She went on to record many other famous roles. These included Cherubino in Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro and the title role in Bizet's Carmen. She was called "quite simply the subtlest Carmen on record." She also sang Anita in Leonard Bernstein's recording of West Side Story. Many people agreed that she "never made a bad record."

Her recordings were released on LP and CD. Some of them include:

• Bartók, Bluebeard's Castle – Judith (1976)
• Beethoven, Symphony No. 9 (1970)
• Bellini, Norma – Adalgisa (1979)
• Berlioz, Les Troyens – Didon (1983)
• Bernstein, West Side Story – Anita (1985)
• Bizet, Carmen (1975)
• Handel, Giulio Cesare in Egitto – Cleopatra (1969)
• Massenet, Werther – Charlotte (1979)
• Mozart, Così fan tutte – Dorabella (1967)
• Mozart, Le nozze di Figaro – Cherubino (1968)
• Purcell, Dido and Aeneas – Dido (1967, 1977)
• Strauss, Ariadne auf Naxos – Composer (1969, 1977)
• Strauss, Der Rosenkavalier – Octavian (1969)
• Stravinsky, Oedipus Rex – Jocasta (1972)
• Wagner, Götterdämmerung – Second Norn (1989)

There are also DVDs of 10 complete operas featuring Tatiana Troyanos:

• Jeanne – Die Teufel von Loudun, Penderecki (1969)
• Santuzza – Cavalleria rusticana, Mascagni (1978)
• Eboli – Don Carlo, Verdi (1980)
• Sesto – La Clemenza di Tito, Mozart (1980)
• Adalgisa – Norma, Bellini (1981)
• Octavian – Der Rosenkavalier, R. Strauss (1982)
• Venus – Tannhäuser, Wagner (1982)
• Didon/Cassandre – Les Troyens, Berlioz (1983 and 1984)
• Composer – Ariadne auf Naxos, R. Strauss (1988)
• Clairon – Capriccio, R. Strauss (1993)

Other DVDs include:

• In Concert At The Met with Plácido Domingo (1982)
• The Making of West Side Story (1985)

What Other Singers Said

Soprano Benita Valente, who sang with Tatiana, said that Tatiana spent a lot of time studying her music deeply. She would fill her music scores with notes and instructions to herself. Benita called it "like a diary in those scores."

Mezzo-soprano Susan Graham learned a lot from Tatiana Troyanos. She said Tatiana showed "100% commitment" to her art. Susan once sang with Tatiana in La clemenza di Tito. Years later, when Susan was preparing the same role, she said, "I can still hear her voice in my head." She felt very inspired by Tatiana's performances.

Mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato also looked up to Tatiana. When preparing the role of the Composer in Ariadne auf Naxos, Joyce listened to Tatiana's recordings. She thought, "I just can't sing it like her." This shows how much Tatiana's performances influenced other artists.

Her Final Season

Tatiana Troyanos passed away on August 21, 1993, in New York. She was 54 years old. Her death was a shock to the opera community. She had kept her illness private and continued to perform almost until the end.

She last sang at the Met on May 1, 1993. She also performed Mahler's Third Symphony with the Boston Symphony Orchestra in April and May 1993. A reviewer wrote that her performance was "profoundly immediate and expressive."

Her very last stage appearances were as the actress Clairon in Richard Strauss' Capriccio at San Francisco Opera. She sang these performances between June 12 and July 1, 1993. Even though she had fallen ill during rehearsals, she sang all the shows. A critic recalled her "deceptively robust performance."

On the last day of her life, Tatiana Troyanos sang for other patients at Lenox Hill Hospital. One patient told her that it was the first time in three years they had forgotten their pain.

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  Tatiana Troyanos