So Tragic and so Soon

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So Tragic and so Soon

July 4th 2007 11:59

Beverly Sills, an operatic legend, 1929 - 2007

A moment to pause and pay respect to one of the greatest stars of what is often a (sadly) lesser appreciated art: opera. Beverly Sills, one of the greatest Opera stars of all time, has passed away aged 78, the result of a particularly vicious form of lung cancer.

The magnificent soprano popularised opera in the United States in the 60's and 70's with a series of commanding performances for television. She later went on to host her own weekly talk show, further advance the art of opera in the popular media.
Beverly Sills was picked from the crowd after auditioning for Major Bowes' Amateur Hour - a radio program that was the American Idol of its day (1938!). She won the program for the week and a string of further radio appearrances followed before she made her stage debut in 1945 and her professional operatic debut in 1947.

Enjoying a lighter moment - on the Muppet show in 1979

Sills' salad days lasted for two decades - the 60's and 70's. The soprano worked with the New York City and Metropolitan Opera Companies as well as with the Covent Garden Opera Company in London, to name but three. During these years she defined role after role, her light voice tempered with astoundingly dramatic performance.

Sills was also responsible for a great deal of concert and recital work, spreading her talent and her operatic art accross the US to those who would otherwise never have the chance to see her onstage in a full operatic production in London or New York.
Beverly retired as a professional opera singer in 1980 to much farewell and fanfare. Over the next two decades she became increasingly important as the Director of the New York City Opera Company, a post she held for nine years. During which time she reversed the companies fortunes, making them a financially profittable enterprise.

Two great divas!

From 1994 until 2002 Sills was the Chairman of New York's Lincoln Centre, following this appointment with a three year stint as Chairman of the Metropolitan Opera Company. She left the post in 2005 for family reasons - her husband of forty-nine years (Phillip Greenough) died in September 2006.
Beverly Sills own illness was only reported late last month when the singer was hospitalised - a press statement cited her as seriously ill - with lung cancer. She was not a smoker. She died Monday (July 2) with her daughter at her bedside. The suddenness of her death making it all the more shocking.

"It's Art!"

Opera is not for everyone - certainly not for me. But Sills was a great lady and a devoted workhorse who devoted her life to her loves - opera and her family. She deserves a moment of remembrance for her efforts. No doubt somewhere she is enjoying a long long rest. But the question is... will it just be the angels singing on high?

RIP Beverly

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