Friday, November 05, 2010

Shirley Verrett

The great mezzo-soprano and soprano died today, age 79, of heart disease; the Times obituary is here.

In this YouTube video, she is in superb form, circa 1971, in a characteristic role:



And singing a great Liebestod a few years later in 1977:




Rest in peace, Miss Verrett; you were one of the greats.

2 comments:

D. said...

Linking to this for the videos.

I never got to see her perform, but of course she was a huge presence in opera in New York.

Lisa Hirsch said...

I was shocked to see in the Times obit that her Met performance count was fairly small, just over 120. I would have expected more than that!