Beverly Wolff
She was a champion of new works, notably premiering compositions by Leonard Bernstein, Gian Carlo Menotti, Douglas Moore, and Ned Rorem among other American composers.
Wolff made only a few appearances on the international stage during her career, choosing instead to work with important opera companies and orchestras in the United States.
Opera News stated, "Wolff was one of a golden generation of American singers who dominated the NYCO roster during the general directorship of Julius Rudel.
[2] She actively performed with the ASO as both a soloist and a member of the first trumpet section while a student at the University of Georgia, where she earned a degree in English literature in the Spring of 1950.
[5] She performed only one more time with the NBCOT during her career: the role of The executive director in the world premiere of Gian Carlo Menotti's Labyrinth in March 1963.
[6] She performed two roles with Boris Goldovsky's New England Opera Theater in 1953: Idamante in Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Idomeneo and Mistress Quickly in Giuseppe Verdi's Falstaff.
In 1958 Wolff joined the roster of artists at the New York City Opera, where she made her debut reprising the role of Dinah in Trouble in Tahiti which was presented in a double bill with Mark Bucci's Tale for a Deaf Ear.
[19] In November 1972 she performed the role of Clarice in Rossini's La pietra del paragone in a concert version at Alice Tully Hall.
[20] On November 25, 1973, she created the title role in the world premiere of Ned Rorem's one-act opera Bertha at Alice Tully Hall.
In December 1961 she performed to an audience of more than 10,000 people at Carnegie Hall as a soloist in Handel's Messiah with the Festival Orchestra of New York under conductor Thomas Dunn.
[23] She made a total of 25 appearances with the New York Philharmonic (NYP) from 1965 to 1978, making her debut with the orchestra on January 14, 1975, as a soloist in Gioachino Rossini's Stabat Mater.
In 1962 she portrayed the role of the Dryad in Richard Strauss' Ariadne auf Naxos at the Washington National Opera with Reri Grist as Zerbinetta and George Shirley as Bacchus.
[36] She performed several more roles with the company through 1977, including Carry Nation, Giulietta in The Tales of Hoffmann, Marfa in Káťa Kabanová, and Ottavia in L'incoronazione di Poppea.
[40] In 1971 she sang Adalgisa in Vincenzo Bellini's Norma at the Opera Company of Boston with Sills in the title role and Sarah Caldwell conducting.
[45] In 1965 she was a soloist in two cantatas by Johann Sebastian Bach with conductor Erich Leinsdorf and the Boston Symphony Orchestra (BSO) at the Tanglewood Music Festival.
[2] In 1977 she sang the part of the Wood Dove in Arnold Schoenberg's Gurre-Lieder at the Ravinia Festival with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Chorus under the direction of James Levine.
