Evelyn Lear

Lear was also known for her work on 20th century pieces by Robert Ward, Alban Berg, Marvin David Levy, Rudolf Kelterborn and Giselher Klebe.

Her performance was so well received that she played the role in the first staged version since World War II at the Theater an der Wien at the Vienna Festival of 1962 with Karl Böhm conducting.

She appeared as Nina Cavallini in Robert Altman's 1976 film Buffalo Bill and the Indians, or Sitting Bull's History Lesson.

Two years later, she created another role as Jeanne in Werner Egk's Die Verlobung in San Domingo in the reopening of the Munich Nationaltheater.

Her debut with the Metropolitan Opera came with the creation of the role of Lavinia Mannon in the world premiere of Marvin David Levy's Mourning Becomes Electra in 1967.

Soon after this she experienced vocal problems, losing much of her upper range and clarity, which she blamed on singing so much modern music.

[8] The Senate of Berlin gave Lear the title of Kammersängerin for her contribution to the opera in that city while the Salzburg Festival honored her with the Max Reinhardt Award.

Lear died on July 1, 2012, at Brook Grove nursing center in Sandy Spring, Maryland, aged 86.