Florence Kirk (1909 – June 6, 1999) was an American dramatic soprano who had an active international performance career in operas and concerts from 1937 to 1954.
Born in Philadelphia and trained at the Curtis Institute of Music by Elisabeth Schumann, she was particularly associated with the roles of Donna Anna in Mozart's Don Giovanni and the title heroine in Verdi's Aida.
After retiring from full-time performance in 1954, she worked as a music teacher for the Carroll County Public Schools system in Maryland.
[3] She won a scholarship to the Curtis Institute of Music in 1936, where she studied voice with Ernst Lert, Emilio de Gogorza, and Elisabeth Schumann.
[4] She made her opera debut in 1937 portraying the title role in Menotti's Amelia Goes to the Ball in Baltimore, followed by further appearances at the New Amsterdam Theatre in New York.
[6] An important early success in her career was performing at the New York Philharmonic's 1937 Wagner Festival which was led by music director Fritz Reiner.
[12][13] In 1942 she was the soprano soloist for the Philadelphia Orchestra's recording of Mendelssohn's A Midsummer Night's Dream with conductor Arturo Toscanini and contralto Edwina Eustis.
Kirk was committed to the Theatro Municipal in Rio de Janeiro and the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires for the 1942–1943 season where she portrayed the roles of Amelia in Un ballo in maschera, Donna Anna, Leonora, and Maria in Verdi's Simon Boccanegra.
[16] She sang Donna Anna again with Thomas Beecham conducting at the Palacio de Bellas Artes in Mexico City in the summer of 1944.
In 1945 she portrayed Donna Anna at the Boston Opera House with conductor Bruno Walter leading the musical forces.
[20] In 1947 she replaced ailing Yugoslavian soprano Daniza Ilitsch [de] as Aida mid performance at Houston's City Auditorium; singing acts 2, 3, and 4.
Kirk happened to be attending the performance that evening, and a Met official who saw her in the audience rushed her backstage to apply makeup and get in costume in just ten minutes to finish out the opera.
[23] Notable among these international performances was a portrayal of Leonore in Beethoven's Fidelio at the Odeon of Herodes Atticus in 1949 and Santuzza at the Turkish State Opera in 1950.