Frances Yeend

Frances Yeend (/jɛnd/; 28 January 1913 – 27 April 2008) was an American classical soprano who had an active international career as a concert and opera singer during the 1940s through the 1960s.

[3] Yeend's first New York appearances were in 1943 as a member of the ensemble in the Broadway run of The Merry Widow at the Majestic Theatre with Jan Kiepura as Danilo and Marta Eggerth as Sonia.

The following summer she performed the role of Ellen Orford in the American premiere of Benjamin Britten's Peter Grimes at the Tanglewood Music Festival.

[2] In 1948 Yeend was invited by Laszlo Halasz, then artistic director of the New York City Opera, to join the roster of principal sopranos at the NYCO.

Her early parts with the company were from the lyric soprano repertoire, such as Nedda, Countess Almaviva in Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro, Marguerite in Gounod's Faust, Micaela in Bizet's Carmen, and the three heroines in Offenbach's The Tales of Hoffmann.

[3] Some of her other notable international appearances included Mimì in Bulawayo, Rhodesia, Violetta at the Bavarian State Opera, Eva at the Liceu, and the Israeli premiere of Verdi's Requiem in Tel Aviv with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra (1954).

[1] Yeend made her Metropolitan Opera debut on February 13, 1961 as Chrysothemis in Strauss's Elektra in 1961 with Inge Borkh in the title role and Joseph Rosenstock conducting.

Her last performance with the company was on December 4, 1963 as Gutrune in Wagner's Götterdämmerung with Birgit Nilsson as Brünnhilde, Hans Hopf as Siegfried, and Walter Cassel as Gunther.

[2] Yeend made a number of recordings during her career on the RCA Victor, Columbia, Mercury, MGM and DaVinci labels.