Johanna Meier

[1] Born in Chicago,[2] Meier was raised in Spearfish, South Dakota and continues to contribute to the State, having founded the School of Opera and Vocal Arts as part of the Black Hills State University Summer Institute of the Arts, for which she also serves as Artistic Director.

[2] Meier's debut at the Metropolitan Opera came earlier than planned: she had been scheduled to debut in December 1976, playing Marguerite in Faust, but was sent onstage in April as a last-minute replacement for Montserrat Caballé as Ariadne in Ariadne auf Naxos.

[2][6] During her fourteen years at the Met, she played fifteen roles, including Chrysothemis, Senta, Leonore, the Empress, the Marschallin, Elisabeth, Ellen Orford, Donna Anna, Tosca, Sieglinde, Brünnhilde and Isolde.

Meier was seen in the title role of Vanessa (with Christopher Keene conducting), when it was televised from the Spoleto Festival USA, in 1978.

She began her stint at Bayreuth in 1981 in the widely praised production of Tristan und Isolde by Jean-Pierre Ponnelle (q.v.