Natalie Bodanya

[4] After several years of performing with second tier companies in the United States, Bodanya was invited by Edward Johnson to join the roster of principal artists at the Metropolitan Opera.

She made her debut with the company as Micaela in Georges Bizet's Carmen on May 11, 1936, with Bruna Castagna in the title role, Armand Tokatyan as Don José, Carlo Morelli as Escamillo, and Gennaro Papi conducting.

Bodanya remained on the Met roster for the next seven consecutive seasons, taking only a brief hiatus from performance for a few months after her 1938 marriage to William Gorman, a philosophy professor who collaborated with Mortimer Adler.

[1] She notably sang Elisetta in the Met's first staging of Domenico Cimarosa's Il matrimonio segreto on February 25, 1937, with Muriel Dickson as Carolina, Irra Petina as Fidalma, George Rasely as Paolino, Louis D'Angelo as Geronimo, and Ettore Panizza conducting.

Her last and 157th performance at the Met was as Esmeralda in Bedřich Smetana's The Bartered Bride on January 16, 1942, with Jarmila Novotná as Marenka, Tokatyan as Jeník, Karl Laufkötter as Vasek, Norman Cordon as Kecal, Thelma Votipka as Ludmila, and Paul Breisach conducting.