Astrid Varnay (Astrid Varnay) |

Astrid Varnay

In 1937 she began performing under the pseudonym Melanie at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. In 1941 she made her debut at the Metropolitan Opera (Sieglinde in The Valkyrie), replacing the ill L. Lehman. She performed here until 1956. From 1948 she performed in Europe (Covent Garden and others). In 1951, the singer was a great success in the role of Lady Macbeth (Florence). From 1951 she sang repeatedly at the Bayreuth Festival (Brünnhilde in Der Ring des Nibelungen, Isolde, Kundry in Parsifal, and others). In 1959 she participated in the world premiere of Orff’s Oedipus Rex in Stuttgart (Jocasta).

Her career went on for a long time. In 1995, the singer successfully performed the part of Emma in Khovanshchina in Munich. Among the parties are also Leonora in Il trovatore, Santuzza in Rural Honor, Salome, Electra and others. Author of memoirs (1996). Recordings include Senta in Wagner’s The Flying Dutchman (conductor Knappertsbusch, Music & Arts), Mother Goose in Stravinsky’s The Rake’s Progress (conductor Chaii, Decca).

E. Tsodokov