Adelaide Bishop ( June â€" June ) was an American operatic soprano,
musical theatre actress, opera director, stage director, and voice
teacher. She began her career appearing in Broadway musicals as a
teenager during the early s. She became a principal soprano with the
New York City Opera (NYCO) in , where she performed through in a
broad repertoire encompassing German, French, Italian, and English
operas from a variety of musical periods. In the late s, she started
working actively as a stage director and as a voice teacher, working
with many opera companies throughout the United States and serving on
the music faculties of several different American universities. She
also served as the artistic director of the Wolf Trap Opera for many
years.Born in New York City, Bishop started studying singing as a
young teenager with various instructors, including Paul Breisach,
Louis Polanski, Rose Landver, and at Luigi Rossini's Rossini Opera
Workshop. She made her Broadway debut at the age of as Fritzi in the
revival of Blossom Time, which ran for a total of performances. She
returned to Broadway in to portray Betty Ellis in the short-lived
musical The Girl From Nantucket with Jane Kean as Dodey Ellis and
Helen Raymond as Keziah Getchel.On October , , Bishop made her
professional opera debut as Blonde in Mozart's Die Entführung aus dem
Serail with the American Opera Company at the Academy of Music in
Philadelphia. The following December, she returned to Broadway as
Gretchen in the revival of Victor Herbert's The Red Mill when the
production moved to the Shubert Theatre from the th Street Theatre. In
January , Bishop returned to Philadelphia to portray Letitia in Gian
Carlo Menotti's The Old Maid and the Thief. The composer attended one
of the performances and was so impressed with Bishop that he contacted
Laszlo Halasz, director of the NYCO, and told him he had to hire her.
This led to her being offered a contract with the NYCO and her debut
with the company as Gilda in Verdi's Rigoletto on April , .After this
point, Bishop's career decidedly oriented away from musical theatre to
opera. Even her two remaining Broadway parts were in opera
productions: the role of Lucia in the United States premiere of
Britten's The Rape of Lucretia () at the Ziegfeld Theatre and Adele in
Johann Strauss II's Die Fledermaus () with the New York City Center
Light Opera Company. She quickly became a favorite at the NYCO during
the late s and went on to portray many lyric soprano roles with the
company through , including The Stepdaughter in the world premiere of
Hugo Weisgall's Six Characters in Search of an Author () and Mary
Stone in the New York premiere of Douglas Moore's The Devil and Daniel
Webster (). Among her many other roles with the NYCO were Gretel in
Humperdinck's Hänsel und Gretel, Liù in Puccini's Turandot, Musetta
in Puccini's La bohème, Norina in Donizetti's Don Pasquale, Olympia
in Offenbach's Les contes d'Hoffmann, Sophie in Richard Strauss's Der
Rosenkavalier, and Susanna in Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro.
musical theatre actress, opera director, stage director, and voice
teacher. She began her career appearing in Broadway musicals as a
teenager during the early s. She became a principal soprano with the
New York City Opera (NYCO) in , where she performed through in a
broad repertoire encompassing German, French, Italian, and English
operas from a variety of musical periods. In the late s, she started
working actively as a stage director and as a voice teacher, working
with many opera companies throughout the United States and serving on
the music faculties of several different American universities. She
also served as the artistic director of the Wolf Trap Opera for many
years.Born in New York City, Bishop started studying singing as a
young teenager with various instructors, including Paul Breisach,
Louis Polanski, Rose Landver, and at Luigi Rossini's Rossini Opera
Workshop. She made her Broadway debut at the age of as Fritzi in the
revival of Blossom Time, which ran for a total of performances. She
returned to Broadway in to portray Betty Ellis in the short-lived
musical The Girl From Nantucket with Jane Kean as Dodey Ellis and
Helen Raymond as Keziah Getchel.On October , , Bishop made her
professional opera debut as Blonde in Mozart's Die Entführung aus dem
Serail with the American Opera Company at the Academy of Music in
Philadelphia. The following December, she returned to Broadway as
Gretchen in the revival of Victor Herbert's The Red Mill when the
production moved to the Shubert Theatre from the th Street Theatre. In
January , Bishop returned to Philadelphia to portray Letitia in Gian
Carlo Menotti's The Old Maid and the Thief. The composer attended one
of the performances and was so impressed with Bishop that he contacted
Laszlo Halasz, director of the NYCO, and told him he had to hire her.
This led to her being offered a contract with the NYCO and her debut
with the company as Gilda in Verdi's Rigoletto on April , .After this
point, Bishop's career decidedly oriented away from musical theatre to
opera. Even her two remaining Broadway parts were in opera
productions: the role of Lucia in the United States premiere of
Britten's The Rape of Lucretia () at the Ziegfeld Theatre and Adele in
Johann Strauss II's Die Fledermaus () with the New York City Center
Light Opera Company. She quickly became a favorite at the NYCO during
the late s and went on to portray many lyric soprano roles with the
company through , including The Stepdaughter in the world premiere of
Hugo Weisgall's Six Characters in Search of an Author () and Mary
Stone in the New York premiere of Douglas Moore's The Devil and Daniel
Webster (). Among her many other roles with the NYCO were Gretel in
Humperdinck's Hänsel und Gretel, Liù in Puccini's Turandot, Musetta
in Puccini's La bohème, Norina in Donizetti's Don Pasquale, Olympia
in Offenbach's Les contes d'Hoffmann, Sophie in Richard Strauss's Der
Rosenkavalier, and Susanna in Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro.
Share this
SUBSCRIBE OUR NEWSLETTER
SUBSCRIBE OUR NEWSLETTER
Join us for free and get valuable content delivered right through your inbox.