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Boston opera company founder was pioneer
... first female to conduct New York's Metropolitan Opera ... worked with most revered voices of her time
Los Angeles Times
Published March 25, 2006
Sarah Caldwell, the beloved founder of the Opera Company of Boston who was the first female to conduct New York's Metropolitan Opera, has died. She was 82.
Ms. Caldwell died of heart failure Thursday at the Maine Medical Center, according to Jim Morgan, former manager of the company and a lifelong friend.
During its 33-year history, the Opera Company of Boston ran on a shoestring budget and often had to use gymnasiums, college auditoriums and rented theaters. It closed in 1991 because of lack of money.
But it staged a staggering list of American premieres, including Arnold Schoenberg's "Moses und Aron," Serge Prokofiev's "War and Peace," Hector Berlioz's "Les Troyens," Luigi Nono's "Intolleranza," Alban Berg's "Lulu" and Roger Sessions' "Montezuma."
Ms. Caldwell acted as producer, director, scenery designer, publicist and conductor for most of those and the other 100 operas she produced.
"If you can sell green toothpaste in this country, you can sell opera," she once said.
Ms. Caldwell drew on emerging singers, such as sopranos Beverly Sills and Marilyn Horne, as well as established stars, bringing such singers as Joan Sutherland, Tito Gobbi, George London, Nicolai Gedda and Placido Domingo to her productions.
Sills' collaboration with Ms. Caldwell began in 1961, when Sills, "very pregnant," she said, with her first son, received a call inviting her to sing the lead in a production of "Die Fledermaus." Forgetting her condition, Sills said yes, then immediately had to call Ms. Caldwell back to decline.
"She said, `You weren't pregnant two minutes ago?'" Sills said Friday. "That was how our romance began. We did so many extraordinary things together."
Ms. Caldwell started her Boston Opera Group, later renamed Opera Company of Boston, in 1957 on a budget of $5,000, going on to conduct repertory from the baroque to the avant-garde.
In 1976 she became the first female to conduct the Metropolitan Opera, in a production of "La Traviata" with Sills. She also conducted the New York Philharmonic, the Pittsburgh Symphony and the Boston Symphony, among others.
Ms. Caldwell received the National Medal of the Arts in 1997.
"She was not easy to work with," Sills said. "Because she was not organized. You had to be prepared to be exhausted because she would suddenly say, `No, I don't like that. Let's try this all over again.' It was exasperating. But it was fun. I loved every minute. She was the Orson Welles of the operatic world. She could just do anything."
... first female to conduct New York's Metropolitan Opera ... worked with most revered voices of her time
Los Angeles Times
Published March 25, 2006
Sarah Caldwell, the beloved founder of the Opera Company of Boston who was the first female to conduct New York's Metropolitan Opera, has died. She was 82.
Ms. Caldwell died of heart failure Thursday at the Maine Medical Center, according to Jim Morgan, former manager of the company and a lifelong friend.
During its 33-year history, the Opera Company of Boston ran on a shoestring budget and often had to use gymnasiums, college auditoriums and rented theaters. It closed in 1991 because of lack of money.
But it staged a staggering list of American premieres, including Arnold Schoenberg's "Moses und Aron," Serge Prokofiev's "War and Peace," Hector Berlioz's "Les Troyens," Luigi Nono's "Intolleranza," Alban Berg's "Lulu" and Roger Sessions' "Montezuma."
Ms. Caldwell acted as producer, director, scenery designer, publicist and conductor for most of those and the other 100 operas she produced.
"If you can sell green toothpaste in this country, you can sell opera," she once said.
Ms. Caldwell drew on emerging singers, such as sopranos Beverly Sills and Marilyn Horne, as well as established stars, bringing such singers as Joan Sutherland, Tito Gobbi, George London, Nicolai Gedda and Placido Domingo to her productions.
Sills' collaboration with Ms. Caldwell began in 1961, when Sills, "very pregnant," she said, with her first son, received a call inviting her to sing the lead in a production of "Die Fledermaus." Forgetting her condition, Sills said yes, then immediately had to call Ms. Caldwell back to decline.
"She said, `You weren't pregnant two minutes ago?'" Sills said Friday. "That was how our romance began. We did so many extraordinary things together."
Ms. Caldwell started her Boston Opera Group, later renamed Opera Company of Boston, in 1957 on a budget of $5,000, going on to conduct repertory from the baroque to the avant-garde.
In 1976 she became the first female to conduct the Metropolitan Opera, in a production of "La Traviata" with Sills. She also conducted the New York Philharmonic, the Pittsburgh Symphony and the Boston Symphony, among others.
Ms. Caldwell received the National Medal of the Arts in 1997.
"She was not easy to work with," Sills said. "Because she was not organized. You had to be prepared to be exhausted because she would suddenly say, `No, I don't like that. Let's try this all over again.' It was exasperating. But it was fun. I loved every minute. She was the Orson Welles of the operatic world. She could just do anything."
Vi a Ms. Caldwell después de una ópera. Ella era pequeña y de par en par, pero su ópera era maravillosa!
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