1993

12 17 20 25 28 June, 1 July, Capriccio, San Francisco Opera, Donald Runnicles and Andrew Davis, Conductors, Troyanos: Clarion Kiri TeKanawa, Victor Braun, and Haken Hagegard.

21 August Died, Lenox Hill Hospital, New York, NY.

Byline: Patrick O'Connor

"Tatiana Troyanos, who has died at the age of 54, was one of the most remarkable American opera singers of the last 30 years.

As Matthew Epstein, director of the Welsh National Opera and doyen of New York talent scouts, who knew her well throughout her career, put it: "She had a remarkable technique, musicality, a strong personality, linguistic ability - she sang perfectly in any number of languages; she had an extraordinary ability to do different things and be great at everything she did.

"To be successful at Wagner's Fricka and at Mozart's Sesto within a three-year span is quite a trick. I heard her a few weeks ago in Cappriccio and she seemed in wonderful vocal and physical shape. There was no problem with that voice. She could have gone on till she was over 65." The timbre was rich and excitingly free and golden, but with a lyrical warmth as well as a marvellously repsonsive legato for Handel and the bel canto."

"The musical director of NYCO, Julius Rudel, helped her to gain a Rockefeller Foundation scholarship to go to Europe, where she was auditioned by Rolf Liebermann at the Hamburg State Opera. She made her Hambug debut as Suzuki in Butterfly in 1966, followed that summer by the Composer, in Strauss's Ariadne auf Naxos, one of her greatest roles, at the Aix-en-Provence Festival."

"She remained a member of the ensemble at Hamburg for 10 years and there sang many roles for the first time. The muscial director was Charles Mackerras, whith whom she made one of her first recordings, Dido in Purcell's opera. Her international fame dates from the 1969 season when she created the role of Jeanne in the world preiere of Penderecki's The Devils of Loudun. Reviewing the performance for Opera, Lord Harewood commented on the overshelming dramatic portrayal she gave and her "obscene grunts, howls and gurgles" in the exorcism scene."

"Troyanos made her Covent Garden debut in 1968, as Octavian in Der Rosenkavelier, a role she sang often later in Salzburg and New York. A singer with a magnificent, commanding stage presence, her repertory was prodigious ranging from early opera to Wagner. As well as Purcell's Dido she sang in Cavalieri's La rappresentazione di anima e di corpo."

"There was a memorable performance as Gluck's Orpheus in Athens at the Antique Herod Theatre in 1971, the same year she was chosen to sing the title role in Handel's Ariodante for the inaugural performance at the Kennedy Center in Washington; and there were many Mozart roles, Cherubino, Dorabella and above all Sesto in La Clemenza di Tito, which she first sang at Salzburg in 1976, with James Levine conducting the production by Jean-Peirre Ponelle. She repeated this role many times, and fortunately the production was recorded for video."

"During the 1970s she moved towards the bel canto repertoire, singing a fiery Sara in Donizetti's Roberto Devereux opposite Caballe as Elizabeth I in concert at Drury Lane in 1970, adding Jane Seymour in Anna Bolena in Dallas in 1975, Adalgisa in Norma, her La Scala Milan debut in 1977, and Romeo in Bellini's I Capuletti ei Montecchi, a role she sang in Chicago, New Yrok, Washington and at Covent Garden in 1985."

"She was the first Countess Geschwitz at The Met in Berg's Lulu in 1977, and repeated her memorable Jocasta in Stravinsky's Oedipus Rex there in 1981, in the Dexter production designed by David Hockney. Brangane in Wagner's Tristan (1980), Berlioz's Dido in Les Troyens (1983) and Kundry in Parsifal at Chicago (1987) showed her career moving towards a more dramatic/character range. She also sang the title role in Rachmaninov's unfinished Monna Vanna at Saratoga in 1984."

"Last autumn she created the role of Queen Isabella in Philip Glass's The Voyage at the Met, and earlier this year added Fricka in Chicago and Waltraute at the Met to her repertoire. She was diagnosed with cancer only on July 15. Her decline was swift and she leaves a serious gap in the American opera scene."

"Troyanos was a real New Yorker, taking her bow after her first perfromance at the Met as Handel's Julius Caesar in 1988, she flung out her arms towards the gallery and mouthed the words "I love you." Her loss is a tragedy, especially since she felt herself that she would have so much more to give, and once predicted ""My last 10 years will be my best." Her recordings include Cosi Fan Tutte with Leinsdorf, Figaro with Bohm, Norma with Levine, Carmen with Solti and Oedipus Rex with Bernstein."

Tatiana Troyanos, born September 12, 1938; died August 23, 1993.

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