American soprano Judith Blegen has died at the age of 85.
Born in in Fayette County, Kentucky on April 27, 1941, Blegen attended high school in Missoula, Montana and began voice lessons with John L. Lester, head of the voice department at the University of Montana.
However, before studying voice she studied the violin as a teenager. Later at Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia she studied voice.
While still a Curtis student, Blegen became an apprentice at the Santa Fe Opera in the summer of 1961, and gave her first opera performances with the company that year as Barbarina in “The Marriage of Figaro” and as the milliner in “Der Rosenkavalier.” In 1962, she attended Music Academy of the West and later went to Rome to continue her studies.
Her principal operatic debut would be in Nuremberg in 1965 in the role of Olympia in “Les Contes d’Hoffmann.” She went on to perform several roles in Nuremberg including Lucia in “Lucia di Lammermoor”, Susanna in “Le Nozze di Figaro,” and Zerbinetta in “Ariadne auf Naxos.”
She would also make her Italian debut in 1965 in Spoleto.
Then in 1969, Blegen made her Wiener Staatsoper debut, also with Olympia and her Santa Fe Opera debut.
In 1970 came a turning point as she made her Metropolitan Opera debut. With the company the soprano would sing for 21 seasons in 20 roles in 284 performances. Among the roles that she made her own at the New York company were Adina in Donizetti’s “L’Elisir d’Amore” opposite Luciano Pavarotti, Sophie in Strauss’s “Der Rosenkavalier,” which she sang 37 times, including in a 1982 television broadcast and Susanna in Mozart’s “Le Nozze di Figaro.” She also sang Gilda in Verdi’s “Rigoletto,” Juliette in “Romeo et Juliette,” Gretel in Humperdinck’s “Hansel and Gretel,” and Mélisande in Debussy’s “Pelléas et Mélisande.”
Blegen would also perform with the London Opera House and the Palais Garnier and would also make frequent appearances on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson.
In 1991, Blegen retired from the stage with her final Met appearance in “Fidelio” as Marzelline.
Throughout her career, she made numerous recordings including Alban Berg’s “Lulu-Suite,” Menotti’s “The Medium,” Puccini’s “La bohème,” Mozart’s “Zaide,” Haydn’s oratorio “The Creation,” and Fauré’s “Requiem.” She also made three solo recital albums, one of which featured lieder by Richard Strauss and Hugo Wolf, among others.
The soprano also received several prizes throughout her career including a nomination for the Grammy Award for Best Classical Vocal Soloist Performance for her performance in a recording of Berg’s “Lulu Suite” and the 1983 Montana Governor’s Arts Award.
Blegen was married to former Metropolitan Opera Orchestra concertmaster Raymond Gniewek who died in 2021.She is survived by her son Tom Singher.
