10 Beverly Sills Quotes

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"Beverly Sills" was an American operatic soprano whose peak career was between the 1950s and 1970s.

Although she sang a repertoire from George Frideric Handel/Handel and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart/Mozart to Giacomo Puccini/Puccini, Jules Massenet/Massenet and Giuseppe Verdi/Verdi, she was known for her performances in coloratura soprano roles in live opera and recordings. Sills was largely associated with the operas of Gaetano Donizetti/Donizetti, of which she performed and recorded many roles. Her signature roles include the title role in Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor, the title role in Massenet's Manon, Marie in Donizetti's La fille du régiment, the three heroines in Jacques Offenbach/Offenbach's The Tales of Hoffmann/Les contes d'Hoffmann, Rosina in Gioachino Rossini/Rossini's The Barber of Seville, Violetta in Verdi's La traviata, and most notably Elisabetta in Roberto Devereux.

After retiring from singing in 1980, she became the general manager of the New York City Opera. In 1994, she became the Chairman of Lincoln Center and then, in 2002, of the Metropolitan Opera, stepping down in 2005. Sills lent her celebrity to further her charity work for the prevention and treatment of birth defects.