Opera Singer Beverly Sills Dies At 78

Beverly Sills was a professional coloratura soprano. She was able to perform high D's and E-flat's effortlessly. She was well known internationally, even among those who very rarely visited opera.

Beverly Sills shining during every performance of her. She was brilliant in different roles such as tragic ones in Donizetti's “Lucia di Lammermoor” and “Anna Bolena,” Bellini's “Sonnambula” and “Puritani,” Massenet's “Manon” and comic ones in Rossini's “Barbiere di Siviglia” and Rossini's “Barbiere di Siviglia.”

She has been invited to TV shows as guest host such as “The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson,” “Live from Lincoln Center.”

At the first time Beverly Sills in Europe when she was 36. One of her perfect performances was debut at La Scala in Milan in 1969, when audience was shocked with her talent. Later she debuted at London's Covent Garden came with Donizetti's “Lucia di Lammermoor” in December 1973.

Despite of her perfect career, Beverly Sills had tragic scenes in her personal life. Her way to the triumph was full of struggles and difficulties.

Beverly Sills was born on May 25, 1929 in Brooklyn. Her father, Morris Silverman, was an insurance broker from Bucharest, Romania. Her mother, Shirley Silverman, was born in Odessa, Russia.

Her first steps Beverly Sills made in radio Saturday morning children's show “Uncle Bob's Rainbow House” when she was 4. Later in 7, she danced and sang arias from Amelita Galli-Curci at “Major Bowes Capital Family Hour”. Then she played ‘nightingirl of the mountains’ in 36 episodes of “Our Gal Sunday” soap opera.

In 12 Beverly Sills ended up with her star career to study at Erasmus Hall High School in Brooklyn and the Professional Children's School in Manhattan. She was taking vocal lessons with Estelle Liebling from 9. She finished school in 1945, when she was 16 and began a 10 year career with touring operas.

During three year period Beverly Sills made eight attempts to perform at New York City Opera and she finally got a role in 1955 as Rosalinde in “Die Fledermaus”.

During the tour with City Opera in Cleveland in 1955 she met Peter B. Greenough. He had a degree from Harvard and a master's degree from the Columbia School of Journalism. He was in a divorce process when they met, and after eight week he got divorced, he married Sills. Peter already had three daughters and a house in Cleveland.

Later in 1959 Sills gave birth to their daughter Meredith Holden Greenough, in 1961 she gave birth to their second child Peter Bulkeley Greenough Jr. When Meredith was 22 months-old, she still couldn’t speak, doctors said she had a loss of hearing. When Bulkeley was 6 months-old, doctors found he had major mental problem, it was autism.

Having these problems in her life Beverly Sills went on with her career despite of the difficulties. She sang Cleopatra in Handel's “Giulio Cesare” in 1966, made her La Scala debut in 1969. She was multiply invited to Metropolitan Opera, but she appeared there only in 1975 at “The Siege of Corinth”.

At that time Beverly Sills was already having vocal difficulties and in 1978 she announced tht is going to retire in 1980. When sills retired from singing, she went on with her career as a director of the New York City Opera. Later she worked as arts administrator, she was a chairwoman of Lincoln Center and then a chairwoman of the Metropolitan Opera. During all these years she has also been involved in charity. by Ruzan Harutyunyan for HULIQ