Around the Music Festival

American mezzo-soprano singer Gwendolyn Killebrew died on December 24 in her home in Dusseldorf, Germany. She was 80 years old. She has been active on international stages such as the Metropolitan Opera in New York, such as the Salzburg Festival and the Bayreuth Festival.

She was born in Philadelphia in 1941. She studied at Temple University in Philadelphia, the Juilliard School in New York, and participated in the Aspen Music Festival. In 1967, when she was 26, she made her debut at the Metropolitan Opera, singing the role of Valkyrie’s Waltraute.

The performance at this time was directed and Conducted by Herbert von Karajan. It is a gorgeous performance starring Birgit Nilsson, Thomas Stewart, Jon Vickers, Gundula Janowitz, Christa Ludwig and others, and was broadcast on the radio in 1968.

In 1968 she sang Carmen and made her debut at the Bavarian State Opera in Munich. She participated in the world premiere of Ginastera’s opera “Beatrice Cenci” when the new opera house at the Kennedy Center in Washington opened in 1971.

She performed at the Salzburg Easter Festival in 1972 and at the Salzburg Festival in 1973. In Salzburg Festival, She participated in Orff’s opera “De temporum fine commodities”, which was world premiered by the Cologne Radio Symphony Orchestra conducted by Karajan.

She made her debut at the Bayreuth Festival in 1978, and she starred in “Der Ring des Nibelungen” directed by Patrice Chéreau.

From 1976 to 2006 she became the exclusive singer of the Düsseldorf-based Rhein German Opera, and was awarded the title of “Kammersänger” in 1988.

Her last opera appearance was in 2009, when she sang the role of Bakkis in Offenbach’s “La Belle Hélène”. After her retirement, she was instructing the younger generation.

Photo：www.gwendolynkillebrew.com　/　Beth Bergmann