Czechs mourns mezzo with 60-year career
RIPThe indomitable mezzo-soprano Soňa Červená died today in a Prague hospital at the age of 97. She was still performing into her 80s, notably as Emilia Marty in The Makropulos Case.
Both her parents were jailed by the Nazis; her mother was murdered by the Communists. Soňa made her debut in Brno in 1954, graduating to the National Theatre three years later.
Outside her homeland, she sang at Frankfurt, Berlin, Hamburg, Vienna, Brussels, San Francisco and Glyndebourne. She appeared at Bayreuth several times in the 1960s.
She was re-engaged regularly as Carmen at San Francisco. Later, she worked closely with the US director Robert Wilson.
Great though she was , her Emilia Marty was in the play by Capek on which the Janacek opera is based.
She was quite marvellous as Mittenhofer’s secretary in the Scottish Opera production of Henze’s Elegy for Young Lovers under Alexander Gibson at the Edinburgh Festival. The production was by Henze himself with an amazing abstract set by Ralph Koltai to illustrate the mountain.
Absolutely, I remember this well.