Met mezzo who founded a California opera house
mainIrene Dalis, who sang at the Met, Milan and Berlin before returning home to found the San Jose Opera, has died aged 89.
Lovely profile here:
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RIP.
She will also remain as the Kundry of the probably best Parsifal recording ever: Knappertsbusch, Bayreuth 1962, also featuring Hans Hotter, George London, Jess Thomas, Martti Talvela and Gustav Neidlinger (and flower-maidens like Anja Silja and Gundula Janowitz!).
I heard Irene Dalis at Hamburg State Opera many times as (among other roles) Amme, Kundry and Ortrud; she was always highly impressive.
At Bayreuth Festival she sang Kundry and Ortrud. Usually the first night of a production there was/is broadcast. Irene Dalis sang 1962 the Lohengrin premiere, which was not broadcast – instead of that the second performance, which was sung by Astrid Varnay. This performance was released on LP and CD. Does anyone has information, why it was so? It’s a pity, because we have Astrid Varnay’s Ortrud recorded twice, but no by the likewise impressive Irene Dalis.