Beverly Sills
July 2
Sills, whose radiant soprano and vibrant personality made her "America's Queen of Opera," as Time magazine called her in 1971, died at 78. Before retiring in 1980, she sang some 70 roles in her career, including Cleopatra, in Handel's "Julius Caesar" (her breakthrough performance, at City Opera, in 1966); Massenet's "Manon"; Violetta , in Verdi's "La Traviata"; and the title role in Douglas Stuart Moore's "The Ballad of Baby Doe."
Archive 7/2/07 Soprano bridged cultures
July 2
Sills, whose radiant soprano and vibrant personality made her "America's Queen of Opera," as Time magazine called her in 1971, died at 78. Before retiring in 1980, she sang some 70 roles in her career, including Cleopatra, in Handel's "Julius Caesar" (her breakthrough performance, at City Opera, in 1966); Massenet's "Manon"; Violetta , in Verdi's "La Traviata"; and the title role in Douglas Stuart Moore's "The Ballad of Baby Doe."
(AP)