Carol Lee Neblett

https://news.chapman.edu/2018/07/10/in-memoriam-carol-neblett/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carol_Neblett

Carol Lee Neblett (February 1, 1946 – November 23, 2017) was an American operatic soprano.

Life and career

Neblett was born in Modesto, California and raised in Redondo Beach. She studied at the University of California, Los Angeles. In 1969 she made her operatic debut with the New York City Opera, playing the part of Musetta in Puccini's La bohème. With that company, she continued to sing many leading roles, in Mefistofele (with Norman Treigle), Prince Igor (conducted by Julius Rudel), Faust, Manon, Louise (opposite John Alexander, later Harry Theyard), La traviata, Le coq d'or, Carmen (as Micaëla, with Joy Davidson, staged by Tito Capobianco), The Marriage of Figaro (as the Contessa Almaviva, with Michael Devlin and Susanne Marsee), Don Giovanni (as Donna Elvira), L'incoronazione di Poppea (with Alan Titus as Nerone), Ariadne auf Naxos (directed by Sarah Caldwell), and Erich Wolfgang Korngold's Die tote Stadt (in Frank Corsaro's production).

Her brief nude scene in a 1973 staging of Massenet's Thaïs, for the New Orleans Opera Association, made international headlines. In 1976, she performed Tosca, with Luciano Pavarotti, at the Lyric Opera of Chicago. In 1977, she sang the part of Minnie in La fanciulla del West (one of her great successes), with Plácido Domingo, for Queen Elizabeth II's 25th Jubilee Celebration at Covent Garden.

In 1979, she made her Metropolitan Opera debut as Senta in The Flying Dutchman, in Jean-Pierre Ponnelle's production, opposite José van Dam.

She sang with the Met until 1993, in such operas as Tosca, La bohème, Un ballo in maschera (with Carlo Bergonzi), Don Giovanni, Manon Lescaut, Falstaff (with Giuseppe Taddei), and La fanciulla del West.

During her career, she sang all over the world, including in San Francisco, Chicago, Los Angeles, New York City, Buenos Aires, Salzburg, Hamburg and London. Her recordings include Musetta in La bohème, with Renata Scotto, Alfredo Kraus, Sherrill Milnes and Paul Plishka, for Angel/EMI, James Levine conducting (1979); La fanciulla del West, with Domingo and Milnes, Zubin Mehta conducting (DGG, 1977); Gustav Mahler's Symphony No.2 ("Resurrection") with Claudio Abbado, Marilyn Horne, and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra (DGG, 1977); and Marietta in Die tote Stadt, with René Kollo, Erich Leinsdorf conducting (RCA, 1975).

She appeared in several performances on television, including a tribute to George London at the Kennedy Center, Washington, D.C. She also appeared as a guest on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson. In 2012, Neblett made her musical theatre debut in a production of Stephen Sondheim's Follies.

Neblett was an artist in residence and voice instructor at Chapman University in Southern California. She was also on the faculty of the International Lyric Academy in Rome.

Personal life

Neblett was married three times. Her first marriage was to the cellist Douglas Davis, her second to the conductor Kenneth Schermerhorn, and her third to the cardiologist Phillip Akre. Her second marriage produced a son, Stefan Schermerhorn, and her third marriage produced two daughters, Adrienne Akre Spear and Marianne Akre. All three marriages ended in divorce.

Neblett died at age 71 on November 23, 2017, in Los Angeles. Survivors include her son, her daughter Adrienne, a sister, a brother, and four grandchildren. Her daughter Marianne Akre predeceased her, in 2001.

Videography

Mozart: La clemenza di Tito (Troyanos, Tappy; Levine, Ponnelle, 1980)

Puccini: La fanciulla del West (Domingo, Carroli; Santi, Piero Faggioni, 1982) [live]

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Carol Neblett, a soprano who sang numerous roles at New York City Opera and the Metropolitan Opera, as well as one particularly attention-getting one in New Orleans that included full nudity, died on Nov. 23 at her home in Los Angeles. She was 71.

Her son, Stefan Schermerhorn, said that the specific cause was not known but that she had been in ill health.

Ms. Neblett sang all over the world after making her City Opera debut as Musetta in Puccini’s “La Bohème” in 1969. She sang the title role in Puccini’s “Tosca” more than 300 times, the first in 1976 at the Lyric Opera in Chicago with Luciano Pavarotti as Mario Cavaradossi. She sang an excerpt from “La Fanciulla del West” (again by Puccini) with Plácido Domingo for Queen Elizabeth II’s 25th Jubilee celebration in 1977.

But among her multitude of performances, one in particular received outsize attention: her 1973 appearance in Massenet’s “Thaïs” at the New Orleans Opera House.

Playing a courtesan trying to seduce a monk, Ms. Neblett, in a scene at the end of the first act, shed her robe and briefly sang nude. By 1973, onstage nudity was beginning to lose its shock value — the musical “Hair,” for instance, had completed a four-year Broadway run the year before — but Ms. Neblett’s exposed moment generated plenty of news media coverage nonetheless.

“If I had been smarter, I would have controlled the publicity,” she said afterward in an interview with The New York Times. “Photographers were hanging from everywhere and got funny angles and things that the audience never saw — like pubic hair. Even the city’s strippers were there.” She added, “I’d do it again, but differently.”

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Carol Neblett was born on February 1, 1946 in Modesto, California, USA as Carol Lee Neblett.

Her father was a military pilot during WWII, and later worked as a piano tuner. Her mother was an assistant to violinist Jascha Heifetz.

She was an actress, known for Aria (1987), Great Performances (1971) and Slaves of New York (1989). She was married to Philip Akre, Kenneth Schermerhorn and Douglas Davis. She died on November 23, 2017 in Los Angeles, California.

She was also an accomplished opera singer (soprano). She gained notoriety for her history-making performance in a 1973 production of "Thaïs". Appearing in the title role, a medieval courtesan, she undressed while singing the final aria of the first act - reportedly the first time an opera singer displayed full-frontal nudity on stage.

She sang the title role of Puccini's "Tosca" more than 400 times by her count, and was noted for her interpretation of the saloon-owner Minnie in Puccini's "La Fanciulla del West"