By Eileen Wingard
LA JOLLA, California — “Jews in Opera” will feature the recorded voices of 15 outstanding Jewish opera singers at 2 p.m., Thursday, Nov.14, in the Astor Judaic Library of the Lawrence Family JCC. Many of the recordings are from the Music Collection of the Astor Judaica Library. I will be hosting the program and my in-person guest will be the distinguished Ukrainian-born mezzo soprano, Susanna Poretsky.
Poretsky’s musical training and early career was in her native Lvov, now part of the Ukraine. At age 24, she immigrated to Israel, where she sang 15seasons with conductor Zubin Mehta and the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra. She also performed with the New Israeli Opera and with all the other major orchestras in Israel. In the United States, she has sung with the Metropolitan Opera and with companies including the Washington National Opera, the San Francisco Opera, the Los Angeles Opera and the San Diego Opera. In addition, she has soloed with the New York Philharmonic, the San Francisco Symphony, the Opera Orchestra of New York and others. Poretsky will introduce some of the selections.
The sopranos to be heard in the recorded program will be Bialystok-born Rosa Raisa (1893-1963), leading soprano with the Chicago Lyric Opera; Ukrainian-born Israeli Netania Davrath (1931-1987), who concertized internationally; Brooklyn-born Beverly Sills (1929-2007), New York Opera diva; and New York-born Roberta Peters (1930-2017), Metropolitan Opera star with the longest tenure at that company.
The mezzo sopranos will be Czech-born Ernestine Schumann-Heink (1861-1936), acclaimed “The world’s greatest contralto; Vitebsk-born Jennie Tourel (1900-1973), a favorite of conductor Leonard Bernstein; Bronx-born Regina Resnik (1922-2013) with a career in Europe and the USA; and my guest, Susanna Poretsky.
The tenors will be Manhattan-born Jan Peerce (1904-1984), Metropolitan Opera star and Toscanini s favorite; and his brother-in-law, Brooklyn-born Richard Tucker (1913-1975), called “the greatest tenor.”
The baritones will be Bronx-born Leonard Warren (1911-1960), one of the leading interpreters of Verdi roles, and Brooklyn-born Robert Merrill (1917-2004), another Metropolitan Opera star deemed the greatest of his generation.
The basses will be Ukrainian-born Sidor Bilarsky (1898-1975), opera singer and interpreter of Jewish music; Ukrainian-born Alexander Kipnis (1898-1978), leading bass in the Berlin State Opera and at the Met and Montreal-born George London (1920-1985), leading bass at the Vienna State Opera and at the Met.
It is interesting to note that all the European-born singers came from Eastern Europe: soprano Raisa from what is now Poland, mezzo soprano Ernestine Schumann-Heink from what is now the Czech Republic, Jennie Tourel from what is now Belarus, and soprano Netania Davrath, mezzo soprano Susanna Poretsky, and basses Sidor Bilarsky and Alexander Kipnis from what is now the Ukraine.
Bass George London was born in Montreal, Canada. All the other Americans were born in the New York area: Tenor Jan Peerce on the Lower East Side, soprano Roberta Peters in New York City, soprano Beverly Sills, tenor Richard Tucker and baritone Robert Merrill in Brooklyn and mezzo soprano Regina Resnik and baritone Leonard Warren in the Bronx.
Soprano Netania Davrath, mezzo sopranos Ernestine Schumann-Heink, Regina Resnik and Susanna Poretsky, and basses Sidor Bilarsky and Alexander Kipnis kept their original names. All the others changed from their Jewish sounding birth names.
Rosa Raisa was once Raitza Burchstein, Jennie Tourel was named Jennie Davidovich, Jan Peerce was originally Jacob Pincus Perelmuth, Richard Tucker was named Rubin Ticker, George London changed from George Burnstein, Beverly Sills changed from Belle Miriam Silverman, Leonard Warren was once Leonard Warenov, Roberta Peters was named Roberta Peterman, and Robert Merrill began life as Moishe Miller.
Several of the opera singers have San Diego connections. Ernestine Schumann-Heink once owned and lived in a home in La Mesa. It was later owned by Gloria Hill and her husband Howard. Gloria was a fellow violinist in the San Diego Opera orchestra and the San Diego Symphony.
Both Beverly Sills and Regina Resnik performed in San Diego Opera productions during the time Tito Capobianca was the company’s director. From my perch in the orchestra pit, I remember their wonderful performances. Regina Resnik’s son, tenor Michael Philip Davis, served as high holiday cantor for Tifereth Israel Synagogue during two consecutive years. My guest, Susanna Poretsky, performed with the company in more recent years.
For an afternoon of Jewish operatic voices and interesting anecdotes about the singers, please attend this free Thursday, Nov. 14, program sponsored by the San Diego Center of Jewish Culture at the Lawrence Family Jewish Community Center.
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Eileen Wingard, a retired violinist with the San Diego Symphony Orchestra, is a freelance writer specializing in coverage of the arts.
Will this be live-streamed or recorded? I live in NYC but would love to experience this wonderful program.