Bidu Sayão
Bidu Sayão ( born May 11, 1902 in Rio de Janeiro, † March 13, 1999 in Lincolnville, Maine), actually BALDUINA de Oliveira Sayão, was a Brazilian opera singer and counted in the years 1937-1952 to the stars of the Metropolitan Opera.
At age 13, received Bidu Sayão first singing lessons with soprano Elena Teodorini. As an eighteen year old Bidu Sayão appeared in her first major opera role, Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor at the Teatro Municipal. Two years later, she went to France to continue her vocal training at the tenor Jean de Reszke.
Their debut in Rome in 1926 was followed by appearances in Paris, Buenos Aires and Brazil. In 1930 she made her first appearance at La Scala. The following year she sang successfully at the Paris Opera Juliet in Gounod's Romeo and Juliet and at the Opéra Comique Lakmé by Léo Delibes the. After that, she became one of the leading lyric coloratura sopranos in Europe.
After her New York debut in 1935 at the Town Hall Bidu Sayão came in 1936 with the New York Philharmonic under the baton of Arturo Toscanini at Carnegie Hall in La Demoiselle élue by Claude Debussy on. With the conductor, who was one of their biggest sponsors, they shared a lifelong friendship. A year later she sang Manon at the Metropolitan Opera, followed by the title role in La Traviata and the Mimí in La Bohème. With the Mozart roles of Zerlina ( Don Giovanni) and Susanna (Le Nozze di Figaro ), they set standards for their generation.
38 -year-long artistic partnership with her compatriot, the composer Heitor Villa-Lobos, led to a series of important recordings of his compositions, including the recording of the Bachianas Brasileiras No.. 5 For this recording, which in consequence was the biggest selling album in the U.S. two years she received from the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences 1984 Hall of Fame Award.
In honor of Bidu Sayão, which is the most famous Brazilian opera singer until today, the international singing competition Concurso Internacional de Canto Bidu Sayão was launched.