Joanna Simon (mezzo-soprano)
Joanna Simon ( born October 20, 1940 in New York) is an American opera singer in the vocal range mezzo- soprano.
Life
She is the sister of the two musicians Carly Simon and Lucy Simon, both of which also acted as the Simon Sisters. Her father is a businessman and founder of the publishing house Simon & Schuster, Richard L. Simon.
Simon received from the age of six piano lessons. Your vocal training she received through the educators Marion Freschl and Daniel Ferro and at Sarah Lawrence College in New York City. Further studies led her later to Herbert Graf at the International Opera Studio in Zurich and Gian Carlo Menotti as part of the Spoleto Festival USA in Charleston. In 1962, she won the Marian Anderson Award for young African - American singer.
The mezzo-soprano made her debut in 1962 at the New York City Centre Opera, where she The Marriage of Figaro sang the role of Cherubino in Mozart's opera, on the side of Norman Treigle in the title role. There followed various engagements in the United States, including Baltimore, Cincinnati, Houston, Seattle, Miami and Philadelphia. In 1967 she sang the role of the courtesan Pantasilea in the world premiere of the opera by Alberto Ginastera Bomarzo at the Washington Opera Society. It was henceforth regarded as a specialist in the interpretation of contemporary music. Simon parallal this appeared in numerous concerts and oratorios, where she developed a repertoire itself, containing the works of George Frideric Handel, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Gustav Mahler, Johannes Brahms and Johann Sebastian Bach.
Even outside their home country stepped on it. From 1971 to 1973 she appeared at the Salzburg Festival, where she was involved as a Piacere in the Baroque opera La rappresentazione di anima e corpo by Emilio de ' Cavalieri, and also sang in church concerts under Ernst Märzendorfer 1972. In 1972, she portrayed at the Opera House of Bordeaux, the title role in the opera Carmen; later she sang Carmen in Israel under the baton of Zubin Mehta. She sang the role of Brangäne in the opera Tristan und Isolde in a performance with the New York Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of Leonard Bernstein. In March 1972 she sang the role of Raquel in the world premiere of the opera The Black Widow of Thomas Pasatieri at the Seattle Opera. Later, other leading roles in many important stages followed around the world, where she worked together with famous conductors such as Herbert von Karajan and James Levine. Her repertoire included the Charlotte in Werther, Dorabella in Così fan tutte and the Marina in Boris Godunov and the Countess GESCHWITZ in Lulu at the American National Opera. In 1981 she sang the role of Fenena in Nabucco at the New York City Opera at the side of Grace Bumbry.
On television, she appeared both nationally and internationally in appearance. While about the Ed Sullivan Show or the Tonight Show led the singer in the guest list in the U.S., it was on February 10 in 1968 guest in the ARD Saturday night show One will win in the Federal Republic of Germany.
Later she worked from 1986 to 1992 as a cultural correspondent for the television broadcast MacNeil / Lehrer NewsHour.