Benita Valente was born on October 19,1934 and is an American soprano whose career has encompassed the operatic stage as well as performance of lieder, chamber music and oratorio.
13 Facts About Benita Valente
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Benita Valente is especially lauded for her interpretations of Mozart and Handel, but she excelled in certain Verdi roles.
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Benita Valente studied voice at the Music Academy of the West in Montecito with Lotte Lehmann and Martial Singher.
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Benita Valente later studied with Margaret Harshaw at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia where she graduated in 1960.
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Benita Valente made a notable debut with the Metropolitan Opera on Sept 22,1973 singing Pamina in The Magic Flute.
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Benita Valente has performed with numerous instrumentalists, including cellist Yo-Yo Ma, clarinetist Richard Stoltzman and pianists Emanuel Ax, Leon Fleisher and Richard Goode, and she made a celebrated recording of Schubert's Shepherd on the Rock with pianist Rudolf Serkin and clarinetist Harold Wright.
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In 1971 and 1972, Valente performed alongside modern dancer Mimi Kagan in the composer Earl Kim's work "Exercises en Route", which toured.
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Benita Valente has performed with numerous opera companies and symphony orchestras throughout the world and has recorded extensively in wide-ranging repertoire.
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Benita Valente has been recorded by at least seventeen recording companies.
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Benita Valente received a Grammy Award for her recording of Arnold Schoenberg's Quartet No 2 and a Grammy nomination for her recording of Haydn's Seven Last Words of Christ, both performed with the Juilliard String Quartet.
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Benita Valente retired from singing in October, 2000 and lives in Philadelphia.
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Benita Valente's son, Pete Checchia, based in Philadelphia, is an accomplished photographer and artist.
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Benita Valente has taught at the Marlboro Music School and Festival in Marlboro, Vermont; Cincinnati Conservatory program in Lucca, Italy; the European Mozart Academy in Poland; the Metropolitan Opera Lindemann Young Artists Development Program; the Stearns Institute for Young Artists at Ravinia and the Young Artist Program of the National Arts Centre's Summer Music Institute in Ottawa.