Florence Kirk was an American dramatic soprano who had an active international performance career in operas and concerts from 1937 to 1954.
31 Facts About Florence Kirk
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Florence Kirk's repertoire included other Verdi heroines like Leonora and Lady Macbeth, Santuzza from Mascagni's Cavalleria rusticana, Minnie in Puccini's La fanciulla del West and the title role in Tosca, and several roles from Richard Wagner's Ring Cycle.
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Florence Kirk appeared on the concert stage, notably recording Mendelssohn's A Midsummer Night's Dream with Arturo Toscanini and the Philadelphia Orchestra in 1942 for RCA Red Seal Records.
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Florence Kirk won a scholarship to the Curtis Institute of Music in 1936, where she studied voice with Ernst Lert, Emilio de Gogorza, and Elisabeth Schumann.
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Florence Kirk graduated from Curtis in 1939, shortly after placing second in the Metropolitan Opera Auditions of the Air.
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Florence Kirk began her professional singing career while a student at Curtis.
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Florence Kirk made her opera debut in 1937 portraying the title role in Menotti's Amelia Goes to the Ball in Baltimore, followed by further appearances at the New Amsterdam Theatre in New York.
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Florence Kirk sang Amelia again with the Saint Louis Grand Opera in 1939 with Laszlo Halasz conducting.
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Florence Kirk portrayed several roles in the Philharmonic's presentation of Wagner's Ring Cycle at the City College of New York's Lewisohn Stadium, including Freia and Woglinde in Das Rheingold ; the Voice of the Forest Bird in Siegfried ; and Wellgunde in Gotterdammerung.
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Florence Kirk was a member of the Philadelphia Civic Grand Opera Company in Philadelphia between 1937 and 1939 where she sang such roles as Ines in Il trovatore and the title role in Aida.
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Florence Kirk went on to perform with several important American orchestras and opera companies during the 1940s, including concerts with the Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra and conductor Dimitri Mitropoulos; and the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra with Eugene Aynsley Goossens.
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Florence Kirk sang under Toscanini's baton in several performances with the New York Philharmonic that year, including performances of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony and Missa solemnis with Hardesty Johnson, Alexander Kipnis, and the Westminster Choir at Carnegie Hall.
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Florence Kirk portrayed Minnie in Puccini's La fanciulla del West at the SFO that year.
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Florence Kirk sang Donna Anna again with Thomas Beecham conducting at the Palacio de Bellas Artes in Mexico City in the summer of 1944.
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Florence Kirk performed frequently as a leading soprano with the Charles L Wagner Opera Company during the 1940s.
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Miss Florence Kirk has a lovely voice, although it is not extraordinarily big.
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The savage outcry, "", demands voice and more voice; Miss Florence Kirk did quite well by it and made even better effect with Donna Anna's aria "Nom mi dir".
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On November 29,1944, Florence Kirk made her debut at the Metropolitan Opera as Donna Anna with Ezio Pinza as Don Giovanni, Eleanor Steber as Donna Elvira, and George Szell conducting.
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Florence Kirk returned to the Met annually through 1948, enjoying particular success in the role of Aida.
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Florence Kirk replaced Ilitsch as Aida again mid performance at the Metropolitan Opera House in 1948, after a case of laryngitis made it impossible for Ilitsch to sing the final act of the opera.
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Florence Kirk happened to be attending the performance that evening, and a Met official who saw her in the audience rushed her backstage to apply makeup and get in costume in just ten minutes to finish out the opera.
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Florence Kirk sang Aida for the Lyric Opera Association in 1948 for performances at the Watergate Hotel in Washington, DC, and the Lyric Opera House Baltimore.
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Florence Kirk married a second time to Frederick Paul Keppel, a comptroller at the Metropolitan Opera, in 1948.
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Florence Kirk had one child with Keppel; a daughter named Lauren Keppel.
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Florence Kirk sang in operas with the Opera Guild of Montreal, including Leonora with Mack Harrell as the Count di Luna and Joseph Laderoute as Manrico in 1949.
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Florence Kirk portrayed the title role in Puccini's Tosca with the Greek National Opera in 1950.
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In 1954 Florence Kirk retired from the opera stage and moved with her second husband to a 109-acre farm in Taneytown, Maryland.
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Florence Kirk lived there for the rest of her life, dedicating her time to her family, teaching singing, and performing in community musicals.
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Florence Kirk was a music teacher for Carroll County Public Schools from 1964 to 1972.
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Florence Kirk married a third time in 1985 to Jerome Stern.
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Florence Kirk died of Alzheimer's disease at the age of 90.