1. Gloria Davy was a Swiss soprano of American birth who had an active international career in operas and concerts from the 1950s through the 1980s.
20 Facts About Gloria Davy
1. 2.
Gloria Davy was notably the first black artist to perform the role of Aida at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City in 1958.
3.
Gloria Davy's father was a token clerk in the New York City subway system.
4.
Gloria Davy later studied singing in Milan with Victor de Sabata.
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Gloria Davy interprets with imagination and intensity and she handles French as if it were her native tongue.
6.
Gloria Davy made her professional stage debut on Broadway as one of the Female Saints in the April 1952 revival of Virgil Thomson's Four Saints in Three Acts at the Broadway Theatre.
7.
Gloria Davy made a stop at the Cairo Opera House in Egypt.
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Gloria Davy remained with the international tour through 1956, making further appearances in the Middle East, Africa, Russia, and Latin America.
9.
Gloria Davy appeared with the LOS again on October 10,1960 for the United States premiere of Strauss' Daphne in a concert version at Town Hall in which she sang the title heroine.
10.
On February 12,1958 Gloria Davy made her debut at the Met as Aida with Kurt Baum as Radames, Leonard Warren as Amonasro, Irene Dalis as Amneris and Fausto Cleva conducting.
11.
Gloria Davy was notably the first black artist to appear as Aida at the opera house, and the 4th black artist to appear on the Met stage after Marian Anderson, Robert McFerrin, and Mattiwilda Dobbs.
12.
Gloria Davy appeared in 15 performances at the Metropolitan Opera House over four seasons, including performances of Pamina in Mozart's The Magic Flute and Nedda in Leoncavallo's Pagliacci.
13.
In October 1960 Gloria Davy appeared in concert with the Philadelphia Orchestra as the soloist in Beethoven's Symphony No 9 under conductor Eugene Ormandy at the United Nations General Assembly Hall which was broadcast internationally.
14.
Gloria Davy began transitioning towards a major European career in 1959 when she performed Aida at both the Vienna State Opera under Herbert von Karajan and at the Royal Opera, London.
15.
Gloria Davy sang Aida again at the Teatro Regio in Parma in 1960, and was Aida to Jon Vickers' Radames at the 1961 Berliner Festspiele under the direction of Wieland Wagner.
16.
From 1961 until 1968 Gloria Davy was a resident artist at the Berlin State Opera where she sang leading roles in operas by Verdi and Puccini among other composers.
17.
Gloria Davy returned there in 1969 to sing the Old Prioress in Poulenc's Dialogues of the Carmelites, a role she performed that same year from a wheelchair at the Grand Theatre de Geneve.
18.
Gloria Davy made several appearances at La Scala in Milan during the late 1950s and 1960s, portraying both Donna Anna and Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni, Jenny in Kurt Weill's Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny, Nedda, and the title role in Madama Butterfly among others.
19.
Gloria Davy remained busy with major opera houses in Europe through 1972, appearing at opera houses in Aachen, Hamburg, Strasbourg, and Mannheim among other cities.
20.
Gloria Davy died on November 28,2012, in Geneva, Switzerland at the age of 81.