1. Jean Fenn was an American soprano who had an active opera career in North America during the 1950s through the 1970s.
25 Facts About Jean Fenn
1. 2.
Jean Fenn was notably a regular performer at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City between 1953 and 1970.
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In spite of her obvious talent, Jean Fenn never achieved opera stardom.
4.
Critics have suggested that Jean Fenn's quality was perhaps too polished and that prevented her from having that star making quality.
5.
Jean Fenn's voice is preserved on the soundtrack to the film Serenade in which she sings with tenor Mario Lanza.
6.
Jean Fenn appears on several live recordings made during the Metropolitan Opera radio broadcasts, including many performances as Musetta in La boheme recorded between 1953 and 1969.
7.
Jean Fenn's sister Marie Story was a soprano who had a minor career.
8.
Jean Fenn attended Stephens College and after graduating moved to Los Angeles, California to pursue further studies in opera at Los Angeles City College.
9.
Jean Fenn studied privately with Amelita Galli-Curci and her husband Homer Samuels in California.
10.
Jean Fenn later received vocal coaching from Sigmund Romberg and Erich Korngold.
11.
In 1949, while still a student, Jean Fenn sang in her first opera with the Hollywood Reading Club portraying Blonde in Mozart's The Abduction from the Seraglio and that same year appeared in productions with the Guild Opera Company of Southern California.
12.
Jean Fenn made her debut with the San Francisco Opera on October 10,1952 as Musetta in Puccini's La Boheme with Bidu Sayao as Mimi, Jan Peerce as Rodolfo, Frank Valentino as Marcello, and Gaetano Merola conducting.
13.
Jean Fenn sang several more performances with the SFO that year, portraying Elena in Boito's Mefistofele and Nedda in Leoncavallo's Pagliacci.
14.
Jean Fenn made her first opera appearance in New York with the New York City Opera on March 28,1953 as Musetta.
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Jean Fenn later returned to that house in 1955 to sing two roles with the company, Oxana in Tchaikovsky's Cherevichki and Violetta in Verdi's La traviata.
16.
Jean Fenn sang the role of Nedda with the company during the late 1950s.
17.
In 1953, Jean Fenn joined the roster of principal sopranos at the Metropolitan Opera, making her debut with the company on November 11 of that year as Musetta to the Mimi of Hilde Guden, Rodolfo of Eugene Conley, and Marcello of Robert Merrill.
18.
Jean Fenn performed four more roles at the Met in 1967, the First Lady in Mozart's The Magic Flute, the title role Lady Harriet in Flotow's Martha, Mimi, and the title role in Puccini's Tosca.
19.
Jean Fenn was a regular performer with the Los Angeles Civic Light Opera during the 1950s and 1960s, and a personal close friend of that company's director, Edwin Lester.
20.
Jean Fenn returned to that company several more times, including portraying the title role in Puccini's Manon Lescaut in 1969 and Tosca in 1970.
21.
Jean Fenn later returned to that house in 1974 to portray Marguerite to Enrico Di Giuseppe's Faust.
22.
Jean Fenn appeared in operas with Opera Memphis, the Opera Company of Boston, the Cincinnati Opera, the Houston Grand Opera, the Pittsburgh Opera, and the San Antonio Grand Opera Festival among others.
23.
Jean Fenn notably starred as Verity Craig in the original production of Noel Coward's Sail Away when it opened in Boston in 1961 before its New York run.
24.
Jean Fenn made her final performance in 1991, with the Bremerton Symphony.
25.
Jean Fenn died in Poulsbo, Washington, on October 20,2021, at age 93.