Laurel Hurley was an American soprano performer during the mid-20th century.
22 Facts About Laurel Hurley
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Laurel Hurley performed a diverse repertoire from musical theatre, operetta and opera, encompassing roles in the lyric soprano and coloratura soprano repertoire.
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Laurel Hurley's voice is preserved on complete opera recordings made with the Met, including the roles of the Queen of the Night in Mozart's The Magic Flute and Mussetta in Puccini's La boheme.
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Laurel Hurley made several recordings of complete operas with the American Opera Society on disc and the NBC Opera Theatre for television.
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Laurel Hurley was born in Allentown, Pennsylvania, on February 14,1927, into a Pennsylvania Dutch family.
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Laurel Hurley's mother was a church organist and she received her initial music education from her.
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Laurel Hurley made her Broadway debut in 1943 at the age of 16 as Kathie in Sigmund Romberg's operetta The Student Prince.
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Laurel Hurley continued with that production after it left Broadway to go on tour.
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In 1951, Hurley was awarded the Walter W Naumburg Foundation Award after touring as a lead soprano with the Charles L Wagner Opera Company.
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Laurel Hurley starred as Nina in the operetta A Night in Venice, which utilized the music of Johann Strauss II with an original story and lyrics by Ruth and Thomas Martin, at the Jones Beach Theater in the summer of 1952.
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On October 25,1952, Laurel Hurley performed the role of Micaela in Georges Bizet's Carmen for her debut with the New York City Opera at New York City Center.
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Laurel Hurley performed several more roles with them over the next three years, including Susanna in The Marriage of Figaro, Rosalinda in Die Fledermaus, Gretel in Hansel and Gretel, Violetta in La traviata, and Magnolia in Show Boat.
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Laurel Hurley notably performed the role of Clorinda in Rossini's La Cenerentola in 1953 with the New York City Opera; an opera which had not been heard in New York for 125 years previously.
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Laurel Hurley performed in several rarely performed operas during her career, including the roles of Helen of Troy in the United States premiere of Christoph Willibald Gluck's Paride ed Elena with the American Chamber Opera Society at The Town Hall on January 15,1954; and Creuse in the United States premiere of Darius Milhaud's Medee at the Brandeis University Music Festival with Phyllis Curtin in the title role on June 11,1955.
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Laurel Hurley made her debut with the American Opera Society in 1955 as Amina in Bellini's La Sonnambula with Cesare Siepi as Rodolfo; a work which was rarely staged at that time in history.
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Laurel Hurley performed and recorded the role of Wanda in Offenbach's La Grande-Duchesse de Gerolstein with the AOS at Carnegie Hall in 1959.
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Laurel Hurley made her debut at the Metropolitan Opera on February 8,1955, as Oscar in Giuseppe Verdi's Un ballo in maschera with Zinka Milanov as Amelia, Richard Tucker as Riccardo, and Dimitri Mitropoulos conducting.
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Laurel Hurley performed the title role in Douglas Moore's The Ballad of Baby Doe several times, including with the Central City Opera in 1959 and the Santa Fe Opera in 1961.
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Laurel Hurley gave one of her few international performances with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra in Tel Aviv on July 18,1961; starring in a concert performance of Mozart's Cosi fan tutte under conductor Thomas Schippers in celebration of the orchestra's 25th anniversary.
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Laurel Hurley died on December 6,2013, at the age of 86.
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Laurel Hurley recorded excerpts of several operas as part of her work with the Met for Columbia Records, including selections from Rigoletto, The Tales of Hoffmann, and Die Fledermaus.
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Laurel Hurley performed the role of Perichole on television when the Met production was adapted for broadcast on the program Omnibus in 1958.