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{{Short description|American opera singer (1950–2022)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=January 2022}}
{{Infobox person {{Infobox person
|name = Maria Ewing | name = Maria Ewing
| image = Maria Louise Ewing - Finney HS - 1968.jpg
|image =
|caption = | caption = Ewing in 1968
| other_names =
|birth_name=Maria Louise Ewing<ref name=oclw>{{Cite book|last=|first=|authorlink=|coauthors=|title=Current biography yearbook, Volume 51|publisher=H. W. Wilson Co.|year=1990|location=|pages=227|month=|url=|id=ISBN}}</ref>
|birth_date = March 27, 1950 | birth_date = {{Birth date|1950|03|27}}
|birth_place = ], ], U.S. | birth_place = ], ], U.S.
| death_date = {{Death date and age|2022|01|9|1950|03|27}}
| death_place = Detroit, Michigan, U.S.
| occupation = Opera singer
| alma mater = ]
| relatives = ] (great-great-great grandfather)
| spouse = {{Marriage|]|1982|1990|end=divorced}}
| children = ]
}} }}


'''Maria Louise Ewing''' (born March 27, 1950) is an ] ] singer who has sung both ] and ] roles. She is noted as much for her acting as her singing. '''Maria Louise Ewing''' (March 27, 1950 – January 9, 2022) was an American ] singer. In the early part of her career she performed solely as a lyric ]; she later assumed full ] parts as well. Her signature roles were ], ], ], ] and ]. Some critics regarded her as one of the most compelling singing actresses of her generation.<ref name=GUA/>


==Life and career== ==Early life and education==
Maria Louise Ewing was born in ], ], on March 27, 1950.<ref name=NYT>{{Cite news|last=Genzlinger|first=Neil|date=January 12, 2022|title=Maria Ewing, Dramatically Daring Opera Star, Dies at 71|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/12/arts/music/maria-ewing-dead.html|access-date=January 13, 2022|issn=0362-4331}}</ref> She was the youngest of four daughters of Hermina Ewing, ''née'' Veraar, a Dutch-born homemaker, and Norman Isaac Ewing, an electrical engineer at a steel company.<ref name=NYT/><ref name=TIM/> Her father claimed to be of Sioux descent,<ref name=NYT/><ref name=TIM/> but he was the son of parents who were each mixed-race, part European and part African.
Ewing was born in ], ], U.S. the youngest of four daughters.<ref name=oclw/> Her mother, Hermina M. (''née'' Veraar), was Dutch, and her father, Norman I. Ewing, was an American of ] Native American, Scottish, and ] ancestry.<ref name=oclw/><ref name="ref1">{{cite news|last=Isenberg|first=Barbara|coauthors=|title=MUSIC No-Risk Opera? Not Even Close Maria Ewing, one of the most celebrated sopranos in opera, leaps again into the role of Tosca, keeping alive her streak of acclaimed performances while remaining true to herself|pages=|publisher=''Los Angeles Times''|date=1992-11-08|url=http://web.mit.edu/lugao/MacData/afs/net/user/tytso/usenet/americast/latimes/misc/364|accessdate=2010-02-06}}; also archived </ref><ref name="ref2">{{cite news|last=McLellan|first=Joseph|coauthors=|title=Article: Extra-Sensuous Perception; Soprano Maria Ewing, a Steamy 'Salome'|pages=|publisher=''The Washington Post''|date=1990-11-15|url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-1158782.html|accessdate=2010-02-06}}</ref><ref name="ref3">{{cite news|last=Marsh|first=Robert C.|coauthors=|title=Article: Growth of Maria Ewing continues with `Salome' // Role of princess proves crowning achievement|pages=|publisher=''Chicago Sun-Times''|date=1988-12-18|url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-3919649.html|accessdate=2010-02-06}}</ref><ref name=egd>{{Cite book|last=|first=|authorlink=|coauthors=|title=The International Who's Who 2004|publisher=Routledge|year=2003|location=|pages=508|month=|url=|isbn=1-85743-217-7}}</ref> She studied in ], ] and ].


An episode of the genealogical television show '']'' devoted to Ewing's daughter, the actress ], revealed that Norman was the son of John William Ewing, born into slavery, and as an adult a prominent figure in the African-American community of Washington, DC. He was a descendant of ], a notable veteran of the American Revolutionary War.<ref name=FIN>{{cite web|title=Hidden in the Genes|url=https://www.pbs.org/weta/finding-your-roots/watch/episodes/hidden-in-the-genes|access-date=January 13, 2022|website=Finding Your Roots|publisher=]|language=en}}</ref>
Ewing made her debut at the ] in 1976 in ]'s '']''. Her first European performance was at ], ] as Mélisande in ]'s '']''. Her repertoire includes ], Dorabella in ]'s '']'', ], Marie in ]'s '']'' and ]'s '']''. Ewing is particularly well known for her sensitive interpretation of the title role in ]'s '']'', where ]'s stage directions for the original play specify that, at the end of the so-called ], Salome lies naked at Herod's feet. Ewing appeared fully nude at the end of this sequence, in contrast to other singers who have used body stockings.<ref>{{cite news | author=John Rockwell | title= Review/Opera; Maria Ewing in Strauss's 'Salome' in Los Angeles | url=http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=950DEEDF153DF933A15757C0A96F948260 | work=New York Times | date=1989-04-20 | accessdate=2008-09-14}}</ref><ref>{{cite news | author=Anthony Holden | title=Don't go and lose your head... | url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2008/feb/24/classicalmusicandopera.livereviews | work=The Observer | date=2008-02-24 | accessdate=2008-09-14}}</ref> She also sang and appeared in ]'s '']''.


(Rebecca Hall's interest in her mother's ethnicity inspired her to make a film, '']'', adapted from a 1920s novel by Nella Larsen. The two African-American women protagonists are each of mixed race, but one has chosen to pass as white and has a white husband who does not know of her African ancestry.<ref name=NYT/>) According to Ewing's former husband, her father's African roots caused her family so much anxiety that a particularly dark-skinned relative of theirs was forbidden from visiting their home during the hours of daylight.<ref name=HAL1>Hall, Peter (2000): ''Making an Exhibition of Myself''; Oberon Books; p. 247; ISBN 978-1-84002-115-8</ref> Ewing was unembarrassed by her racial make-up, regarding her African roots not with shame but with pride.<ref name=HAL1/>
Ewing's discography includes video versions of '']'' and '']'' and audio versions of '']'' and '']''. She has also recorded concert music by ], ] and Debussy and programs of popular American song. She played Rosina in a ] production of '']'' (1982), available on DVD.


Ewing's parents were both musical enthusiasts: her mother was a keen collector of classical recordings, and her father played the piano well enough to attract an audience of admiring neighbors.<ref name=BIO>{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/currentbiography1990hwwi/page/226/mode/2up?q=ewing|editor-last=Moritz|editor-first=Charles|title=Current Biography Yearbook 1990|publisher=H. W. Wilson Co.|year=1991|pages=227–230|oclc=719673253|id=}}</ref> Ewing's own musical education began with piano lessons when she was thirteen.<ref name=BIO/> As well as playing solo piano pieces, she sometimes acted as an accompanist for one of her sisters, Frances, occasionally singing duets with her; their mother was sufficiently impressed by her voice to encourage her to complement her keyboard work by studying singing too.<ref name=BIO/> Coached by a local voice teacher, Ewing joined the alto section of the chorus at her Detroit high school—]<ref name=TIM/>—and was soon participating in and winning singing competitions.<ref name=BIO/>
Ewing has also sung ] in live performance, including appearances with the band Kymaera at ] in London. In January and February 2011 she will star in a production of ]'s '']'' by the Dutch National Touring Opera.


When she was seventeen, she became a pupil of Marjorie Gordon, a coloratura soprano (not to be confused with an English ] soprano of the same name).<ref name=BIO/> After only a year of teaching Ewing, Gordon suggested that she should apply to take part in ]'s ].<ref name=BIO/> She auditioned for the role of Maddalena in a production of '']'' that was to be conducted by a young ].<ref name=BIO/> Their meeting proved to be wonderfully serendipitous: Levine was so struck by her expressive power that he assured her that she had the potential to become a major artist.<ref name=BIO/> For her part, she found in him a teacher, mentor, guide, champion and friend.<ref name=BIO/> In order to study with Levine, she sought and won a scholarship at the ], where her other instructors included soprano ].<ref name=BIO/> After she graduated in 1970, Levine urged her to continue her training in New York City as a private pupil of the great mezzo-soprano ]. Ewing supported herself by working in offices and clothing stores.<ref name=BIO/>
In 1982, she married the English theatre director Sir ]. The marriage ended in 1990; during this period of her life she was formally styled '''Lady Hall'''. Their daughter is the actress ]. Ewing makes her home near her birthplace.<ref>{{cite news | author=Erica Jeal | title='I feel I belong' | url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2003/mar/11/classicalmusicandopera.artsfeatures | work=The Guardian | date=2003-03-11 | accessdate=2008-09-14}}</ref>

==Career==
]
Ewing began her professional life as a lyric mezzo-soprano. Her debut was as Rosina in an English-language production of '']'' in Detroit in 1970, staged by a company now known as the ].<ref name=OPE>{{cite news|url=https://www.operanews.com/Opera_News_Magazine/2022/1/News/Maria_Ewing,_71,_One_of_Her_Generation_s_Most_Charismatic_and_Versatile_Opera_Singers,_has_Died.html|last=Stewart|first=Henry|title=Maria Ewing, 71, One of Her Generation's Most Charismatic and Versatile Opera Singers, has Died|date=January 10, 2022|work=Opera News}}</ref> (She returned to the role many times, including at ] in 1976 and 1983,<ref name=HOU>Giesberg, Robert I., Cunningham, Carl, Rich, Alan and Sanders, Jim (2005): ''Houston Grand Opera at Fifty''; Herring Press; pp. 272 and 275; ISBN 0-917001-24-9</ref> at ] in 1981 and 1982<ref name=GLY/> and at the ] in 1982.<ref name=MET/>) After three years of gradually building a career as a recitalist, concert artist and opera performer, she made her first appearance at a high-profile venue on June 29, 1973, when she starred at the ] singing a program of songs by ] accompanied by the ] and conducted by Levine. "I cannot remember a young singer who has excited me more on a first hearing", wrote the '']'''s Thomas Willis. "Still in her early twenties, she has the clear stamp of greatness in every movement and tone".<ref>Willis, Thomas (July 2, 1973): A weekend of wonders at Ravinia; ''Chicago Tribune''.</ref>

The first leading opera company that engaged Ewing was ]'s. She was their Mercédès in '']'' in 1973, and their Sicle in ]'s '']'' in 1974.<ref name=SFR>{{cite web|url=http://archive.sfopera.com/qry3webcastlist.asp?psearchall=on&psearch=Maria+Ewing&Submit=GO&psearchtype=&pageno=&dpr=&pageno=|title=Maria Ewing|work=San Francisco Opera archive}}</ref> In 1975, ] presented her in '']'' as Dorabella,<ref>Huscher, Phillip (2006): ''The Santa Fe Opera: An American Pioneer''; The Santa Fe Opera; p. 144; ISBN 978-0-86534-550-8</ref> one of the parts with which she became most closely associated: she was highly praised in the role both at Glyndebourne in 1978<ref name=GLY>{{cite web|url=https://www.glyndebourne.com/persons/maria-ewing/|title=Maria Ewing|work=Glyndebourne Festival Opera archive}}</ref> and at the Metropolitan Opera, with Levine on the podium, in 1982.<ref name=MET>{{cite web|url=http://archives.metoperafamily.org/archives/frame.htm|title=Home|work=Metropolitan Opera archive}}</ref> In his history of Glyndebourne, Spike Hughes remembered Ewing's Dorabella as "a particular joy, with a natural gift of timing and an enchantingly comical face",<ref>Hughes, Spike (1981): ''Glyndebourne: A History of the Festival Opera'', 2nd edition; David & Charles; p. 269; ISBN 0-7153-7891-0</ref> while for Levine, Ewing was "the funniest, most stylish Dorabella you could imagine, absolutely sensational".<ref name=LEV>Metropolitan Opera (2011): ''James Levine: 40 Years at the Metropolitan Opera''; Amadeus Press; p. 84; ISBN 978-1-57467-196-4</ref>

It was as Cherubino in '']'' that Ewing first appeared in Europe, playing the ''farfallone amoroso'' at Salzburg in 1976; she repeated the role there in 1979 and 1980.<ref name=SAL>{{cite web|url=https://archive.salzburgerfestspiele.at/language/en-us/institution/archiv/archiv-suchergebnisse?k=Maria%20Ewing&dv=1.1.1900&db=31.12.2018&typ=0|title=Maria Ewing|work=Salzburg Festival archive}}</ref> It was as Cherubino too that she first sang at the Metropolitan Opera on October 14, 1976, in a production to which she returned in 1977.<ref name=MET/> In his autobiography, the director ] remembered Ewing at this stage in her career as "an alluring mezzo who could convince audiences possibly better than anyone else that her enchantingly sung Cherubino was really a boy".<ref name=MAN>Mansouri, Lotfi and Arthur, Donald (2010): ''Lotfi Mansouri: An Operatic Journey''; Northeastern University Press; p. 261; ISBN 978-1-55553-706-7</ref> She offered another Mozart trousers role in 1977, when she sang Idamante in his ''opera seria'' '']'' at the San Francisco Opera.<ref name=SFR/> In 1980 and 1984, she appeared in his second ] work when she was Zerlina in '']'' at the Geneva Opera<ref name=GEN/> and the Met respectively.<ref name=MET/> Her other ''bel canto'' mezzo-soprano role was Angelina in '']'' (Houston Grand Opera, 1979;<ref>Giesberg, Robert I., Cunningham, Carl, Rich, Alan and Sanders, Jim (2005), p. 273</ref> Geneva Opera, 1981<ref name=GEN/>).

As Ewing's career in opera progressed, her choice of parts became ever more eclectic, spanning the gamut from seventeenth century works by ] and ] to twentieth century pieces by ] and ]. Ultimately she went so far as to adventure beyond the boundaries of her mezzo ''Fach'' and sing as a soprano too. Among the parts that she assumed were the title role in '']'' (San Francisco Opera, 1976;<ref name=SFR/> Geneva Opera, 1982 and 1983<ref name=GEN>{{cite web|url=http://archives.geneveopera.ch/search_new.php|title=Home|work=Geneva Opera archive}}</ref>); Blanche in '']'' (Metropolitan Opera, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1981 and 1987<ref name=MET/>); Mélisande in '']'' (La Scala, 1977;<ref name=SCA>{{cite web|url=https://www.teatroallascala.org/archivio/risultato.aspx?lang=en-US&uid=912ec803-54b4-407f-9b28-40167ffb1c79&objecttype=base&pagesize=9&page=1|title=Maria Ewing|work=Teatro alla Scala archive}}</ref> San Francisco Opera, 1979<ref name=SFR/>); Charlotte in '']'' (San Francisco Opera, 1978<ref name=SFR/>); the Composer in '']'' (Glyndebourne Festival Opera, 1981;<ref name=GLY/> Metropolitan Opera, 1984 and 1985<ref name=MET/>); Susanna in ''Le nozze di Figaro'' (Geneva Opera, 1983;<ref name=GEN/> Lyric Opera of Chicago, 1987<ref name=SKR/>); Poppea in '']'' (Glyndebourne Festival Opera, 1984 and 1986<ref name=GLY/>); the title roles in ''Carmen'' (Glyndebourne Festival Opera, 1985 and 1987;<ref name=GLY/> Metropolitan Opera, 1986;<ref name=MET/> Royal Opera House, 1991<ref name=ROH>{{cite web|url=https://rohcollections.org.uk/SearchResults.aspx?searchtype=workprodperf&person=Maria%20Ewing|title=Maria Ewing|work=Royal Opera House archive}}</ref>), '']'' (Los Angeles Opera, 1986;<ref>Bernheimer, Martin: Music Center stages a dazzling 'Salome'; ''Los Angeles Times'', October 11, 1986</ref> Royal Opera House, 1988;<ref name=ROH/> Lyric Opera of Chicago, 1988;<ref name=SKR>Skrebneski, Victor (1994): ''Bravi: Lyric Opera of Chicago''; Abbeville Press; ISBN 978-1-55859-771-6</ref> San Francisco Opera, 1993<ref name=SFR/>), '']'' (Lyric Opera of Chicago, 1986 and 1987<ref name=SKR/>), '']'' (Royal Opera House, 1991<ref name=ROH/>) and '']'' (Los Angeles Opera, 1991<ref name=GUA>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2022/jan/12/maria-ewing-obituary|last=Millington|first=Barry|title=Maria Ewing obituary|date=January 12, 2022|work=The Guardian}}</ref>); Didon in '']'' (Metropolitan Opera, 1993 and 1994<ref name=MET/>); Katerina Ismailova in '']'' (Metropolitan Opera, 1994<ref name=MET/>); Dido in '']'' (Hampton Court, 1995<ref name=BBC>{{cite web|url=https://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/search/0/20?q=dido+and+aeneas+ewing#top|title=Dido and Aeneas, BBC Two, November 4, 1995|work=BBC Genome Project}}</ref>); Marie in '']'' (Metropolitan Opera, 1997<ref name=MET/>); the title role in '']'' (Los Angeles Opera, 1997<ref name=GUA/>); and the Queen of the Fairies in '']'' (Gielgud Theatre, London, 2008<ref name=TIM>{{cite news|url=https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/maria-ewing-obituary-fdvddcjx8|last=Anonymous|title=Maria Ewing obituary|date=January 11, 2022|work=The Times|url-access=subscription}}</ref>). It was for her performance in ''Salome'' that she attracted the warmest plaudits, not least for the '']'' that she achieved in the opera's notorious ]. At Los Angeles in 1986, she ended Salome's strip-tease with her modesty protected by a gold lamé ], but at Covent Garden two years later, she dispensed with even that minimal concession to prudery and became one of the few opera singers to dare full-frontal nudity.<ref name=TIM/> "I felt the G-string was vulgar," she said. *I think the nudity is more pure. It's a mixture of purity and decadence, that's what's so fascinating."<ref name=TIM/>

The non-operatic music that Ewing performed was as diverse as her theatrical repertoire: it included Berg's '']'',<ref name=SAL/> Berlioz's '']'',<ref name=SCA/> ]'s '']'' and ''{{ill|Trois ballades de François Villon|fr|vertical-align=sup}}'',<ref name=SAL/> Mozart's '']''<ref name=BOS>{{cite web|url=https://archives.bso.org/|title=Home|work=Boston Symphony Orchestra archive}}</ref> and Verdi's '']''.<ref name=BOS/> She could be as dramatic in concert as when performing as a singing actress—the conductor ] recalled her interpretation of ]'s '']'' as "easily the most ] Shéhérazade you can imagine".<ref name=TIM/> Her recital repertoire extended from an aria by ] to art songs by Debussy, ], ] and ].<ref name=GEN/> As regards genres of music outside the classical realm, she had an especial affection for jazz ever since being introduced to it by ]'s '']'' at the age of eight;<ref name=TIM/> she sometimes spent an entire night compulsively listening to one jazz record after another.<ref name="HAL2" /> During the BBC ] festival of 1989 she performed cabaret numbers with ],<ref name=TIM/> and her videography includes a DVD of her performing with the band ] at ] in London.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Kymaera DVD|url=https://www.kymaera.co.uk/page4.html|access-date=January 13, 2022|website=www.kymaera.co.uk}}</ref>

==Personal life==

Ewing's relationship with the English director ] began when they worked together in a production of ''Così fan tutte'' at Glyndebourne in 1978.<ref name=HAL1/> He found her "delightful, provocative and very, very attractive; formidable too, but wonderfully funny".<ref name=HAL2>Hall, Peter (2000), p. 248</ref> For her, "it was a meeting of minds and sympathies".<ref name=BIO/> "We played piano duets", Hall recalled, "and found that we both hated the dead conventions, the laziness and the silliness of much opera production".<ref name=HAL2/> When Hall visited her in New York the following year, their friendship metamorphosed into romance:<ref name=HAL3/> "I am deeply in love with Maria Ewing", he confided to his diary on Christmas Day. "We plan to make our life together in the new year when she will come to London".<ref>Goodwin, John, ed. (2000): ''Peter Hall's Diaries: The Story of a Dramatic Battle''; Oberon Books; p. 464; ISBN 1-84002-102-0</ref> They married on Long Island on ], 1982.<ref name=BIO/> Their only child, ], was born three months later.<ref>Hall, Peter (2000), p. 325</ref> Hall described his time with Ewing as "years of passion, of highs and lows, excitements and despair".<ref name=HAL3>Hall, Peter (2000), p. 249</ref>"Her blazing integrity and refusal to compromise do not make her an easy person to live with", he wrote.<ref name=HAL3/> "The mixture of our two volatile natures and our two careers... made for a turbulent life, sometimes gloriously happy, sometimes acutely miserable".<ref name=HAL4>Hall, Peter (2000), p. 250</ref> They separated in 1988 and Hall began a relationship with Nicki Frei, a press officer at London's ].<ref name=TIM/>

Hall and Ewing were divorced in 1990.<ref>Hall, Peter (2000), p. 353</ref> Ewing never remarried, but in her later years she had a platonic relationship with ], a ]-born director and choreographer.<ref name=TIM/>

In 2003, Ewing lived in ], England.<ref>{{cite news |last=Jeal|first=Erica|title=I feel I belong |url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2003/mar/11/classicalmusicandopera.artsfeatures | work=The Guardian | date=March 11, 2003 | access-date=September 14, 2008}}</ref>

==Reputation==
Opinions of Ewing were extremely diverse. Lotfi Mansouri thought her "highly gifted", but described her conduct in San Francisco Opera's 1993 production of ''Salome'' as "a nightmare...She became difficult, stubborn, and wrongheaded. In the easier sections, she would drag the rhythms, then rush like crazy in the more difficult parts... Married to Sir Peter Hall at the time, she expected to be addressed as 'Lady Hall', then put a sign on her dressing room saying that she was not to be spoken to at all".<ref name=MAN/> The critic and musical historian ] condemned her 1986 Metropolitan Opera Carmen as "a loopy Gypsy who might have just landed from the moon as she lurched spastically from one scene to the next without allure, consistency, credibility, or vocal distinction. That Ewing continued to be taken seriously over the next decade in the face of ongoing vocal collapse, whooping and scooping through one part after another, only indicated how decadent the ]-] tradition had become".<ref>Davis, Peter G. (1997): ''The American Opera Singer''; Anchor Books; p. 545; ISBN 0-385-42174-5</ref>

On the other hand, Simon Rattle praised her as "the most interesting singing actress of the stage".<ref name=BIO/> Despite a six-year hiatus in their friendship when he broke a promise to cast her in a new production of ''Carmen'' at the Met,<ref name=BIO/> James Levine never ceased to admire her: "She had the whole gift: brilliant on the stage, brilliant musician, brilliant linguist, very striking timbre. Maria started off with maybe the most full-scale and versatile gifts of any artist I ever worked with, able to sing every language, every style, recital, oratorio, opera, the whole business".<ref name=LEV/>

Peter Hall too always remained as enthusiastic about Ewing's art as he was when he first collaborated with her. "Her whole being is about performing, and truthful performing. She can only work with complete commitment and honesty... Her performances are incandescent. Even if you don't like them you cannot ignore them... Some people cannot take her highly personal approach; they say she pulls the music about, remaking it in her own image. This is not true; she is a meticulous musician. But her need to ''express'' leads her to emphasise and inflect outside the well-bred norm...She is a disturbing performer, a star".<ref name=HAL3/> "She is not a well-mannered artist and does not live her life calmly. I love her for that."<ref name=HAL4/>

==Death==
Ewing died of cancer at her residence near Detroit on January 9, 2022, at the age of 71.<ref name=NYT/><ref>{{cite news |title=Opera singer Maria Ewing, wife of Peter Hall, dead at 71 |url=https://www.theintelligencer.com/news/amp/Opera-singer-Maria-Ewing-wife-of-Peter-Hall-16765171.php |access-date=January 10, 2022 |publisher=] |date=January 10, 2022}}</ref>

==Recordings==
===Videography===
*Bizet: ''Carmen'', ]; d. ], c. ]; ] DVD
*Bizet: ''Carmen'', ]; d. ], c. ]; ] DVD
*Bizet: ''Carmen'', Glyndebourne; d. Peter Hall, c. ]; ] DVD
*]: '']''; ], c. Bernard Haitink; Arthaus DVD
*Monteverdi: ''L'incoronazione di Poppea'', Glyndebourne; d. Peter Hall, c. ]; Kultur DVD
*Mozart: ''Le nozze di Figaro'', ]; d. ], c. ]; ] DVD
*Mozart: '']''; ], c. ]; Deutsche Grammophon DVD
*Purcell: ''Dido and Aeneas'', Hampton Court; d. Peter Maniura, c. ]; Kultur DVD
*Rossini: ''Il barbiere di Siviglia'', Glyndebourne; d. ], c. ]; Kultur DVD
*Richard Strauss: ''Salome'', Covent Garden; d. Peter Hall, c. ]; Pioneer DVD
*Various: ''Maria Ewing with Kymaera, live at Ronny Scott's''; String Jazz Productions DVD

===Discography===
*Berlioz: '']''; ], c. ]; ] CD
*Debussy: '']''; ], c. ]; Deutsche Grammophon CD
*Debussy: ''Pelléas et Mélisande''; Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, c. Claudio Abbado; Deutsche Grammophon CD
*Mozart: ''Don Giovanni''; ], c. Bernard Haitink; ] CD
*Mozart: ''Requiem''; Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, c. Leonard Bernstein; Deutsche Grammophon CD
*Purcell: ''Dido and Aeneas''; ], c. Richard Hickox; Chaconne CD
*Ravel: '']''; ], c. ]; EMI Classics CD
*]: ''Rodgers and ] at the Movies''; ], c. ]; EMI Classics CD
*Shostakovich: ''Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk''; ], c. ]; Deutsche Grammophon CD
*Various: ''From this moment on''; ], c. Neil Richardson; IMP Masters CD
*Various: ''Simply Maria''; BBC CD


==References== ==References==
{{reflist|2}} {{reflist}}


== External links ==
{{Authority control|VIAF=74040260}}
* {{IMDb name|0263987|Maria Ewing}}
{{Persondata <!-- Metadata: see ]. -->
* {{tcmdb name|919647{{!}}0}}
| NAME = Ewing, Maria
* {{discogs artist|Maria Ewing}}
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES =

| SHORT DESCRIPTION = Singer
{{Authority control}}
| DATE OF BIRTH = 1950-03-27
| PLACE OF BIRTH = ], ]
| DATE OF DEATH =
| PLACE OF DEATH =
}}


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Latest revision as of 00:31, 25 December 2024

American opera singer (1950–2022)

Maria Ewing
Ewing in 1968
Born(1950-03-27)March 27, 1950
Detroit, Michigan, U.S.
DiedJanuary 9, 2022(2022-01-09) (aged 71)
Detroit, Michigan, U.S.
Alma materCleveland Institute of Music
OccupationOpera singer
Spouse Peter Hall ​ ​(m. 1982; div. 1990)​
ChildrenRebecca Hall
RelativesBazabeel Norman (great-great-great grandfather)

Maria Louise Ewing (March 27, 1950 – January 9, 2022) was an American opera singer. In the early part of her career she performed solely as a lyric mezzo-soprano; she later assumed full soprano parts as well. Her signature roles were Blanche, Carmen, Dorabella, Rosina and Salome. Some critics regarded her as one of the most compelling singing actresses of her generation.

Early life and education

Maria Louise Ewing was born in Detroit, Michigan, on March 27, 1950. She was the youngest of four daughters of Hermina Ewing, née Veraar, a Dutch-born homemaker, and Norman Isaac Ewing, an electrical engineer at a steel company. Her father claimed to be of Sioux descent, but he was the son of parents who were each mixed-race, part European and part African.

An episode of the genealogical television show Finding Your Roots devoted to Ewing's daughter, the actress Rebecca Hall, revealed that Norman was the son of John William Ewing, born into slavery, and as an adult a prominent figure in the African-American community of Washington, DC. He was a descendant of Bazabeel Norman, a notable veteran of the American Revolutionary War.

(Rebecca Hall's interest in her mother's ethnicity inspired her to make a film, Passing, adapted from a 1920s novel by Nella Larsen. The two African-American women protagonists are each of mixed race, but one has chosen to pass as white and has a white husband who does not know of her African ancestry.) According to Ewing's former husband, her father's African roots caused her family so much anxiety that a particularly dark-skinned relative of theirs was forbidden from visiting their home during the hours of daylight. Ewing was unembarrassed by her racial make-up, regarding her African roots not with shame but with pride.

Ewing's parents were both musical enthusiasts: her mother was a keen collector of classical recordings, and her father played the piano well enough to attract an audience of admiring neighbors. Ewing's own musical education began with piano lessons when she was thirteen. As well as playing solo piano pieces, she sometimes acted as an accompanist for one of her sisters, Frances, occasionally singing duets with her; their mother was sufficiently impressed by her voice to encourage her to complement her keyboard work by studying singing too. Coached by a local voice teacher, Ewing joined the alto section of the chorus at her Detroit high school—Jared W. Finney High School—and was soon participating in and winning singing competitions.

When she was seventeen, she became a pupil of Marjorie Gordon, a coloratura soprano (not to be confused with an English Gilbert and Sullivan soprano of the same name). After only a year of teaching Ewing, Gordon suggested that she should apply to take part in Oakland University's Meadow Brook Music Festival. She auditioned for the role of Maddalena in a production of Rigoletto that was to be conducted by a young James Levine. Their meeting proved to be wonderfully serendipitous: Levine was so struck by her expressive power that he assured her that she had the potential to become a major artist. For her part, she found in him a teacher, mentor, guide, champion and friend. In order to study with Levine, she sought and won a scholarship at the Cleveland Institute of Music, where her other instructors included soprano Eleanor Steber. After she graduated in 1970, Levine urged her to continue her training in New York City as a private pupil of the great mezzo-soprano Jennie Tourel. Ewing supported herself by working in offices and clothing stores.

Career

James Levine in 2013

Ewing began her professional life as a lyric mezzo-soprano. Her debut was as Rosina in an English-language production of Il barbiere di Siviglia in Detroit in 1970, staged by a company now known as the Michigan Opera Theatre. (She returned to the role many times, including at Houston Grand Opera in 1976 and 1983, at Glyndebourne Festival Opera in 1981 and 1982 and at the Metropolitan Opera in 1982.) After three years of gradually building a career as a recitalist, concert artist and opera performer, she made her first appearance at a high-profile venue on June 29, 1973, when she starred at the Ravinia Festival singing a program of songs by Alban Berg accompanied by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and conducted by Levine. "I cannot remember a young singer who has excited me more on a first hearing", wrote the Chicago Tribune's Thomas Willis. "Still in her early twenties, she has the clear stamp of greatness in every movement and tone".

The first leading opera company that engaged Ewing was San Francisco's. She was their Mercédès in Carmen in 1973, and their Sicle in Francesco Cavalli's Ormindo in 1974. In 1975, Santa Fe Opera presented her in Così fan tutte as Dorabella, one of the parts with which she became most closely associated: she was highly praised in the role both at Glyndebourne in 1978 and at the Metropolitan Opera, with Levine on the podium, in 1982. In his history of Glyndebourne, Spike Hughes remembered Ewing's Dorabella as "a particular joy, with a natural gift of timing and an enchantingly comical face", while for Levine, Ewing was "the funniest, most stylish Dorabella you could imagine, absolutely sensational".

It was as Cherubino in Le nozze di Figaro that Ewing first appeared in Europe, playing the farfallone amoroso at Salzburg in 1976; she repeated the role there in 1979 and 1980. It was as Cherubino too that she first sang at the Metropolitan Opera on October 14, 1976, in a production to which she returned in 1977. In his autobiography, the director Lotfi Mansouri remembered Ewing at this stage in her career as "an alluring mezzo who could convince audiences possibly better than anyone else that her enchantingly sung Cherubino was really a boy". She offered another Mozart trousers role in 1977, when she sang Idamante in his opera seria Idomeneo at the San Francisco Opera. In 1980 and 1984, she appeared in his second da Ponte work when she was Zerlina in Don Giovanni at the Geneva Opera and the Met respectively. Her other bel canto mezzo-soprano role was Angelina in La Cenerentola (Houston Grand Opera, 1979; Geneva Opera, 1981).

As Ewing's career in opera progressed, her choice of parts became ever more eclectic, spanning the gamut from seventeenth century works by Monteverdi and Purcell to twentieth century pieces by Shostakovich and Poulenc. Ultimately she went so far as to adventure beyond the boundaries of her mezzo Fach and sing as a soprano too. Among the parts that she assumed were the title role in La Périchole (San Francisco Opera, 1976; Geneva Opera, 1982 and 1983); Blanche in Dialogues des Carmélites (Metropolitan Opera, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1981 and 1987); Mélisande in Pelléas et Mélisande (La Scala, 1977; San Francisco Opera, 1979); Charlotte in Werther (San Francisco Opera, 1978); the Composer in Ariadne auf Naxos (Glyndebourne Festival Opera, 1981; Metropolitan Opera, 1984 and 1985); Susanna in Le nozze di Figaro (Geneva Opera, 1983; Lyric Opera of Chicago, 1987); Poppea in L'incoronazione di Poppea (Glyndebourne Festival Opera, 1984 and 1986); the title roles in Carmen (Glyndebourne Festival Opera, 1985 and 1987; Metropolitan Opera, 1986; Royal Opera House, 1991), Salome (Los Angeles Opera, 1986; Royal Opera House, 1988; Lyric Opera of Chicago, 1988; San Francisco Opera, 1993), Die lustige Witwe (Lyric Opera of Chicago, 1986 and 1987), Tosca (Royal Opera House, 1991) and Madama Butterfly (Los Angeles Opera, 1991); Didon in Les Troyens (Metropolitan Opera, 1993 and 1994); Katerina Ismailova in Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk (Metropolitan Opera, 1994); Dido in Dido and Aeneas (Hampton Court, 1995); Marie in Wozzeck (Metropolitan Opera, 1997); the title role in Fedora (Los Angeles Opera, 1997); and the Queen of the Fairies in Iolanthe (Gielgud Theatre, London, 2008). It was for her performance in Salome that she attracted the warmest plaudits, not least for the succès de scandale that she achieved in the opera's notorious Dance of the Seven Veils. At Los Angeles in 1986, she ended Salome's strip-tease with her modesty protected by a gold lamé G-string, but at Covent Garden two years later, she dispensed with even that minimal concession to prudery and became one of the few opera singers to dare full-frontal nudity. "I felt the G-string was vulgar," she said. *I think the nudity is more pure. It's a mixture of purity and decadence, that's what's so fascinating."

The non-operatic music that Ewing performed was as diverse as her theatrical repertoire: it included Berg's Sieben Frühe Lieder, Berlioz's La damnation de Faust, Debussy's La damoiselle élue and Trois ballades de François Villon, Mozart's Great Mass in C minor and Verdi's Quattro pezzi sacri. She could be as dramatic in concert as when performing as a singing actress—the conductor Simon Rattle recalled her interpretation of Ravel's Shéhérazade as "easily the most X-rated Shéhérazade you can imagine". Her recital repertoire extended from an aria by Handel to art songs by Debussy, Duparc, Schubert and Wolf. As regards genres of music outside the classical realm, she had an especial affection for jazz ever since being introduced to it by Dave Brubeck's Take Five at the age of eight; she sometimes spent an entire night compulsively listening to one jazz record after another. During the BBC Proms festival of 1989 she performed cabaret numbers with Richard Rodney Bennett, and her videography includes a DVD of her performing with the band Kymaera at Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club in London.

Personal life

Ewing's relationship with the English director Peter Hall began when they worked together in a production of Così fan tutte at Glyndebourne in 1978. He found her "delightful, provocative and very, very attractive; formidable too, but wonderfully funny". For her, "it was a meeting of minds and sympathies". "We played piano duets", Hall recalled, "and found that we both hated the dead conventions, the laziness and the silliness of much opera production". When Hall visited her in New York the following year, their friendship metamorphosed into romance: "I am deeply in love with Maria Ewing", he confided to his diary on Christmas Day. "We plan to make our life together in the new year when she will come to London". They married on Long Island on Valentine's Day, 1982. Their only child, Rebecca, was born three months later. Hall described his time with Ewing as "years of passion, of highs and lows, excitements and despair"."Her blazing integrity and refusal to compromise do not make her an easy person to live with", he wrote. "The mixture of our two volatile natures and our two careers... made for a turbulent life, sometimes gloriously happy, sometimes acutely miserable". They separated in 1988 and Hall began a relationship with Nicki Frei, a press officer at London's National Theatre.

Hall and Ewing were divorced in 1990. Ewing never remarried, but in her later years she had a platonic relationship with Amir Hosseinpour, a Tehran-born director and choreographer.

In 2003, Ewing lived in Sussex, England.

Reputation

Opinions of Ewing were extremely diverse. Lotfi Mansouri thought her "highly gifted", but described her conduct in San Francisco Opera's 1993 production of Salome as "a nightmare...She became difficult, stubborn, and wrongheaded. In the easier sections, she would drag the rhythms, then rush like crazy in the more difficult parts... Married to Sir Peter Hall at the time, she expected to be addressed as 'Lady Hall', then put a sign on her dressing room saying that she was not to be spoken to at all". The critic and musical historian Peter G. Davis condemned her 1986 Metropolitan Opera Carmen as "a loopy Gypsy who might have just landed from the moon as she lurched spastically from one scene to the next without allure, consistency, credibility, or vocal distinction. That Ewing continued to be taken seriously over the next decade in the face of ongoing vocal collapse, whooping and scooping through one part after another, only indicated how decadent the Farrar-Garden tradition had become".

On the other hand, Simon Rattle praised her as "the most interesting singing actress of the stage". Despite a six-year hiatus in their friendship when he broke a promise to cast her in a new production of Carmen at the Met, James Levine never ceased to admire her: "She had the whole gift: brilliant on the stage, brilliant musician, brilliant linguist, very striking timbre. Maria started off with maybe the most full-scale and versatile gifts of any artist I ever worked with, able to sing every language, every style, recital, oratorio, opera, the whole business".

Peter Hall too always remained as enthusiastic about Ewing's art as he was when he first collaborated with her. "Her whole being is about performing, and truthful performing. She can only work with complete commitment and honesty... Her performances are incandescent. Even if you don't like them you cannot ignore them... Some people cannot take her highly personal approach; they say she pulls the music about, remaking it in her own image. This is not true; she is a meticulous musician. But her need to express leads her to emphasise and inflect outside the well-bred norm...She is a disturbing performer, a star". "She is not a well-mannered artist and does not live her life calmly. I love her for that."

Death

Ewing died of cancer at her residence near Detroit on January 9, 2022, at the age of 71.

Recordings

Videography

Discography

References

  1. ^ Millington, Barry (January 12, 2022). "Maria Ewing obituary". The Guardian.
  2. ^ Genzlinger, Neil (January 12, 2022). "Maria Ewing, Dramatically Daring Opera Star, Dies at 71". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved January 13, 2022.
  3. ^ Anonymous (January 11, 2022). "Maria Ewing obituary". The Times.
  4. "Hidden in the Genes". Finding Your Roots. PBS. Retrieved January 13, 2022.
  5. ^ Hall, Peter (2000): Making an Exhibition of Myself; Oberon Books; p. 247; ISBN 978-1-84002-115-8
  6. ^ Moritz, Charles, ed. (1991). Current Biography Yearbook 1990. H. W. Wilson Co. pp. 227–230. OCLC 719673253.
  7. Stewart, Henry (January 10, 2022). "Maria Ewing, 71, One of Her Generation's Most Charismatic and Versatile Opera Singers, has Died". Opera News.
  8. Giesberg, Robert I., Cunningham, Carl, Rich, Alan and Sanders, Jim (2005): Houston Grand Opera at Fifty; Herring Press; pp. 272 and 275; ISBN 0-917001-24-9
  9. ^ "Maria Ewing". Glyndebourne Festival Opera archive.
  10. ^ "Home". Metropolitan Opera archive.
  11. Willis, Thomas (July 2, 1973): A weekend of wonders at Ravinia; Chicago Tribune.
  12. ^ "Maria Ewing". San Francisco Opera archive.
  13. Huscher, Phillip (2006): The Santa Fe Opera: An American Pioneer; The Santa Fe Opera; p. 144; ISBN 978-0-86534-550-8
  14. Hughes, Spike (1981): Glyndebourne: A History of the Festival Opera, 2nd edition; David & Charles; p. 269; ISBN 0-7153-7891-0
  15. ^ Metropolitan Opera (2011): James Levine: 40 Years at the Metropolitan Opera; Amadeus Press; p. 84; ISBN 978-1-57467-196-4
  16. ^ "Maria Ewing". Salzburg Festival archive.
  17. ^ Mansouri, Lotfi and Arthur, Donald (2010): Lotfi Mansouri: An Operatic Journey; Northeastern University Press; p. 261; ISBN 978-1-55553-706-7
  18. ^ "Home". Geneva Opera archive.
  19. Giesberg, Robert I., Cunningham, Carl, Rich, Alan and Sanders, Jim (2005), p. 273
  20. ^ "Maria Ewing". Teatro alla Scala archive.
  21. ^ Skrebneski, Victor (1994): Bravi: Lyric Opera of Chicago; Abbeville Press; ISBN 978-1-55859-771-6
  22. ^ "Maria Ewing". Royal Opera House archive.
  23. Bernheimer, Martin: Music Center stages a dazzling 'Salome'; Los Angeles Times, October 11, 1986
  24. "Dido and Aeneas, BBC Two, November 4, 1995". BBC Genome Project.
  25. ^ "Home". Boston Symphony Orchestra archive.
  26. ^ Hall, Peter (2000), p. 248
  27. "Kymaera DVD". www.kymaera.co.uk. Retrieved January 13, 2022.
  28. ^ Hall, Peter (2000), p. 249
  29. Goodwin, John, ed. (2000): Peter Hall's Diaries: The Story of a Dramatic Battle; Oberon Books; p. 464; ISBN 1-84002-102-0
  30. Hall, Peter (2000), p. 325
  31. ^ Hall, Peter (2000), p. 250
  32. Hall, Peter (2000), p. 353
  33. Jeal, Erica (March 11, 2003). "I feel I belong". The Guardian. Retrieved September 14, 2008.
  34. Davis, Peter G. (1997): The American Opera Singer; Anchor Books; p. 545; ISBN 0-385-42174-5
  35. "Opera singer Maria Ewing, wife of Peter Hall, dead at 71". Edwardsville Intelligencer. January 10, 2022. Retrieved January 10, 2022.

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