Lucille Carrol Weinberger ( Kailer; December 7, 1925 – September 22, 2011) was an American operatic

soprano A soprano () is a type of classical female singing voice and has the highest vocal range of all voice types. The soprano's vocal range (using scientific pitch notation) is from approximately middle C (C4) = 261 Hz to "high A" (A5) = 880&n ...

who had an active international singing career during the 1950s and 1960s.

Life and career

Lucille Carrol Kailer was born in Oconomowoc, Wisconsin on December 7, 1925. She studied voice at Marquette University, in Chicago with George Graham, and later in New York City with Julia Charol Drobner and Kurt Adler. She began her career appearing in minor roles at the

Florentine Opera The Florentine Opera Company is one of Wisconsin's oldest professional performing arts centers and the sixth-oldest opera company in the United States. The company presents three to five staged productions per season largely from the standard ope ...

and leading roles with the Waukesha Opera Guild in Milwaukee, Wisconsin during the 1950s while simultaneously teaching on the voice faculty at the Wisconsin Conservatory of Music. In 1958, Kailer won the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions. The following year she made her debut with the New York City Opera (NYCO) as Musetta in '' La boheme''. She made her stage debut at the Metropolitan Opera in 1961 as one of the Flower Maidens in '' Parsifal'' with Ramon Vinay in the title role. She had previously appeared as Juliette in Charles Gounod's '' Roméo et Juliette'' with the

Mobile Opera Mobile Opera is an opera company located in Mobile, Alabama and is one of the oldest performing arts organizations in the United States,Recognized by OPERA America as the 13th oldest opera company in the United States (source: Mobileopera.org) as we ...

and as Adele in '' Die Fledermaus'' and Zerbinetta in '' Ariadne auf Naxos'' with the NYCO in 1959. She had also been working as a featured singer in

Radio City Music Hall Radio City Music Hall is an entertainment venue and Theater (structure), theater at 1260 Sixth Avenue (Manhattan), Avenue of the Americas, within Rockefeller Center, in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. Nicknamed "The Showplac ...

's variety show in 1960. In 1962, Kailer made her debut at the

Philadelphia Lyric Opera Company The Philadelphia Lyric Opera Company was an American opera company located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania that was active between 1958 and 1974. The company was led by a number of Artistic Directors during its history, beginning with Aurelio Fabiani ...

as Oscar in '' Un ballo in maschera'' with Richard Tucker as Riccardo and Robert Merrill as Renato. Free Library of Philadelphia: ''Box: Phila. Lyric Opera Company: 782.1 P5326p Bal Two

968 - 1975 Year 968 ( CMLXVIII) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events By place Byzantine Empire * Emperor Nikephoros II receives a Bulgarian embassy led by Prince Boris (th ...

' She sang the same role for her debut at the Lyric Opera of Chicago in 1963 with

Régine Crespin Régine Crespin (23 February 1927 – 5 July 2007) was a French singer who had a major international career in opera and on the concert stage between 1950 and 1989. She started her career singing roles in the dramatic soprano and spinto soprano ...

as Amelia and Grace Bumbry as Ulrica. That same year she made her European debut at the Zurich Opera as Blondchen in Mozart's '' Die Entführung aus dem Serail''. She remained committed to that house for the next several seasons, portraying such roles as Gilda in '' Rigoletto'', Nanetta in ''

Falstaff Sir John Falstaff is a fictional character who appears in three plays by William Shakespeare and is eulogised in a fourth. His significance as a fully developed character is primarily formed in the plays '' Henry IV, Part 1'' and '' Part 2'', w ...

'', Oscar in '' Un ballo in maschera'', and Pamina in '' The Magic Flute'' among others. In 1965 Kailer made her debut at the San Francisco Opera as Yniold in '' Pelléas et Mélisande'' and returned to the Met to sing Fiakermilli in ''

Arabella ''Arabella'', Op. 79, is a lyric comedy, or opera, in three acts by Richard Strauss to a German libretto by Hugo von Hofmannsthal, their sixth and last operatic collaboration. Performance history It was first performed on 1 July 1933 at the Dr ...

''. In 1966 she portrayed the title heroine in Douglas Moore's ''

The Ballad of Baby Doe ''The Ballad of Baby Doe'' is an opera by the American composer Douglas Moore that uses an English-language libretto by John Latouche. It is Moore's most famous opera and one of the few American operas to be in the standard repertory. Especially ...

'' with the Central City Opera. During the late 1960s she was active with municipal opera houses in Germany. Kailer married Richard Weinberger, and later resided in California. She died on September 22, 2011, at the age of 85.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kailer, Lucille 1925 births 2011 deaths 21st-century American women American operatic sopranos Marquette University alumni People from Oconomowoc, Wisconsin Winners of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions Wisconsin Conservatory of Music faculty American expatriates in Germany American women academics