Benita Valente

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Benita Valente, born October 19, 1934 in Delano, California, is a distinguished American soprano whose long career has encompassed the operatic stage as well as performance of lieder, chamber music and oratorio. She is especially lauded for her interpretations of Mozart and Handel, but she also excelled in certain Verdi roles.

Benita Valente studied voice at the Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara with Lotte Lehmann and Martial Singher. She later attended the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia where she graduated in 1960. Early in her career, she appeared regularly at the Freiberg Opera in Germany. Upon winning the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, she made a notable debut with the Metropolitan Opera on Sept. 22, 1973 singing Pamina in The Magic Flute. A regular at the Met, her many roles included Gilda in Rigoletto, Nanetta in Falstaff, Susanna in The Marriage of Figaro, Ilia in Idomeneo and Almirena in Rinaldo.

As a chamber performer, she has collaborated with the Guarneri, Juilliard and Orion String Quartets. She has performed with numerous instrumentalists, including cellist Yo-Yo Ma, clarinetist Richard Stoltzman and pianists Emanuel Ax, Leon Fleisher and Richard Goode, and she made a celebrated recording of Schubert's Shepherd on the Rock with pianist Rudolf Serkin.

Among the composers who have written music for Ms. Valente are William Bolcom, Alberto Ginastera, John Harbison, Earl Kim, Libby Larsen and Richard Wernick. She has performed with numerous opera companies and symphony orchestras throughout the world and has recorded extensively in wide-ranging repertoire.

Ms. Valente was the 1999 recipient of the Richard J. Bogomolny National Service Award, the highest honor bestowed by Chamber Music America, for her contributions to chamber music - the first vocalist to be so honored in the 20 year history of the award. She retired from singing in October, 2000. She lives in Philadelphia with her husband, bassoonist Anthony Checchia.

Increasingly, she has devoted her time to teaching vocal master classes. She has taught at the Cincinnati Conservatory program in Lucca, Italy; the European Mozart Academy in Poland; the Metropolitan Opera Lindemann Young Artists Development Program and the Stearns Institute for Young Artists at Ravinia.

[edit] Works written for and recorded by Benita Valente

William Bolcom: Briefly It Enters & Let Evening Come (Centaur Records)

Libby Larsen: Songs From Letters From Calamity Jane to Her Daughter Janey & Songs of Light and Love, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Joel Revzen dir. (Koch International)

Three string quartets performed with the Juilliard String Quartet (Bridge Records):