Eileen Farrell
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Eileen Farrell (February 13, 1920–March 23, 2002) was a famous American opera and concert singer soprano. During her career, Farrell was greatly admired as an opera singer, but she preferred the concert hall and radio to the theater.
Farrell was born in Willimantic, Connecticut, but she moved at an early age to Woonsocket, Rhode Island, which she always publicly and affectionately called her home town. She was elected to Woonsocket's Hall of Fame.
Her parents were vaudeville singers.
In 1942 she made her concert debut on CBS radio where she soon presented her own radio program. During 1947–1948, she toured the US as a concert singer, and in 1949 she toured South America.
Farrell's song recital in New York in October 1950 was enthusiastically acclaimed and secured for her immediate recognition. That year, she also appeared in a concert performance Berg's Wozzeck as Marie. Subsequently she was engaged by Toscanini for a performance of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony with the NBC Symphony Orchestra.
In the 1955 film Interrupted Melody, which starred Eleanor Parker as Australian soprano Marjorie Lawrence, Farrell's voice was used for the singing parts while Parker lip-synched.
In 1956 she made her stage debut as Santuzza in Mascagni's Cavalleria Rusticana with the San Carlo Opera in Tampa, Florida. In 1957 she debuted with the Lyric Opera of Chicago; in 1958, with the San Francisco Opera. She made her Metropolitan Opera debut on December 6, 1960, singing the title role in Gluck's Alceste. She opened the 1962–63 Met season as Maddalena in Giordano's Andrea Chénier, opposite Franco Corelli. She remained on the Met roster through the 1963–64 season, singing forty-four performance in six roles, then returned in March of 1966 for two final performances as Maddalena. Her other roles at the Met included the title role in Ponchielli's La Gioconda, Leonora in Verdi's La Forza del Destino, Isabella in de Falla's Atlantida, and Santuzza.
Throughout the 1960s she was a frequent soloist with the New York Philharmonic under the direction of Leonard Bernstein; she was also a favourite of Thomas Schippers.
From 1971 to 1980, Farrell was professor of music at the Indiana University School of Music in Bloomington. From 1983 to 1985, she was professor of music at the University of Maine in Orono. She also made several recordings of blues music late in her career. She published a memoir, Can't Help Singing, in 1999.
Farrell was married to a New York City police officer.
