Audrey Schuh

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Audrey Schuh (Redmann) was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, on June 11, 1931, and studied both music and medical technology at Loyola University of the South, where she studied with Dorothy Hulse, who was also the pedagogue of Harry Theyard and Charles Anthony. Her first leading role with the New Orleans Opera Association was the page-boy Oscar in Un ballo in maschera, opposite Jussi Björling at the age of 18, in 1950. The petite soprano was to become a great local favorite, and starred there in Don Giovanni (as Zerlina), Carmen (as Micaëla, with Risë Stevens), Amelia al ballo (conducted by Renato Cellini), Falstaff (as Nannetta, with Leonard Warren), Die Fledermaus (as Roselinde von Eisenstein), Hänsel und Gretel (as Gretel), La bohème (as Musetta, with Licia Albanese and Giuseppe di Stefano), La traviata (replacing Anna Moffo, to an avalanche of publicity and seventeen curtain-calls), La bohème (as Mimì), Markheim (world premiere, with Norman Treigle), Turandot (as Liù, opposite Birgit Nilsson, directed by Tito Capobianco), Elektra (as Chrysothemis), Pagliacci, and Il tabarro (with Plácido Domingo and Chester Ludgin).

Miss Schuh also sang Nannetta in Falstaff for the San Francisco Opera, at the behest of Mr Warren, and alongside Dame Elisabeth Schwarzkopf as Mrs Ford. She sang with the Houston Grand Opera (Madama Butterfly), the New England Opera Theatre (La traviata and La rondine), the Jackson Opera Guild (Pagliacci, then Die Fledermaus with Virginia MacWatters) and the San Antonio Opera Guild (Markheim). In 1967, she appeared at the New York City Opera for a memorable season at its new theatre at Lincoln Center: La bohème (as Mimì), Madama Butterfly (directed by Frank Corsaro), and Suor Angelica (conducted by Julius Rudel). She made a moving return to the New Orleans Opera in 1977, again as Micaëla.

From 1994 to 1999, VAI issued several of her New Orleans performances on Compact Discs, to great acclaim.

[edit] Discography

  • Verdi: Un ballo in maschera (S.Morris, Björling, Rothmüller; Herbert, 1950) [live] VAI
  • Verdi: Falstaff (della Chiesa, Warren; Cellini, 1956) [live] VAI
  • Puccini: La bohème (Albanese, di Stefano, Valdengo, Treigle; Cellini, 1959) [live] VAI
  • Floyd: Markheim (Treigle; Andersson, 1966) [live] VAI
  • Puccini: Turandot: excerpts (Nilsson; Andersson, 1966) [live] VAI
  • Strauss: Elektra (Borkh, Resnik, Rayson; Andersson, 1966) [live] VAI

[edit] References

  • "Audrey Schuh: A Golden Tribute," by Brian Morgan, New Orleans Opera Association 2000-01 program booklet.