Rita Gorr

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Rita Gorr (born February 18, 1926), is a Belgian operatic mezzo-soprano, she possessed a large, rich-toned voice and was an intense singing-actress, especially in dramatic roles such as Ortrud (Lohengrin) and Amneris (Aida), two of her greatest roles.

[edit] Life and Career

Gorr was born Marguerite Geirmaert, in Zelzate, near Ghent, Belgium. After vocal studies in Ghent and Brussels, with Vina Bovy and Germaine Hoerner, she won first prize at the vocal competition of Verviers in 1946, and made her professional debut at Antwerp as Fricka in Die Walkure the same year. She became a member of the Opera of Strasbourg, from 1949 to 1952. She won another first prize at the vocal competition of Lausanne in 1952, which led to her debut at the Opéra-Comique and the Paris Opera that same year; roles there included Magdalene in Die Meistersinger von Nurnberg, Dalila in Samson et Dalila, Venus in Tannhauser, Charlotte in Werther, Mère Marie in Dialogues des Carmélites, Carmen, Geneviève in Pelléas et Mélisande, and triumphant Amneris in Aida, at the Opéra opposite Renata Tebaldi in 1959.

Her career then became international in scope, with debuts at Bayreuth in 1958, the Royal Opera House in 1959, La Scala in 1960, the Metropolitan Opera on October 17, 1962 as Amneris. In four seasons at the Met, she sang Santuzza in Cavalleria Rusticana, Eboli in Don Carlos, Azucena in Il trovatore, and Dalila.

Gorr was a verstile artist, singing with equal success the French, Italian and German repertories. She enjoyed a very long career singing well into her 60s and 70s and her last role was as the Countess in Tchaikovsky's The Queen of Spades which she performed in the Summer of 2007 in Ghent and Antwerp.

Gorr can be heard in two of her greatest roles on recordings, Ortrud in Lohengrin, opposite Sandor Konya and Lucine Amara, under Erich Leinsdorf, and Amneris in Aida, opposite Leontyne Price and Jon Vickers, under Georg Solti.

[edit] Sources

Alain Pâris, Dictionnaire des interprètes et de l'interpretation musicale au XX siècle (2 vols), Ed. Robert Laffont (Bouquins, Paris 1982, 4th Edn. 1995, 5th Edn 2004). ISBN 2-221-06660-X
D. Hamilton (ed.),The Metropolitan Opera Encyclopedia: A Complete Guide to the World of Opera (Simon and Schuster, New York 1987). ISBN 0-671-16732-X
Roland Mancini and Jean-Jacques Rouveroux, (orig. H. Rosenthal and J. Warrack, French edition), Guide de l’opéra, Les indispensables de la musique (Fayard, 1995). ISBN 2-213-01563-6