Thalia Sabanieva | |
---|---|
Born | 23 December 1889 Greece |
Died | 20 March 1963 New York |
Other names | Thalia Samossoud |
Occupation | Opera Singer |
Years active | 1920s, 1930s |
Spouse | Jacques Alexandria Samossoud |
Thalia Sabanieva (23 December 1889 [1] – 20 March 1963), also seen as Thalia Sabanieeva, was a Greek soprano.
Thalia Sabanieva was born in Athens in 1889. She was proud of her Greek birth, [2] and spoke Greek, but objected to being called a "Greek singer", because she was educated in Russia. "What I am as a singer I owe entirely to Russia", she declared in 1937. [3] She studied music with Vera Cehanovska, mother of Russian baritone George Cehanovsky.
Sabanieva sang with the Metropolitan Opera in New York [4] from 1923 to 1930. [5] [6] [7] She sang with the San Francisco Opera in the 1924–1925 season, appearing in L'Amico Fritz, Madama Butterfly, and Manon. [8] In 1928 she made several recordings for the Victor Talking Machine Company. [9] In 1933, she sang in the American premiere of Tchaikovsky's Mazeppa. [10] She was a member of Max Panteleieff's New York-based Russian Opera Company in the mid-1930s. [11]
Sabanieva was often on the programs of charity benefit concerts and special events. In 1933, she sang a duet with Mario Chamlee at a gala marking the 25th anniversary of Giulio Gatti-Casazza's directorship at the Metropolitan Opera. In 1935, she sang at a benefit concert for Jewish artisans in Poland, with cellist Mila Wellerson, at New York's Town Hall venue, [12] and at another benefit performance with Lucrezia Bori and Tito Schipa, for the WIlloughby House Settlement in Brooklyn. [13] In 1937 she sang at a benefit concert at Carnegie Hall alongside Elisabeth Rethberg, Josephine Antoine, and other singers, raising funds for Chrystie Street House, a shelter for homeless men. [14]
Sabanieva had two film credits, for a supporting role in a Greek film, That's Life (1935), and in the title role in a film adaptation of Natalka Poltavka (1937), [15] though she was an unlikely choice to play a young heroine by then. [16] She was featured in a LIFE magazine photograph, when her dog appeared on the magazine's cover in 1944. [17] Sabanieva taught voice students later in life. [18]
Sabanieva was briefly married Russian conductor Jacques Alexandria Samossoud from 1927 to 1929; [19] [20] he later married Clara Clemens in 1944. [21] Thalia Sabanieva died in 1963, in New York.
Thalia Sabanieva | |
---|---|
Born | 23 December 1889 Greece |
Died | 20 March 1963 New York |
Other names | Thalia Samossoud |
Occupation | Opera Singer |
Years active | 1920s, 1930s |
Spouse | Jacques Alexandria Samossoud |
Thalia Sabanieva (23 December 1889 [1] – 20 March 1963), also seen as Thalia Sabanieeva, was a Greek soprano.
Thalia Sabanieva was born in Athens in 1889. She was proud of her Greek birth, [2] and spoke Greek, but objected to being called a "Greek singer", because she was educated in Russia. "What I am as a singer I owe entirely to Russia", she declared in 1937. [3] She studied music with Vera Cehanovska, mother of Russian baritone George Cehanovsky.
Sabanieva sang with the Metropolitan Opera in New York [4] from 1923 to 1930. [5] [6] [7] She sang with the San Francisco Opera in the 1924–1925 season, appearing in L'Amico Fritz, Madama Butterfly, and Manon. [8] In 1928 she made several recordings for the Victor Talking Machine Company. [9] In 1933, she sang in the American premiere of Tchaikovsky's Mazeppa. [10] She was a member of Max Panteleieff's New York-based Russian Opera Company in the mid-1930s. [11]
Sabanieva was often on the programs of charity benefit concerts and special events. In 1933, she sang a duet with Mario Chamlee at a gala marking the 25th anniversary of Giulio Gatti-Casazza's directorship at the Metropolitan Opera. In 1935, she sang at a benefit concert for Jewish artisans in Poland, with cellist Mila Wellerson, at New York's Town Hall venue, [12] and at another benefit performance with Lucrezia Bori and Tito Schipa, for the WIlloughby House Settlement in Brooklyn. [13] In 1937 she sang at a benefit concert at Carnegie Hall alongside Elisabeth Rethberg, Josephine Antoine, and other singers, raising funds for Chrystie Street House, a shelter for homeless men. [14]
Sabanieva had two film credits, for a supporting role in a Greek film, That's Life (1935), and in the title role in a film adaptation of Natalka Poltavka (1937), [15] though she was an unlikely choice to play a young heroine by then. [16] She was featured in a LIFE magazine photograph, when her dog appeared on the magazine's cover in 1944. [17] Sabanieva taught voice students later in life. [18]
Sabanieva was briefly married Russian conductor Jacques Alexandria Samossoud from 1927 to 1929; [19] [20] he later married Clara Clemens in 1944. [21] Thalia Sabanieva died in 1963, in New York.