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Beverly Sills, originally named Belle Silverman,
b. Brooklyn, N.Y., May 25, 1929, the popular coloratura soprano,
started her career at the age of 3. She began vocal studies
with Estelle Liebling at 7, and by age 12 was a veteran of
radio and films. She made her professional operetta debut
(Gilbert and Sullivan) in 1945, and her opera debut in 1948
as Frasquita in Bizet's Carmen with the Philadelphia Civic
Opera.
In 1953, Sills joined the New York City Opera, creating in
1956 the title role in Douglas Moore's Ballad of Baby Doe.
Ten years later, at Central City, Colo., she achieved international
fame as Cleopatra in Handel's Julius Caesar. Since then she
has been a guest at major European and American opera companies,
singing the heroine roles in more than 50 operas, including
those of Bellini, Donizetti, Massenet, Mozart, Rossini, and
Verdi. She has also appeared in operas on television, in specials
with Danny Kaye and Carol Burnett, and in her own weekly discussion
series, Lifestyles. She retired from the stage in 1980, some
months after becoming director, in 1979, of the New York City
Opera. As director, her fundraising skills and ability to
control costs restored the company to financial health. She
also abandoned the spring season for a combined summer-fall
season, and City Opera was a pioneer in the operatic production
of musicals. She retired from the post in 1989.
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