Adams, Suzanne
Adams, Suzanne
Adams, Suzanne, American soprano; b. Cambridge, Mass., Nov. 28, 1872; d. London, Feb. 5, 1953. She studied with Bouhy and Mathilde Marchesi in Paris, where she made her operatic debut as Gounod’s Juliette at the Opéra on Jan. 9, 1895; remained on its roster until 1898. On May 10, 1898, she made her first appearance at London’s Covent Garden as Juliette and sang there until 1904; on Nov. 8, 1898, she sang Juliette again in her Metropolitan Opera debut during the company’s visit to Chicago, and then again for her formal debut with the company in N.Y. on Jan. 4, 1899. She remained on its roster until 1903, but also was active as an oratorio singer in the U.S. and Europe. After the death of her husband, the cellist Leo Stein, in 1904, she retired from the operatic stage but appeared in vaudeville in London before settling there as a voice teacher. Her best roles, in addition to the ubiquitous Juliette, were Donna Elvira, Marguerite de Valois, and Micaela.
—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire