Lear, Evelyn (née Shulman)

Lear, Evelyn (née Shulman), outstanding American soprano; b. N.Y, Jan. 8, 1926. She learned to play the piano and the horn before pursuing vocal training with John Yard in Washington, D.C., and with Sergius Kagen at the Juilliard School of Music in N.Y. She also attended N.Y.U. and Hunter Coll. of the City Univ. of N.Y In 1955 she made her N.Y. recital debut, the same year that she married her second husband, Thomas Stewart. For professional reasons, however, she retained her first husband’s surname of Lear. After obtaining a Fulbright grant, she pursued her studies with Maria Ivogiin at the Berlin Hochschule für Musik. On May 17, 1959, she made her operatic debut as Strauss’s Composer at the Berlin Städtische Oper. She attracted wide notice when she essayed the role of Lulu in a concert performance in Vienna in 1960, returning there in 1962 to sing the role on stage. In 1961 she created the title role in Klebe’s Alkmene in Berlin, and in 1963 the role of Jeanne in Egk’s Die Verlobung in San Domingo in Munich. At the Salzburg Festivals, she appeared as Cherubino (1962–64) and as Fiordiligi (1965). In 1965 she made her first appearance at London’s Covent Garden singing Donna Elvira. On March 17, 1967, she made her Metropolitan Opera debut in N.Y. creating the role of Lavinia in Levy’s Mourning Becomes Electra. In subsequent seasons, she returned to sing Octavian and Berg’s Marie (1969), Strauss’s Composer (1970), Tosca and Dido (1973), Donna Elvira (1974), Alice Ford (1975), and Countess Geschwitz (1980). She also created the roles of Irma Arkadina in Pasatieri’s The Seagull in Houston (1974) and Magda in Ward’s Minutes to Midnight in Miami (1982). On Oct. 15, 1985, she made her farewell appearance at the Metropolitan Opera as the Marschallin. In 1987 she sang Countess Geschwitz in Chicago. Throughout her operatic career, she also pursued a notably successful concert career. She often appeared in both opera and concerts with her husband.

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire