Stich-Randall, Teresa
Stich-Randall, Teresa
Stich-Randall, Teresa, admired American soprano; b. West Hartford, Conn., Dec. 24, 1927. She received her training at the Hartt School of Music in Hartford and at Columbia Univ. In 1947 she made her operatic debut as Gertrude Stein in the premiere of Thomson’s The Mother of Us All in N.Y. She was chosen to create the title role in Luening’s Evangeline in N.Y. in 1948. She then was engaged to sing with Toscanini and the NBC Sym. Orch. in N.Y. After winning the Lausanne competition in 1951, she made her European operatic debut that year as the Mermaid in Oberon in Florence. In 1951–52 she sang at the Basel Opera. In 1952 she made her first appearance at the Salzburg Festival and at the Vienna State Opera. In 1955 she made her debut at the Chicago Lyric Opera as Gilda. From 1955 she appeared regularly at the Aix-en-Provence Festivals. On Oct. 24, 1961, she made her Metropolitan Opera debut in N.Y. as Fiordiligi, remaining on its roster until 1966. She also sang widely in the U.S. and Europe as a concert artist. Her success in Vienna led her to being the first American to be made an Austrian Kammersängerin in 1962. She retired in 1971. Stich-Randall was especially esteemed for her roles in Mozart’s operas.
—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire