Zschau, Marilyn
Zschau, Marilyn
Zschau, Marilyn, American soprano; b. Chicago, Feb. 9,1944. She studied at the Juilliard School of Music in N.Y. (1961-65) and in Mont, with John Lester. In 1965-66 she toured as a member of the Met National Co. In 1967 she made her debut as Marietta in Die Tote Stadt at the Vienna Volksoper, and in 1971 appeared for the first time at the Vienna State Opera as the Composer in Ariadne auf Naxos. She made her N.Y.C. Opera debut in 1978 as Minnie in La Fanciulla del West, returning there as Cio-Cio-San, Odabella in Attila, and Maddalena in Andrea Chenier. On Feb. 4, 1985, she made her Metropolitan Opera debut in N.Y. as Musetta. She sang for the first time at Milan’s La Scala in 1986 as the Dyer’s Wife in Die Frau ohne Schatten; thereafter sang with major opera houses on both sides of the Atlantic. In 1993 she electrified audiences with her debut at the London Promenade Concerts in a concert performance as Elek-tra with Andrew Davis conducting the BBC Sym. Orch. She was engaged as Brünnhilde in the Ring cycle at the Seattle Opera in 1995. In 1996 she portrayed Elektra in Buenos Aires. Among her many admired roles are Mozart’s Countess, Fiordiligi, Aida, Desdemona, Leonora, Tosca, Octavian, the Marschallin, Salome, and Shostakovich’s Katerina.
—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire