Stapp, Olivia

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Stapp, Olivia

Stapp, Olivia, American soprano; b. N.Y., May 31, 1940. She studied at Wagner Coll. in Staten Island, N.Y. (B.A.) and received vocal training from Oren Brown in N.Y. and Ettore Campogalliani and Rodolfo Ricci in Italy. In 1960 she made her debut as Beppe in L’Amico Fritz at the Spoleto Festival, and then appeared in various operatic centers in Europe and the U.S. In 1972 she made her first appearance at the N.Y.C. Opera as Carmen, and subsequently sang there with fine success. In 1981 she appeared as Elvira in Ernani in Barcelona. She sang Norma in Montreal and Lady Macbeth at the Paris Opéra in 1982. On Dec. 7, 1982, she made her Metropolitan Opera debut in N.Y. as Lady Macbeth. In 1983 she appeared as Turandot at Milan’s La Scala. She again sang Lady Macbeth in Geneva and in Venice in 1986. In 1990 she appeared as Shostakovich’s Katerina Ismailova in Hamburg. Among her other prominent roles were Lucrezia Borgia, Aida, Elektra, and Tosca.

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire