Wise, Patricia
Wise, Patricia
Wise, Patricia, American soprano and teacher; b. Wichita, July 31, 1943. She studied in Kans. and Santa Fe, and with Margaret Harshaw in N.Y. In 1966 she made her operatic debut in Kansas City as Mozart’s Susanna, and then joined the N.Y.C. Opera. She made her first appearance at London’s Co vent Garden in 1971 as Rossini’s Rosina, and then made her debut as Strauss’s Zerbinetta at the Glyndebourne Festival in 1972. From 1976 to 1991 she was a member of the Vienna State Opera, where she became well known for her roles in operas by Mozart and Strauss. She also sang in other European operatic centers, including engagements as Verdi’s Nannetta at Milan’s La Scala in 1980, the Protagonist in the premiere of Berio’s Un re in ascolto in Salzburg in 1984, Berg’s Lulu in Geneva in 1985, and Verdi’s Gilda in Madrid in 1989. From 1995 she taught at the Ind. Univ. School of Music in Bloomington. She was honored as a Kammersängerin of the Vienna State Opera in 1996.
—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire