Resnik, Regina (1922–)

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Resnik, Regina (1922–)

American soprano, mezzo-soprano, and opera director. Born Aug 30, 1922, in the Bronx, NY; dau. of Ukrainian immigrants; Hunter College, BA, 1942; studied with Rosalie Miller and Giuseppe Danise; m. Harry W. Davis (attorney), 1946.

Made concert debut at Brooklyn Academy of Music (1942); made operatic debut at New Opera Company (1942); debuted at Metropolitan Opera as Leonora in Il Trovatore (1944), then sang Leonore in Fidelio, in Met's 1st English-language version of that Beethoven opera (1945); over the next years, sang such roles as Tosca, Aïda, Butterfly, Donna Anna, and Donna Elvira; also sang in US premieres of Benjamin Britten's Rape of Lucretia (as the Chorus, 1947) and Peter Grimes (1948); debuted as Sieglinde in Die Walküre at Bayreuth (1953); switched from soprano to mezzo-soprano roles (1955), among them: Marina in Boris Godunoff, Amneris in Aïda, Ortrud in Lohengrin, Giulietta in Tales of Hoffmann, and Lucretia in Rape of Lucretia; retired from opera and achieved success as a director of opera, with productions of Carmen in Hamburg, Elektra in Venice, and Falstaff in Warsaw.

See also Women in World History.