Posted February 09, 2012
March 3, 2012 – PROGRAM CHANGE – The Art and Artistry of Lotte Lehmann by Jason Victor Serinus
Thomas J. Munn will not be able to be with us in March, due to a change in his artistic schedule. His talk will be rescheduled for the Fall.
The Society is very grateful to the local music journalist Jason Victor Serinus, who has graciously agreed to create a special program for us. His program will feature Lehmann’s vocal art from her many recordings of opera arias as well as lieder. Mr. Serinus will provide an outline of his talk shortly.
Biographical information: Lotte Lehmann was born in Perleberg, near Berlin in 1888. Her stage career began in 1910 in Hamburg where she sang the role of a page in Lohengrin and her operatic continued until to 1946 with performances at the Metropolitan Opera and San Francisco Opera. She created the starring roles in Ariadne auf Naxos, Die Frau Ohne Schatten (The Empress), Intermezzo (Christine), and Arabella and she was highly revered for her performances in the role of the Marschallin. In Wagner she sang the roles of Irene (Rienzi), Freia, Wellgunde, Ortlinde, Gertlinde, Sieglinde, Eva, Gudrune, 3rd Norn, Wellgunde and Elizabeth, along with various Pages, Flower Maidens, Apprentices and Shepherds. Lehmann continuted to perform concerts and lieder recitals until 1951. However her greatest legacy may have been her work as a teacher. Lehmann founded The Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara in 1947 where she taught Master Classes. Lehmann taught Master Classes all over the world, made dozens of recordings, wrote text books and poetry and was also a painter. Lotte Lehmann graced the stage of the San Francisco Opera first as Floria Tosca in 1934 and 1936 and then as Sieglinde in 1936. Lehmann sang the role of the Marschallin for San Francisco Opera in 1940, 1941, 1945 and 1946 (for San Francisco Opera in Los Angeles 1940, 1941 and 1946 and Sacramento 1945). Lotte Lehmann died in 1976.
Jason Victor Serinus writes about music for San Francisco Classical Vocie (sfcv.org),Opera News, Opera Now, American Record Guide, Stereophile, San Francisco Magazine, Muso, Carnegie Hall Playbill, East Bay Express, East Bay Monthly, San Francisco Examiner, Bay Area Reporter, hometheaterhifi.com, and other publications