The American soprano Lucine Amara (b. 1927) was born of Armenian descent in Hartford, Connecticut. She studied first in San Francisco with Stella Eisner-Eyn and also sang in the chorus of San Francisco Opera (1945-46). Her concert début was in 1946 before she attended the Music Academy of the West (1947), Santa Barbara, California. She then enrolled at the University of Southern California (1949-50). She also appeared in the title-rôle of Ariadne auf Naxos and as Lady Billows in Britten’s Albert Herring in 1949 before making her début at the Metropolitan Opera as the Heavenly Voice in Verdi’s Don Carlo in November 1950. She would continue at this house until 1991, singing 56 rôles in 882 appearances. Amara sang at Glyndebourne (1954-55, 1957-58), the Edinburgh Festival (1954), the Vienna State Opera (1961), in Russia (1965) and China (1983). Her repertoire included Leonora in Il Trovatore, Aida, Madama Butterfly, Mimì, Donna Anna, Pamina, Tatyana in Eugene Onegin, Nedda and Ellen Orford. After retiring she was the artistic director of the New Jersey Association of Verismo in addition to giving master-classes in the United States, Canada and Mexico.

Discography