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On January 9th, 2022, the world of opera lost one of the most important singing-actresses of her generation: the incomparable Maria Ewing. Born in Detroit, Michigan, USA, on March 27th, 1950, she was the youngest of four sisters; her mother was Dutch and her father African American. She was well known in the opera world for her extraordinary versatility, singing roles as diverse in musical styles as Dido (Dido and Aeneas), Poppea (L’Incoronazione di Poppea), Idamante (Idomeneo), Cherubino (Le nozze di Figaro), Donna Elvira (Don Giovanni), Dorabella (Cosí fan tutte), Rosina (Il barbiere di Siviglia), Didon (Les Troyens), Marie (Wozzeck), Katerina Ismailova (Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk), Mélisande (Pelléas et Mélisande), Hanna Glawari (Die Lustige Witwe), Blanche de la Force (Dialogues des Carmélites), plus the title roles of Puccini’s Tosca and Madama Butterfly, Strauss’s Salome and Bizet’s Carmen. These last two characters, Salome and Carmen, were closely associated with her, thanks to her magnificent and intense performance of these iconic women. She sang in all the most important theaters and festivals around the world such as the Royal Opera House, Metropolitan Opera, Glyndebourne Festival, Teatro alla Scala di Milano, Opéra Bastille of Paris, Lyric Opera of Chicago, San Francisco Opera, Los Ángeles Opera, among many others.

She was encouraged by her mother to become a singer and so she did! She studied at the Cleveland Institute from 1968 to 1970 and her voice teachers were Eleanor Steber and Jennie Tourel. Ewing made her operatic debut in 1973, singing at the Ravinia Festival in Illinois and then, in 1976, she made her debut at the Metropolitan Opera singing the role of Cherubino and, two years later, she sang at Glyndebourne for the first time, portraying the role of Dorabella with great success. She sang at the MET 96 performances from 1976 to 1997, when she performed her last role there: Marie in Berg’s Wozzeck. She premiered the English version of Poulenc’s Dialogues des Carmélites at the MET in 1977 in a new production by John Dexter which was televised on PBS.

Ewing had an extensive vocal range and she could switch between mezzosoprano roles and soprano roles. She started her career as a lyric mezzosoprano but then, with the passing of time, she began to include in her repertoire more lyric soprano roles and then she got into more dramatic operas that required not only vocal stamina but also an intense, deep and very intelligent theatrical approach.
Her portrayal of Carmen was completely different to the usual sexy-gypsy interpretation that other singers did. Not only her acting but also her singing was quite unique in the role, caressing the phrases of the Habanera in a jazzy style or even doing some glissandi in certain phrases. With Ewing’s performances one could not separate the actress from the singer and vice versa; she always gave all she had in her soul and in her body to portray her characters. There were lots of layers within her interpretations of complex ladies such as Salome or Katerina Ismailova. She was known for taking risks and, in her Dance of the Veils in Salome, she was one of the first sopranos to end the scene fully naked, causing surprise and uproar in the audience. Ewing had also very expressive eyes that helped her to project all the emotions within the music.

Among her most important recordings on audio and video we have to mention her tender Cherubino in Le nozze di Figaro in the film by Jean-Pierre Ponnelle, her ethereal Mélisande on CD led by Claudio Abbado (Deutsche Grammophone), her intense Katerina Ismailovna in Lady Macbeth of Msensk conducted by Myung-Whun Chung (DG) and most of all, her videos of Carmen (one from the Royal Opera House and one from the Glyndebourne Festival) and Salome (OPUS ARTE) from the Royal Opera House. We can also hear and listen to her regal Dido in Dido and Aeneas in a recording conducted by Richard Hickox both on CD and DVD (KULTUR). Ewing’s naughty Rosina in Il barbiere di Siviglia was also recorded on video from the Glyndebourne Festival (NVC Arts). Her Poppea is also available on DVD, also from the Glyndebourne Festival (NVC Arts). With Bernard Haitink she recorded the role of Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni (EMI). Among her recordings of non-operatic repertory we have to mention her participation in Mozart’s Requiem conducted by Leonard Bernstein (DG), singing the mezzo part, plus Ravel’s Shéhérazade led by Sir Simon Rattle (Warner Classics) and Debussy’s La Damoiselle élue conducted by Claudio Abbado (DG), Mahler’s Symphony No. 4 with Haitink and Judit in Bartok's Bluebeard's Castle.

In 1982, she married theater director Sir Peter Hall, who led the Royal Shakespeare Company and the National Theatre in London. He directed Ewing in several operas, most notoriously in Salome and in Le nozze di Figaro. They had a daughter, Rebecca Hall, who is an actress and a movie director. Hall and Ewing got divorced in 1990. She is survived by her three sisters and her daughter.

With Maria Ewing passing, we have lost a truly unique artist who always gave electrifying performances on stage, living each moment of the music she sang.

Ingrid Haas