Lithuanian-born soprano Lilian Sukis (above) emigrated in 1950 to Canada with her family. From 1962, she studied voice at Toronto with - among others - Irene Jessner. In 1964, she appeared as Lady Billows in Britten's Albert Herring for the opening of the MacMillan Theatre at the University of Toronto. Later that year, Ms. Sukis made her Canadian Opera Company debut as Kate Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly.
Moving to New York City in the mid-60s, she was contacted by the Metropolitan Opera where she debuted in 1966 and sang small roles in Parsifal, Frau ohne Schatten, Rigoletto, Elektra, Aida, and Peter Grimes. On March 17, 1967, Ms. Sukis created the role of Helen Niles in the world premiere of Marvin David Levy's Mourning Becomes Electra at The Met. Thereafter, she was Woglinde in the Karajan Walkure, and sang Gluck's Euridice, Nedda, and Pamina before leaving The Met in 1972.
I met Lilian Sukis after a performance of Mourning Becomes Electra; soon after, I found myself sitting next to her at a Sills evening at New York City Opera. She remembered me, and we chatted thru the intermissions. We kept in touch, and when she made her New York Town Hall recital debut in 1969, she invited me:
(I took the photo of her at the top of this article after the recital.)
Ms. Sukis had told me that she was going to be joining the Munich State Opera; for a couple of years, she sang at both Munich and The Met. At the Munich Olympic Festival (1972) she sang the title-role in the premiere of the Korean composer Isang Yun's opera Sim Tjong, which had been written for her.
Following that success, her career centered in Europe, and we eventually lost contact. During the 1970s Ms. Sukis sang at the opera houses in Bayreuth, Frankfurt, Graz, Hamburg, Munich, Salzburg, and Vienna. Her roles included the Countess in Strauss's Capriccio, Fiordiligi in Cosi fan tutte, Miss Jessel in The Turn of the Screw, Leila in Les Pêcheurs de perles, Mélisande in Pelléas et Mélisande, Micaëla in Carmen, Mimi in La Bohème, Pamina in The Magic Flute, Servilia in La Clemenza di Tito, Violetta in La Traviata, and the title roles in Strauss' Daphne and Dvořák's Rusalka. In 1977 she played Frau Fluth in a film version of Nicolai's Merry Wives of Windsor. In 1979 she sang Lisa in The Queen of Spades at Festival Ottawa. Her career continued into the 1990s as a leading soprano with the Bavarian State Opera.
Above: Lilian Sukis in a film of Der Graf von Luxembourg
Above: as the Countess Madeleine in Strauss's Capriccio
Lilian Sukis - Mozart ~ Se ardire e speranza
~ Oberon