Born on Valentine's Day, 1927, in Allentown, Pennsylvania, soprano Laurel Hurley (above) sang more than 300 performances with the Metropolitan Opera - in New York City and on tour - during her twelve years with the Company.
Ms. Hurley made her Broadway debut at age 16 in a production of THE STUDENT PRINCE which she toured with after its Gotham run. In 1952, she joined the New York City Opera, debuting there as Zerlina.
Laurel Hurley's Met debut came in 1955 as Oscar in BALLO IN MASCHERA. In the ensuing seasons, she sang Offenbach's Olympia and Perichole, Mozart's Susanna, Zerlina, Despina, Papagena, and Queen of the Night as well as Gilda in RIGOLETTO, Sophie in ROSENKAVALIER, Rossini's Rosina, Adele in FLEDERMAUS, Marzelline in FIDELIO, Lauretta in GIANNI SCHICCHI, and Bizet's Micaela, plus single performances of Nedda in PAGLIACCI and Kitty in Menotti's THE LAST SAVAGE.
She was especially admired for her Musetta in LA BOHEME, which she sang 65 times with The Met company, including four broadcasts. Musetta was the role of Ms. Hurley's last Met performance, in a concert version for the NYC Parks Series in the Bronx on July 4th, 1967.
Laurel Hurley - Musetta's Waltz ~ BOHEME - with Albanese-Sereni-Bergonzi-Alvary - Met 1957
In the early 1960s - when I was stranded in the little town, and the Texaco broadcasts were a lifeline for me, I often wrote fan letters to singers I heard over the airwaves. After hearing her as La Perichole, I wrote to Laurel Hurley and received this reply:
Ms. Hurley was to have sung Gilda in RIGOLETTO at the Cincinnati Zoo Opera in 1962, my first-ever live opera performance, but she was replaced by Nadja Witkowska. I was dejected when we arrived in town and I read about Laurel's cancellation in the local newspaper; I even sent my sister a postcard about the cast change (not that my sister would have known or cared who Laurel and Nadja were). Amazingly, when my sister mailed me some memorabilia a few years ago that my mom had saved from my childhood, there was the postcard!
Laurel Hurley appeared on two televised programs in the old Omnibus series, and also as Queen of the Night in the NBC Opera's 1956 TV production of THE MAGIC FLUTE, with Leontyne Price as Pamina. I cannot find any recorded documentation of these televised events, but I did locate this very interesting audio-only recording of Laurel Hurley singing the PURITANI Mad Scene at a 1960 Met Opera Guild gala.
As of this writing, Laurel Hurley is still with us - at the age of 93 - living in her hometown of Allentown, Pennsylvania.
~ Oberon