In 1974, Evelyn Lear sang a beautifully detailed performance of the Marschallin in Strauss's DER ROSENKAVALIER on a Met matinee broadcast.
Ms. Lear made her Met debut in 1967, singing the role of Lavinia in the world premiere of Marvin David Levy's MOURNING BECOMES ELECTRA. Over the next eighteen years, she sang nearly one hundred performances with The Met, both at Lincoln Center and on tour. She excelled as both the Marschallin and Octavian in ROSENKAVALIER, and as both Cherubino and Countess Almaviva in NOZZE DI FIGARO.
In 1970, Evelyn Lear was my first Composer in ARIADNE AUF NAXOS in a stellar cast also featuring Leonie Rysanek, Reri Grist, and James King, conducted by Karl Böhm. Among her other Met roles were Marie in WOZZECK, Mozart's Donna Elvira, and Alice Ford in FALSTAFF; in the last-named opera, her real-life husband Thomas Stewart played her onstage husband, Ford. On the 4th of July, 1972, she sang a single Tosca in concert at Prospect Park, with Richard Tucker as Mario Cavaradossi.
Earlier in her career, Ms. Lear had had outstanding successes singing the title-role in Alban Berg's LULU. In 1980, at The Met, she took on that opera's mezzo-soprano role of the Countess Geschwitz and gave an incredibly moving performance. She ended her Met career in 1985 with two performances as the Marschallin.
Evelyn Lear passed away in 2012.