LA STORIA IN BREVE
After singing lead roles with great artists including Placido Domingo, Luciano Pavarotti, Richard Bonynge, Marilyn Horne, in the major international opera houses, Noëlle was contracted at the Metropolitan Opera in 1984 – 85. The following is an account of the highlights of her journey from the University to the Metropolitan Opera.
In her freshman year at the University of Michigan as a french horn player Noëlle was a selected member of the famous University of Michigan Band under the direction of Dr. William D. Revelli. This ensemble was chosen by the US State Department to undertake an exchange tour with the then Soviet Union. The group performed all over the Soviet Union – Moscow, St. Petersburg, Minsk, Odessa, Baku, Kiev, Siberia, etc. and then performed in Egypt, Africa, Greece, Cyprus, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Turkey, Jordan, Israel, including Jerusalem and Bethlehem. Returning to America, they performed at Carnegie Hall in New York City.
Noëlle has always sung. As a little girl before turning three, her mother had her performing for audiences. Later she sang solos in churches, synagogues, grade school, high school, and on her grandfather's tractor while working in his fields. Although receiving superior ratings in the district and state competitions both with her French horn and singing, it wasn't until the Russian trip when she received a standing ovation to her singing with the band at an Easter concert in Kiev, that she considered the possibility of a singing career. When the Band returned to campus, she tried to enroll in a singing class and was told she was too good for a voice class so an exception was made in the curriculum allowing one of the voice teachers to give her private lessons. After she had learned two arias and an art song, she secretly drove herself to a contest in Chicago where she won first place (thank goodness a fourth piece wasn’t requested).
Returning to Michigan, she performed the French horn solo in the Ninth Symphony of Beethoven with the university orchestra. The conductor was also the head of the opera department, formerly at the Metropolitan Opera, so she approached him for a singing audition. Going into this audition, she was considered a mezzo or contralto due to the dark and rich quality of her voice and easy production of very low notes. Upon hearing the upper range of her voice he immediately cast her in her first dramatic coloratura role: The Queen of the Night in Mozart's The Magic Flute, and subsequent semesters: Elsa in Wagner’s Lohengrin, Fiordiligi in Mozart's Cosi fan tutte; Roselinda in Strauss' Die Fledermaus; Marguerite in Gounod's Faust. She began singing these and other roles such as Susanna in Floyd's Susanna; Abigail in the Crucible, in various opera houses throughout America, including Miami, St. Louis, Minneapolis, Toronto, Philadelphia, all before graduating from the University.
In this same period she continued winning one contest after another including: Detroit Grinnell Contest; Worcester Massachusetts Singing Contest; Cleveland Operatic Contest; WCNN Contest Chicago; Carnegie Hall Recital Contest; Richard Tucker Contest; National Endowment for the Arts Contest; Weyerhauser award of the Metropolitan Opera National Contest; and Rockefeller Foundation Awards.
After winning the Metropolitan and the Carnegie Hall Recital contests, managers approached her and she chose Sara Tornay of Tornay Management and Matthew Epstein of Columbia Artists. Her New York debut was with the Boris Goldovsky Opera in the role of Violetta. The conductor, after the opening night performance, would not come from his dressing room causing concern because he was heard crying. When he finally came out he explained that he had been touched to tears with her beautiful singing and portrayal. He said: "She not only sang it exquisitely with her large, expressive, colorful voice, but she BECAME Violetta."
Shortly thereafter, she made her New York City Opera debut as Poppea in L´incoronazione di Poppea, which she had first performed at the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. with AlanTitus, tenor and Frank Corsaro, director. This was her first performance with Alan, who is an outstanding performer and known for his acting skills and Mr. Corsaro, famous for his outstanding directing and writing. The production was
a huge success and Noëlle
was asked to return to the Kennedy Center as Massenet’s Thais, Handel’s Semele and Strauss’s Roselinda, all three operas which she also performed in other major cities including New York and the Royal Opera at Covent Garden in London, England. She also continued performing at the New York City Opera.
Her European debut was Gilda in Verdi’s Rigoletto performed in Amsterdam, Holland, and all the other major cities of Holland where she later returned to sing the title role in Handel’s Rodelinda. This was her first performance with the conductor she had loved from early childhood, Sir Richard Bonynge.
Her success as Gilda reached ears all the way to London and the manager, Howard Hartog came to a performance and afterward came back stage where he asked her to join his roster as her European representative. This led to her debut as Musetta in La Boheme at The Royal Opera of Covent Garden in London, England. She received a rave in ‘Opera’ and was invited back to again sing the title role in Handel’s Semele . She also returned to Holland as Donna Anna in Mozart’s Don Giovanni in Amsterdam, which she also performed in New York.
Arriving back in New York, she found several messages in her mail box from Robert Altman requesting an audition. She met Mr. Altman and his staff in his residence and performed for him right there. He said he loved her voice, acting, appearance and presence but said she was too thin and if she would gain some weight, he wanted her to be in his movie Buffalo Bill and the Indians, starring Paul Newman, Geraldine Chaplin, Burt Lancaster, Harvey Keitel, Joel Gray, Kevin McCarthy. Robert Altman asked her to do another movie with him, but she was wrapped up in her first love, singing opera, and it was agreed that there would be future opportunities to work with this great film director again. The experience on set with these stars and acting with them, established her as an outstanding actress in the opera world. Mr. Paul Newman sat her down and told her that she had great acting instincts and that she could trust them in her opera work. This was thrilling because Noëlle wanted to bring reality to her characters on the operatic stage.
While doing the movie, she was preparing for the premiere of Handel's Rinaldo at the Houston Grand Opera in which she sang Armida with Marilyn Horne, Sam Ramey, Benite Valente, John Alexander. She later performed the same role with them at the Ottowa National Opera Theater. The part was realized for her personally by Mr. Martin Katz, who accompanied her debut in Carnegie Recital Hall to outstanding reviews and a great ovation. Performing this premiere with Marilyn Horne, Martin Katz and the other famous artists was a special experience for her. She and Sam were both starting their careers and Samuel Ramay went on to become one of the world's most loved bass-baritones.
Noëlle had just had a big success as Mimi in Puccini’s La Boheme and Verdi’s heroine Tosca at the Ravinia outdoor theater in Chicago, with the famous Metropolitan tenor, John Alexander, when her manager informed her that she would be singing with Luciano Pavarotti at the Philadelphia Opera. In this performance, as Musetta in La Boheme, she again received a huge ovation after her aria, which stopped the orchestra in spite of the announcement made by the conductor in rehearsals that there would be no stopping of the orchestra for applause.
That same year, after performing Fiora in L’amore di tre re , at the New York City Opera with Sam Ramey she made her debut at the San Francisco Opera singing Nedda in Pagliaci with Placido Domingo, Ingvar Wixell, and Jeanne Pierre Ponelle, director. The general director of the opera house, Mr. Kurt Adler, came back after the opening and said, as though surprised: "You are REALLY great!" She enjoyed working with these artists because they also were serious about making the characters real and believable. Placido Domingo refers to this production in his book, "My First Forty Years".
At Wolf Trap she performed Elena in Busoni’s Doktor Faustus with Frank Corsaro and returning again to Canada she sang Helena in Brittan’s Midsummer Night’s Dream in Montreal with John Copley, (director at Covent Garden) directing and later, again with Mr. Copley, she performed Handel’s opera Semele, at the Kennedy Center, D. C. Mr. Copley referred to Noëlle as a true artist and he specifically requested her for all the productions they did together.
In Los Angeles she performed Poppea, also directed by the famous and loved Frank Corsaro; then Verdi’s Tosca, with the director from La Scala, Beni Monressor, and all three roles of Offenbach’s The Tales of Hoffman directed by David Alden, Olympia, Antonia, and Giulietta. Beni Montressor said of her, “She makes magic on the stage” She performed Fiora in Montemessi’s L’amore di tre re, in New York, again with Mr. Montressor and Samuel Ramey. She performed Vitellia in Mozart’s Clemenza di Tito with Eric Tappy in Aix en Provence, France conducted by Franz Allers and again in Marseille, France conducted by Reginald Giovanninetti. A video of the opera was made in Marseille and she received rave reviews, including the Corriere of Italy proclaiming her as the new Mozart specialist of the decade. While performing in France, she met many designers who enjoyed making gifts of clothing for her, "the pretty, tall, thin opera singer". She still has a silk skirt and matching scarf as a gift from the famous designer, Giorgio Armani.
She returned to Vancouver, Canada to perform her first Philine in Mignon with Richard Bonynge conducting. He is her favorite conductor. "He breathes with the singers", and she always claimed it was thrilling to sing when he was conducting.
When her little boy was 2 months old, she sang Violetta in Verdi’s La Traviata in Vancouver, Canada with another one of her favorite stage directors, Norman Ayerton. Several times at the end of the performance, there were members of the audience who refused to leave claiming they had been so touched by the singing and portrayal.
Having sung the Queen of Night arias and both arias of Konstanza in the Metropolitan contest years earlier, it was time to perform the role of Konstanza in Mozart’s Abduction of the Seraglio which she did in Pittsburgh with the great bass Ara Barbarian.
He urged her to audition for the Metropolitan Opera.
She was contracted at the Metropolitan in 1984-85 for the role of Vitellia in Mozart’s Clemenza di Tito, at this time enjoying a fan club (There were fans who showed up where ever she sang and one always left her a rose which she endeavored to find a way to bring on stage in some scene). During this time she was also preparing Norma in Bellini’s Norma. With recording contracts pending and the Metropolitan Opera and her manager negotiating future roles, she suffered a family tragedy and had to make major decisions hurriedly.
It has been said that "she made it to the top and suddenly disappeared" which is what happened. It was not her plan, but circumstances made it so. Rather than place her son in a boarding school, she chose to leave singing for awhile and attend to her emergency family affairs which swung her life into a different direction.
