Mary Curtis Verna

Mary Virginia Curtis Verna (May 9, 1921 – December 4, 2009) was an American operatic soprano, particularly associated with the Italian repertory.

Born in Salem, Massachusetts, she studied at Abbot Academy and Hollins College. She continued her education at the Juilliard School where she studied with Hardesty Johnson. After graduating from Juilliard, she began studying with Ettore Verna at the recommendation of mezzo-soprano Martha Lipton. She later married Verna in 1954.

With Verna's intervention, she made her operatic debut at the Teatro Lirico in Milan, as Desdemona, in 1949. In 1950, she appeared on the Ed Sullivan Show singing "Visi d'arte" from Tosca and "Will You Remember?" from Maytime. During her early years, she sang widely in Italy, as Maria Curtis Verna, and made guest appearances at the Vienna State Opera and the Munich State Opera.

Verna made her American debut at the Academy of Music in Philadelphia with the Philadelphia Civic Grand Opera Company on May 14, 1952 in the title role of Giuseppe Verdi's Aida with Ramón Vinay as Radamès, Claramae Turner as Amneris, and Giuseppe Bamboschek conducting. Later that year she appeared in the same role for her debut with the San Francisco Opera. She made her first appearance at the New York City Opera, as Donna Anna, in 1954, and also sang Aida and Tosca with the company.

In 1957, Verna made her debut at the Metropolitan Opera as Leonora in Il Trovatore, singing there for 10 seasons. Her other roles at the Met included Aida, Leonora (La forza del destino), Elisabetta (Don Carlo), Santuzza (Cavalleria rusticana), Tosca and Turandot. She portrayed Amelia in a new production of Simon Boccanegra opposite Leonard Warren in his final complete opera appearance at the Metropolitan. She appeared as both Donna Anna and Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni, and she appeared in Götterdämmerung doubling as both the Third Norn and Gutrune.

During her tenure at the Metropolitan Opera, Verna became well-known and acclaimed for filling in for indisposed divas, often on only a few hours notice.

Verna made guest appearances with several other American opera companies, including Cincinnati and Baltimore. In 1962, she sang with the Philadelphia Lyric Opera in Manon Lescaut, conducted by Julius Rudel and in 1964, La Gioconda opposite Franco Corelli and conducted by Anton Guadagno. She also sang with South American opera companies, including the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires.

Verna made comparatively few commercial recordings, including Aida for Remington; she recorded a solo album of Italian arias, Don Giovanni, Un ballo in maschera, and Aida for Cetra Records in Italy. For the Metropolitan Opera Record Club (issued by the Book-of-the-Month Club) she recorded Il Trovatore and Andrea Chenier. Later, several live Metropolitan Opera recordings were issued including Tosca, Don Carlo, and two recordings of Aida, Macbeth in Cincinnati, and La Gioconda in Philadelphia. Several recordings of other live performances also survive.

Verna left the Metropolitan Opera in 1966, her final appearance was in the gala closing night performance at the old house. In 1969, she accepted the position of Head of the Voice Department at the University of Washington School of Music. That same year, she gave one of her final operatic performances in Turandot with the Seattle Opera, alternating with Birgit Nilsson in the title role. She retired from the University of Washington in 1991.

Verna died at her home in Seattle, Washington on December 4, 2009 at the age of 88.