User:TenorMore



George Alfred Maran (born 25 July 1926) is an American Opera, Oratorio, and Concert Tenor. Born near Boston Mass. Maran attended Harvard University where he and his voice came to the attention of people such as Leonard Bernstein and Paul Hindemith. He first drew international attention when he won the “Mozart-Medaille”(Mozart Medal) from the Mozarteum International Foundation in Salzburg in 1956 on Mozart’s 200th birthday. The same year, and the next forty years thereafter, he was a soloist at the Opera in Darmstadt, Germany. Even so, he continued singing all over Europe and the United States, the world premiere of A Midsummer Night's Dream (opera) with Benjamin Britten conducting as a prime example. He has sung many wide-ranging and varied genres as soloist in Opera, Operetta, Oratorio, and on the concert stage.

Early life
Maran was born in Attleboro, Mass. the younger of 2 children. His father: Jacob C. Maran (1899) born Agop Marangossian (clerk/jeweler) (naturalized 1923) was an Armenian from Smyrna (now Turkey) who spoke 7 languages fluently, “I don’t know much about him, said Maran, he left when I was 7”. His mother: born Persis M. Weeman (abt1903), gave piano and voice lessons. His Great grandfather, Orin Weeman (abt1844), and Grandfather: Walter O. Weeman (abt1863) were well-known violin makers from ”America’s oldest violin making family” at the time. It was the musical influence of his Grandfather Weeman and his Mother that started him on his path.

Harvard Days 1944 - 1948
At age 20 Maran joined the Harvard Glee Club. He met Leonard Bernstein sometime between then and his graduation. “He heard me at one or more of my concerts and liked my voice" Maran said. In the same way Maran met Paul Hindemith, also through attending his lectures. Maran graduated from Harvard University in 1948(47).

Personal life
On 15 Sept. 1950 Maran married Edit Engel (born: 22 Jan. 1924 in Vienna) she was studying medicine at Tufts College. She was a Jewish refugee who fled with her family in 1939 at the age of 15 to England and later to the US. They had two children: Elizabeth Ann (Elisha) born 1 June 1952 in Salzburg (now living in England), and Joseph born in Frankfurt am Main on 6 Sept. 1957 (a Professor of Archaeology at the University of Heidelberg).

Salzburg
In late 1950 the Marans' moved (in large part through arrangments made by Edit Maran) to Salzburg, they lived in the family house of Herbert Feuerstein (then age 13). Maran Studied church music under Domkapellmeister Joseph Messner; Mozart operas under Professor Dr. B. Paumgartner, and sang in the Salzburg Cathedral as solo Tenor for 5 years. In 1954 Feuerstein wrote 3 "Dehmel-Gedichte" (text from Richard Dehmel) songs for him. The songs themselves were first publicly performed at Marans’ 80th birthday celebration at Staatstheater Darmstadt with Feuerstein himself playing the piano.

Salzburger Festspiele 1952-1971
Salzburger Festspiele Archiv

Staatstheater Darmstadt 1956-1996
In the 40 years that Mr. Maran was at Staatstheater Darmstadt, he sang so much, and in so many genres, ... Maran started in Darmstadt with the premiere of Mozart’s “Titus” in the title part.

Adelburgh Festival


A Midsummer Night's Dream was first performed on 11 June 1960 at the Jubilee Hall, Aldeburgh, UK as part of the Aldeburgh Festival. Conducted by the composer, it was directed by the choreographer John Cranko. Maran played the part of Lysander. Maran is fond of saying that Britten wrote the part for him, which to a certain degree is true, since Britten asked Maran to sing the part after hearing his voice and Maran was in on the final production preparations. He has many memorys of his times at the "Red House". In subsequent performances the roll was sung by Peter Pears who played the part of Flute, a bellows-mender in this production.

Other Engagements
Guest appearances in Frankfurt, Hamburg, Zurich, Amsterdam, and Fests, such as Holland, Strasbourg, Schwetzingen, Kranichstein, etc.

Awards
1956 - Mozart-Medal in Salzburg 1996 - "Ehrenmitglied"(Honored Member) from Staatstheater Darmstadt. This award has been given to only 4 others to date.

Recordings
"The Messiah" by G. F.Handel - "Elijah" by Felix Mendelssohn-Bartoldy - "On Wenlock Edge" by Ralph Vaughan Williams -