'Phyllis Curtin' (née Smith, on
December 3,
1921) is an
American soprano.
Curtin was born in
Clarksburg, West Virginia and studied at
Wellesley College and the
New England Conservatory. She made her operatic debut as The Countess in Mozart's "The Marriage of Figaro" with the
New England Opera Theater in 1946. She became a star of the
New York City Opera, from 1953 and made her
Metropolitan Opera debut in 1961. She also appeared at the
Teatro alla Scala and the
Teatro Colón. She retired from singing in 1984.
Curtin was known for her creation of new roles (such as Susannah in the opera of the same name) and for her dedication to song recitals. She taught at
Yale University and is Artistic Advisor at the
Opera Institute at Boston University School of Music, where she held a Deanship of the Schools for the Arts, as well as Artist in Residence at the Tanglewood Music Center.
In 1995, VAI released, on Compact Discs, the 1962 performance of ''Susannah'', from New Orleans, which co-starred
Norman Treigle and
Richard Cassilly. In 1988, Kultur published a video-cassette of "
The Bell Telephone Hour" program from 1968, entitled "Opera: Two to Six". Curtin is seen in staged excerpts from ''Faust'' and ''Die Meistersinger'', and her colleagues in the telecast included Dame
Joan Sutherland,
Tito Gobbi,
Nicolai Gedda,
Jerome Hines, Mildred Miller and
Charles Anthony.