Caldwell, Sarah

▪ 2007

      American opera conductor, producer, and impresario (b. March 6, 1924, Maryville, Mo.—d. March 23, 2006, Portland, Maine), was noted for her innovative productions of challenging and difficult works. Caldwell was a musical prodigy who by age six was giving public violin recitals. She graduated from high school at 14 and attended the University of Arkansas and the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston. She then served as chief assistant to Boris Goldovsky at the New England Opera Company for several years, and in the meantime she studied and taught opera at the Berkshire Music Center at Tanglewood, Mass. Her first “solo” production was Ralph Vaughn Williams's Riders to the Sea in 1947. She headed the Boston University Opera Workshop from 1952 to 1960, and in 1957 she founded a permanent opera group, which eventually became known as the Opera Company of Boston; the company closed in the early 1990s owing to financial difficulties. As conductor and producer there, Caldwell established a reputation for producing daring and inventive variants of standard works; her company gave the original performance versions of Giuseppe Verdi's Don Carlos and Modest Mussorgsky's Boris Godunov. She also produced the American premieres of such contemporary operas as Arnold Schoenberg's Moses und Aron, Luigi Nono's Intolleranza, and Paul Hindemith's Mathis der Maler. Her pursuit of meaningful character interpretations and her concern for both musical quality and visual appeal drew to her productions many of the greatest opera singers of the time. In 1976 Caldwell became the first woman conductor of a performance by the Metropolitan Opera in New York City, conducting Verdi's La traviata, with Beverly Sills in the title role. From 1999 to 2004 she headed the opera program at the University of Arkansas, where she served as distinguished professor of music.

* * *

▪ American opera conductor and producer

born March 6, 1924, Maryville, Missouri, U.S.

died March 23, 2006, Portland, Maine

      American opera conductor, producer, and impresario, noted for her innovative productions of challenging and difficult works.

      Caldwell was a musical prodigy who by age six was giving public violin recitals. She graduated from high school at 14 and attended the University of Arkansas and the New England Conservatory of Music. She then served as an assistant to Boris Goldovsky at the New England Opera Company for several years, and in the meantime she studied and taught opera at the Berkshire Music Center at Tanglewood, Massachusetts. Her first “solo” production was Ralph Vaughan Williams's Riders to the Sea in 1947. She headed the Boston University Opera Workshop from 1952 to 1960, and in 1957 she founded a permanent opera group, which eventually became known as the Opera Company of Boston, for that city; the company closed in the early 1990s owing to financial difficulties.

      As conductor and producer there, Caldwell established a reputation for producing daring and inventive variants of standard works; her company gave the original performance versions of Giuseppe Verdi's Don Carlos and Modest Mussorgsky's Boris Godunov. She also produced the American premieres of such contemporary operas as Arnold Schoenberg's Moses und Aron, Luigi Nono's Intolleranza, and Paul Hindemith's Mathis der Maler. Her pursuit of meaningful character interpretations and her concern for both musical quality and visual appeal drew to her productions many of the greatest opera singers of the time. In 1976 Caldwell became the first woman conductor of a performance by the Metropolitan Opera in New York City, conducting Verdi's La Traviata with Beverly Sills (Sills, Beverly) in the title role. She also conducted performances by several major symphony orchestras. In 1999 Caldwell joined the faculty at the University of Arkansas, where she headed the school's opera program and served as distinguished professor of music; she retired in 2004.

* * *