Auger, Arleen

▪ 1994

      U.S. opera singer (b. Sept. 13, 1939, South Gate, Calif.—d. June 10, 1993, Leusden, Neth.), projected a commanding stage presence and was especially praised for her flexible coloratura soprano voice and subtle interpretations of works by Bach, Handel, Haydn, Monteverdi, Gluck, and especially Mozart. After graduating from California State University at Long Beach (1963), she taught elementary school and studied voice in Chicago with Ralph Errolle. Two years later in Los Angeles, she captured the I. Victor Fuchs Competition and won an audition with the Vienna Volksoper. Though she had only three songs in her repertoire, Auger so impressed one person at her audition, Josef Krips, director of the Vienna State Opera, that he offered her a contract despite her lack of stage experience and unfamiliarity with the German language. Auger made her debut (1967) there as the Queen of the Night in Die Zauberflöte; she later expanded her repertoire to more than a dozen roles, notably Constanze in Die Entführung aus dem Serail and Gilda in Rigoletto. She left the Vienna State Opera in 1974 but continued to expand her recital repertoire and made selective appearances in roles she felt were suitable for her rich tone; she sang Schubert and Schumann lieder and turn-of-the-century French art songs besides commissioning new song cycles by Libby Larsen and Judith Zaimont. Auger, who was more popular in Europe than in the U.S., performed at most of the European opera houses before making her New York City Opera debut in 1976. It was not until 1984 that she began to attract a serious U.S. following. The highlight of her career was her performance at the wedding of Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson, the Duke and Duchess of York, on July 23, 1986, when she sang Mozart's "Exsultate, Jubilate." Auger's superb coloratura technique was documented on nearly 200 recordings. She continued to perform until 1992, when the brain cancer that later claimed her life forced her retirement.

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