Troyanos, Tatiana

▪ 1994

      U.S. mezzo-soprano (b. Sept. 12, 1938, New York, N.Y.—d. Aug. 21, 1993, New York), was renowned for her dark, warm, emotional voice; also a skilled actress, she had a wide repertoire, much of which she recorded. Troyanos first studied piano before an interest in singing developed during her teenage years. After high school she studied at the Juilliard School, New York City, and with Hans Heinz. She then sang in summer stock and on Broadway and in 1963 made her debut with the New York City Opera. In the 1965-66 season Troyanos began a 10-year association with the Hamburg (West Germany) State Opera; among the highlights of her years there was creation of the role of Jeanne in the world premiere of Krzysztof Penderecki's The Devils of Loudon (1969). She had earlier gained wide European acclaim, however, as the Composer (one of the trouser roles with which she became identified) in Richard Strauss's Ariadne auf Naxos at the 1966 Aix-en-Provence (France) Festival. Troyanos sang the title role in Handel's Ariodante at the opening of the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., in 1971 and made her Metropolitan Opera debut in 1976 as Octavian in Strauss's Der Rosenkavalier. Other roles for which she was especially known include Cherubino in Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro, the title role in Bizet's Carmen, Santuzza in Mascagni's Cavalleria rusticana, and Countess Geschwitz in Berg's Lulu. In 1992 Troyanos created the role of Queen Isabella in Philip Glass's The Voyage at the Metropolitan. She was diagnosed with cancer only shortly before her death.

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