Shirley Love (Mezzo-soprano)

Born: January 6, 1940 - Detroit, Michigan,USA

The American mezzo-soprano, Shirley Love, is very much at home, whether on the operatic stage, the concert hall or the intimate setting of the recital platform, the glamorous and versatile.

Shirley Love has performed for twenty-two years at the Metropolitan Opera and for thirty eight years as a leading concert and oratorio singer. She has performed over one hundred different roles at the Metropolitan Opera and has been heard often in the "Live from the Met" saturday afternoon radio broadcasts, as well as televised performances from the stage of the opera house. She was one of the featured artists in the Met Centennial Gala, televised nationwide.

Shirley Love's operatic venues encompass the major opera companies across America and Europe. As a recitalist, she has toured Portugal, Spain, Italy, Greece, Yugoslavia, the Far East (Japan, Korea, Hong Kong), Australia, New Zealand, Holland and Switzerland. She has been soloist with the orchestras of Boston Symphony Orchestra, Baltimore, Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Houston Symphony Orchestra, Indiannapolis, Louisville, Philadelphia Orchestra, Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra and Utah Symphony Orchestra. She has performed with the American Symphony, Bach Aria Group, Musica Sacra and the music festivals of Tanglewood, Basically Bach, Mostly Mozart, Ravinia, Saratoga, Madiera Bach, Mann Music Center (Philadelphia), Bach Festival of Winter Park, Baldwin-Wallace College Bach Festival (Ohio), Carmel Bach Festival (California) under Sandor Salgo (1967-1971), Wolf Trap, Blossom Festival and May Festival, Cincinnati.

Shirley Love's recordings include Janacek's The Diary of One Who Disappeared, which won tremendous critical acclaim and was cited in Opera News as one of the "Best of the Year", in Newsweek as among "the season's best listening", in New York Magazine as a recommended CD release, in High Fidelity as one of the "Critics Choice Noteworthy Releases" and received high praise in The New York Times. She also recorded a series of Bach Cantatas for Vox Records and her latest recording is Igor Stravinsky's The Rake's Progress. During the 1976 Bicentennial celebrations, she was given a Proclamation and a Key to the City of her hometown of Detroit for her outstanding contribution to the arts, and in 1990, received the Achievement in the Arts Award from Wayne State University, her alma mater.

Shirley Love is well known for her many master-classes conducted throughout the USA, Canada, South Africa, Korea and Israel. In January of 2003 she joined the faculty of the Music Conservatory of Westchester, in White Plains, New York.

Source: Voice Teachers Website (2003)
Contributed by Aryeh Oron (May 2005)

Recordings of Bach Cantatas & Other Vocal Works

Conductor

As

Works

Dwight Oltman

Alto

BWV 110, BWV 182, BWV 213, BWV 244 [3^rd]

Sandor Salgo

Alto

BWV 80 [1^st], BWV 80 [2^nd], BWV 243 [5^th], BWV 245 [1^st], BWV 248/1

Johannes Somary

Alto

BWV 53

Links to other Sites

Shirley Love - Mezzo Soprano (Voice Teachers)

Summit Music Festival