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The Dutch contralto, Sophia van Sante, studied singing at the Conservatory of Amsterdam with To van der Sluys and Ruth Horna and in Rome with Mariette Amstadt.
Sophia van Sante made her debut at the Nederlandse Opera on August 23, 1960 as Flora Bervoix in Verdi's La traviata in the Kurhaus in Scheveningen. She sang in over 60 roles and was an opera - as well as a concert - and oratorio singer. She performed in a repertoire that reached from Claudio Monteverdi to the modern time, in which she sang in the premieres of the Dutch composers Peter Schat (Labyrint, 1966) and Ton de Kruyf (Spinoza, 1971). Between 1960 and 1982 she appeared on stage among others as Concepcion in L'heure Espagnole by Maurice Ravel, as Dorabella in Cosi fan Tutte by W.A. Mozart, as Maddalena in Rigoletto by G. Verdi, as Mary in Der fliegenden Holländer by R. Wagner, as Meg Page in Falstaff by G. Verdi, but also in contemporary works as the mother in Luigi Dallapiccola’s Il Prigionier (The prisoner), Margret in Wozzeck by Alban Berg and Judith in Bluebeards Castle by Béla Bartók. Her final appearance with the Nederlandse Operastichting - in the Kurhaus, just as in her debut in 1960 - was as Larina in Eugene Onegin by Tchaikovsky on November 4, 1982. She died on Friday December 9, 2007, at the age of 82.
She made recordings of Richard Strauss' Rosenkavalier on Philips (in a minor role) and for Telefunken as Marta in Mefistofele by Arrigo Boito. Aimé Maillart, Les dragons de villars: 'Grace a ce vilain ermite', VARA (Dutch broadcasting company) recording of December 1957. |
