Born in Detroit, Michigan on March 27, 1950, Maria Ewing was an acclaimed opera singer who performed as a lyric mezzo-soprano early in her career but later changed to full soprano. Initially interested in learning the piano, she didn’t turn to singing until she was in her teens. Her musical education included studying under Eleanor Steber at the Cleveland Institute of Music. In 1973, she made her professional debut at the Ravinia Festival in Chicago, Illinois. Her reputation was cemented when she performed in numerous operas over the next several decades including performances at the San Francisco Opera, Santa Fe Opera, the Glyndebourne Festival Opera, the Metropolitan Opera, the Houston Grand Opera, the Geneva Opera, and many others. While her career has centered around opera, she also performed classical concert recitals and would occasionally do live jazz performances. Now acknowledged as one of the most compelling artists of her generation, her catalog includes albums such as Mozart: Don Giovanni conducted by Bernard Haitink (1984), the jazz album From This Moment On (1990), Debussy: Pelléas et Mélisande with Claudio Abbado (1992) and Purcell: Dido & Aeneas with Richard Hickox (1995). Maria Ewing died at the age of 71 on January 9, 2022.
