Jeanette Scovotti

Jeanette Scovotti is an American coloratura soprano.

In 1956 she was in the ensemble of the original Broadway cast of "Li'l Abner"; the only broadway production she ever appeared in. In 1959 she won the New York Singing Teachers Association contest and presented a solo recital at Town Hall. [ [http://select.nytimes.com/mem/archive/pdf?res=F60B12F63F5C1A7B93C2AA1782D85F4D8585F9 New York Times] ] That same year she made her debut at the New York City Opera as Monica in Menotti's "The Medium". [ [http://select.nytimes.com/mem/archive/pdf?res=F40D15FD355B107B93C7AB178FD85F4D8585F9 New York Times April 25, 1959] ] In 1960 she made her debut with the Lyric Opera of Chicago as Olga Sukarev in Umberto Giordano's "Fedora". [ [http://www.lyricopera.org/about/cast1960.asp Lyric Opera of Chicago Archives] ] In 1962 she made her San Francisco Opera debut as Blonde in Mozart's "Die Entführung aus dem Serail" and her Metropolitan Opera debut as Adele in Johann Strauss II's "Die Fledermaus". [ [http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F70616F63554157B93C7A9178AD95F468685F9&scp=4&sq=Jeanette%20Scovotti%20&st=cse February 5, 1962] ]

She became a regular at the Met from 1962-1966 appearing in 86 performances. Her roles at the Metropolitan Opera include Echo and Zerbinetta in "Ariadne auf Naxos", Lisa in "La Sonnambula", Oscar in "Un Ballo in Maschera", Xenia in "Boris Godunov", Rosina in "Il Barbiere di Siviglia", Poussette in "Manon", Zerlina in "Don Giovani", Gilda in "Rigoletto", Papagena in "Die Zauberflöte", Nannetta in "Falstaff", Olympia in "Les Contes d'Hoffmann", Fiakermilli in "Arabella", and Adina in "L'Elisir d'Amore".

In 1962, she and her husband, Fred Patrick, started the Lake George Opera company. She made her concert debut with the Boston Symphony Orchestra at the Tanglewood Festival in July 1963. [ [http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F20917FD3C5A157B93C1A8178CD85F478685F9&scp=6&sq=Jeanette%20Scovotti%20&st=cse New York Times July 13, 1963] ] In 1964 she performed the role of Tuptim in "The King and I" in a concert version with the Cleveland Pops Orchestra under conductor Lehman Engel. The production was recorded later in the studio with Barbara Cook as Anna and Theodore Bikel as the King. In 1966 she sang the title role in Donizetti's "Lucia di Lammermoor" with Giuseppe Bamboschek and the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra at Symphony Hall in Newark. [ [http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F10A17F9385411708DDDAA0894DC405B868AF1D3&scp=5&sq=Jeanette%20Scovotti%20&st=cse NYT April 3, 1966] ]

In 1967, Scovotti joined the roster of the San Francisco Opera where she stayed for only one season. At the SFO she appeared as the Queen of the Night in "The Magic Flute", Musetta in "La Boheme", and Miss Hampton in the U.S. premiere of Gunther Schuller's "The Visitation". [ [http://archive.sfopera.com/qry3WebCastlist.asp?psearchall=on&psearch=Scovotti&psearchtype= San Francisco Opera Archives] ] Following her year in San Francisco, Scovotti moved to Germany and spent the next decade appearing in productions in Europe. She sang at many of the leading opera houses in Europe, including the Hamburg State Opera, Vienna State Opera, Royal Opera at Covent Garden, Teatro Colon, and La Scala. In 1977 she returned to the United States to sing the role of Ludmilla in Mikhail Glinka's "Russian and Ludmilla" with Opera Boston. [ [http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F40616FB395D167493C5A91788D85F438785F9&scp=7&sq=Jeanette%20Scovotti%20&st=cse New York Times March 7, 1977] ] Scovotti now teaches singing in Germany.

Recordings

olo recordings

*"Mozart Concert Arias" with Herbert Blomstedt (Conductor) and the Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden. Berlin Classics label, 1979.

Opera recordings

*Handel's "Armida" with La Grande Écurie et la Chambre du Roy and Jean-Claude Malgoire (conductor). Cast: Carolyn Watkinson (Rinaldo), Jeanette Scovotti (Armida), Ileana Cotrubas (Almirena) and Paul Esswood (Goffredo). Sony label.

*Meyerbeer's: "Les Huguenots" with Ernst Marzendorfer (conductor) and the Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra. Cast: Nicolai Gedda (Raoul), Rita Shane (Marguérite), Justino Diaz (Marcel), Jeanette Scovotti (Urbain), Enriqueta Tarres (Valentine), and Dimiter Petkov (Saint Bris). Opera D'Oro label, 1971.

*Johann Strauss II' "Eine Nacht in Venedig" with the Hungarian National Philharmonic and Ernst Marzendorfer (conductor). Cast: Jeanette Scovotti (Annina), Wolfgang Brendel (Bartolomeo Delacqua). Acanta label.

*Johann Strauss II' "Die Fledermaus" with the Vienna State Opera and Oskar Danon (conductor). Cast: Jeanette Scovotti (Adele), Anna Moffo (Rosalinda), Sergio Franchi (Alfred), Rise Stevens (Orlofsky), Richard Lewis (Eisenstein), George London (Falke), and John Hauxvell (Frank). RCA label, 1963.

*Richard Strauss' "Arabella" with the Rome Radio Symphony Orchestra and Wolfgang Rennert. Cast: Montserrat Caballe (Arabella), Rene Kollo (Matteo), Kurt Moll (Count Waldner), Siegmund Nimsgern (Mandryka), Oralia Dominguez (Adelaide), Olivera Miljakovic (Zdenka), Carlo Gaifa (Count Elemer), and Jeanette Scovotti (Fiakermilli). Opera D'Oro label, 1973.

*Richard Strauss' "Die schweigsame Frau" with the Staatskapelle Dresden and Marek Janowski (conducter). Cast: Theo Adam, Annelies Burmeister, Wolfgang Schöne, Eberhard Büchner, Jeanette Scovotti, Carola Nossek, Trudeliese Schmidt, Klaus Hirte, Werner Haseleu, Helmut Berger-Tuna and Johannes Kemter. Angel label.
*Verdi's "Falstaff" with the Teatro Colon and Fernando Previtali (conductor). Cast:Geraint Evans (Falstaff), Eberhard Waechter (Ford), Luigi Alva (Fenton), Jeanette Scovotti (Alice Ford), Oralia Dominguez (Meg Page). Ornamenti label.

Musical recordings

*"Li'l Abner" Original Broadway Cast recording. SONY label, 1956.
*"The King & I" 1964 Cleveland Pops Cast. Columbia label, 1964.

References