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Marie Collier
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Marie Collier (16 April 1927 – 8 December 1971) was an Australian operatic soprano.
Marie Collier was born in Ballarat, Victoria. She first came to prominence in 1952 singing the role of Santuzza in Cavalleria Rusticana for the National Theatre Opera company in Melbourne. However she became a household name in Australia in 1953-4 performing Magda Sorel in The Consul, for a total of seventy-five performances in Melbourne, Sydney and regional areas.
Collier studied in Milan in 1955, where she was auditioned by Lord Harewood. Subsequently she was offered a contract as a regular member of the Covent Garden Opera Company. She made her Royal Opera House, Covent Garden debut as the First Lady in The Magic Flute in 1956. She created the role of Hecuba in Michael Tippett's King Priam which premiered in Coventry in May 1962; and sang the leading roles in the Western premieres of The Makropulos Case and Katerina Ismailova for Sadler's Wells.
Other roles at Covent Garden in subsequent seasons included Musetta in La Boheme; Giulietta in The Tales of Hoffmann; Liu in Turandot; Flora in La Traviata; Butterfly in Madame Butterfly; and the title role in the 1963 production of Tosca.
She is probably best known as being the substitute Tosca in Covent Garden's famous 1965 revival of the 1964 Franco Zeffirelli production of the opera. When Maria Callas cancelled her appearances in three out of the four scheduled performances, Collier stepped in, to great acclaim.
She died in London at the age of 44 in an accident in which she fell to her death from an open window.
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