RECOMMEND
 ADD COMMENT  READ COMMENTS (0)  PRINT  EMAIL  SHARE  THE CANADIAN ENCYCLOPEDIA
0 people recommend this
Edith Della Pergola (b Leb). Soprano, teacher, b Cluj, Rumania, 12 Jun 1915; d Montreal 2 Jul 2009; naturalized Canadian 1961. Edith Della Pergola studied voice at the Bucharest Royal Academy of Music, where her teacher was Luciano Della Pergola, whom she married in 1935. Leaving the academy in 1939, she obtained a scholarship to study in Florence and made her Florentine debut that year as Mimi in La Bohème at the Teatro Comunale. She sang in numerous orchestral concerts in Florence before rejoining her husband at the Alberto Della Pergola Conservatory in Bucharest and teaching there 1942-7; she performed for 11 years with the Bucharest Opera as lead soprano. Engaged by the Vienna Staatsoper in 1947, she sang the title role in Aida, followed by the title roles in Tosca and Madama Butterfly and Amelia in Un Ballo in Maschera. She went on to the Zürich opera and also appeared 1950-2 at the Teatro San Carlo in Naples, where she sang the role of the Amica in the Italian premiere (1950) of Von Heute auf Morgen, a comic opera by Schoenberg. She was a guest at theatres in Antwerp, Brussels, Frankfurt, and Munich. In 1955 she and her husband moved to Montreal, where she taught and, jointly with him, directed the McGill Opera Studio. After 1977 she continued the workshop alone until her retirement in 1989 when she was appointed professor emeritus at McGill University. Among her pupils was Jane Ellison, a noted Montreal teacher of pop singers. Della Pergola gave recitals for CBC where she also performed in the programs "The Little Symphonies" on radio and "L'Heure du concert".on TV. In 1946 she received the decoration of the Order of Cultural Merit from King Michael of Rumania.

In 1994, Della Pergola was invested as a member of the Order of Canada. In 2002 she was inducted into the Canadian Opera Hall of Fame.


Writings

Della Pergola, Edith and Luciano; Rea, John, ed. Opera at McGill: The Della Pergola Years 1956-1989 (Montreal 1991)

Author Nadia Turbide


Bibliography

McLean, Eric. "Great Canadian musical figures of the past: Luciano and Edith Della Pergola," Opera Canada, Fall 1993

Turp, Richard. "Grand tradition: Edith Della Pergola," Opera Canada, Summer 2003

Chan, Wah Keung. "Edith Della Pergola: A beautiful life," La Scena Musicale, Dec 2002 - Jan 2003

Feature Articles
Barilko has won the Stanley Cup for the Maple Leafs!
How much of the enduring appeal of that goal is owing to the subsequent tragedy is hard to say. Certainly no one foresaw that it would be Barilko’s last game...
MOST READ ARTICLES
MOST RECOMMENDED ARTICLES
MOST COMMENTED ON ARTICLES
newsletter subscription
* E-mail:
join us on facebook twitter
ARTICLE
Tegan and Sara
by JANNA WHELAN
ARTICLE
Ginette Reno
by L'HERBIER, RIOUX & SIMONOT
ARTICLE
Michael Bublé
by DURRELL BOWMAN
ARTICLE
Metric
by JANNA WHELAN
ARTICLE
Hon. Eugene Forsey on the Office of the Governor General
by HELEN FORSEY
INSIDE TCE
Gallery
Browse the rich visual resources of The Canadian Encyclopedia through thematic galleries of Canadian Art, History, Nature, People, and Science and Technology.
Interactive Resources
Canucklehead
Timeline
100 Greatest Events
THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF MUSIC IN CANADA
Street musicians
Street musicians. Performers of music in an outdoor, generally urban street setting, who are (more or less) economically dependent upon donations solicited from the passing public in return for their performances. The term ...


Who's Who at TCE    |    Our Partners The Canadian Encyclopedia © 2010 Historica-Dominion Copyright Information