Risë Stevens(1913-2013)

Participated in the first complete opera recorded by the Metropolitan Opera Company in 1947. The opera, released that same year by Columbia Records, was Engelbert Humperdinck's "Hansel und Gretel," sung in Constance Bache's English translation. Singing the role of Hansel, she was joined by fellow Met luminaries Nadine Conner (Gretel), Thelma Votipka (The Witch), Claramae Turner (The Mother), and John Brownlee (The Father). Max Rudolf led the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and Chorus for this recording, which remained in print through the early 1980s.

[ observation, 1990] While I was a young singer, people always talked to us about a golden age of opera. Now they tell me that I was part of a golden age. It's all a little ridiculous. We are actually living in a golden age right now, an age of great American voices.