Description

ELENA NIKOLAIDI (GREEK: ΈΛΕΝΑ ΝΙΚΟΛΑΪΔΗ; SMYRNA, OTTOMAN EMPIRE, JUNE 15, 1909 – SANTA FE, NEW MEXICO, NOVEMBER 14, 2002)

 

 

 

 

Trained by Thanos Mellos in Athens, whom she married in 1936, she made her debut at the Athens Opera House in 1930. In 1935, she achieved great success in a concert in Athens with the State Orchestra under Dimitri Mitropoulos. She completed her studies in Vienna and made her debut at the Vienna State Opera in 1937, remaining a member until 1948; from 1941 to 1944, she also performed at the Vienna Volksoper. In Vienna, where her debut role was Eboli in Don Carlos, she enjoyed considerable acclaim. She also appeared at the Salzburg Festival (1941), performing the alto solo in Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony and the role of Second Lady in The Magic Flute.

Guest appearances followed at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, in London; at La Scala in Milan; at the Prague Opera; and on tours of Egypt and Australia (1952). In 1949, she achieved great success on an extensive tour of the USA and Canada, singing with the New York Philharmonic in a concert performance of Richard Strauss’s opera Elektra. From 1950 to 1956, she was a member of the Metropolitan Opera in New York, where she continued to receive critical acclaim. She also frequently appeared as a guest artist at the opera houses of Chicago and San Francisco, as well as at leading opera houses in South America.

Her major stage roles included Amneris in Aida, Eboli in Verdi’s Don Carlos, and Clytemnestra in Strauss’s Elektra. From 1964 onward, she taught at Florida State University in Tallahassee. She made recordings for Columbia Records. On a private American club recording, she sings Clytemnestra in Elektra in a 1954 Metropolitan Opera performance; a second recording of Elektra from 1949 was released on Robin Hood Records. Several fragments from opera performances at the Vienna State Opera were released on Koch Records, and a recital (radio recordings from the 1940s) was released on ORE.

 

 

TRACKLIST

 

Alte Liebe (Brahms) 1950 Columbia ML 2165 (LP 3468)

Auf dem Wasser zu singen (Schubert) 1950 Columbia ML 4628 (XLP 9492)

Carmen (Bizet) Ja, die Liebe hat bunte Flügel 1943 Reichsrundfunk

Der Sylphe des Friedens (Mozart) 1950 Columbia ML 2165 (LP 3468)

Der Troubadour (Verdi) Lodernde Flammen 1943 Reichsrundfunk

Die junge Nonne (Schubert) 1950 Columbia ML 4628 (XLP 9492)

Don Carlo (Verdi)  O don fatale 1949 Columbia 72884-D (XCO 41421)

Ein Maskenball (Verdi) König des Abgrunds 1943 Reichsrundfunk

Elektra Ich will nichts hören (Strauss) (w. Varnay) live at Carnegie Hall, 1949

Erlkönig (Schubert) 1950 Columbia ML 2165 (LP 3468)

Euryanthe (Weber) Betörte, die an meine Liebe glaubt 1943 Reichsrundfunk

Fischerweise (Schubert) 1950 Columbia ML 4628 (XLP 9492)

Macbeth (Verdi) Una macchia è qui tuttora 1949 Columbia 72884-D (XCO 41424)

Mondnacht (Schumann) 1950 Columbia ML 2165 (LP 3468)

Schäferlied (Haydn) 1950 Columbia ML 2165 (LP 3468)

Semiramide (Rossini) Bel raggio lusinghier 1949 Columbia 72885-D (XCO 414223)