Graciela Rivera
Encyclopedia
Dr. Graciela Rivera was the first Puerto Rican
to sing a lead role at the Metropolitan Opera
in New York.
, enjoyed singing as a child. Her father was a church pastor who would often play in his record player the opera music of Caruso. He owned a piano and when he played she would sing church hymns with her mother. she was considered very talented by her family and teachers alike.
Her family moved to Cataño
and later to Santurce
, a section of San Juan
, where she finished her primary and secondary education. She was a student at Santurce Central High School when she auditioned and participated in school productions of "The Magic Flute
", "Il trovatore
", "Rigoletto
", "Lucia di Lammermoor
" and "Aida
" (Ms. Rivera believes these were the first operas ever produced by a high school anywhere in the world). She delighted audiences in Puerto Rico with her soprano
voice in concerts which she organized. She planned to use the money obtained from these concerts to pay for her studies at the Juilliard School of Music in New York City.
lessons, music theory, harmony and composition, graduating in 1943. Upon the outbreak of World War II, she sang for the American troops overseas as a member of the Red Cross.
In 1945, she was given the role of Adele in the musical "Rosalinda", a Broadway
version of Johann Strauss II
's Die Fledermaus
. Rivera traveled to France and Germany with the production. That very same year she made her operatic debut as Rosina in "The Barber of Seville
" by Gioachino Rossini at the New Orleans Opera
.
. She earned accolades for her performance from critics around the world. In 1953, Rivera was proclaimed "Citizen of the Year" by the City of New York.
In 1954 Rivera was featured as a guest singer in Name That Tune
, and later that year, at an instance of Your Show of Shows
, serving as a replacement for Marguerite Piazza
. In 1956, she performed at the Theater of the University of Puerto Rico
and one of her back-up singers was a young fellow Puerto Rican by the name of Justino Diaz
, who would someday also become a renowned opera
singer. That same year Rivera was presented with a special recognition by the Government of Puerto Rico.
In 1959, Rivera returned to New York where she had a weekly radio show at WHOM. She traveled regularly between New York and Puerto Rico, in Puerto Rico she participated in the IV Pablo Casals Festival
.
, Rutgers College and Lehman College
. In 1993, Rivera earned her Doctorate Degree in Humanities from the Pontifical Catholic University of Puerto Rico
and in 1996 she was bestowed with a Honoris Causa from Lehman College.
, Ponce, dedicated to her memory.
Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico , officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico , is an unincorporated territory of the United States, located in the northeastern Caribbean, east of the Dominican Republic and west of both the United States Virgin Islands and the British Virgin Islands.Puerto Rico comprises an...
to sing a lead role at the Metropolitan Opera
Metropolitan Opera
The Metropolitan Opera is an opera company, located in New York City. Originally founded in 1880, the company gave its first performance on October 22, 1883. The company is operated by the non-profit Metropolitan Opera Association, with Peter Gelb as general manager...
in New York.
Early years
Rivera, who was born in Ponce, Puerto RicoPonce, Puerto Rico
Ponce is both a city and a municipality in the southern part of Puerto Rico. The city is the seat of the municipal government.The city of Ponce, the fourth most populated in Puerto Rico, and the most populated outside of the San Juan metropolitan area, is named for Juan Ponce de León y Loayza, the...
, enjoyed singing as a child. Her father was a church pastor who would often play in his record player the opera music of Caruso. He owned a piano and when he played she would sing church hymns with her mother. she was considered very talented by her family and teachers alike.
Her family moved to Cataño
Cataño, Puerto Rico
Cataño is a municipality located on northern coast of Puerto Rico bordering the Atlantic Ocean and adjacent to the north and east by San Juan; north of Bayamón and Guaynabo; east of Toa Baja and west of Guaynabo and is part of the San Juan Metropolitan Area. Cataño is spread over 7 wards and...
and later to Santurce
Santurce, San Juan, Puerto Rico
Santurce is a district of San Juan, Puerto Rico.-Summary:Santurce is one of the top ten most populated areas of the island holding Miramar, Loíza, Isla Grande, Barrio Obrero, and Condado as main cultural hot spots for art, music, cuisine, fashion, hotels, technology, multimedia, film, textile and...
, a section of San Juan
San Juan, Puerto Rico
San Juan , officially Municipio de la Ciudad Capital San Juan Bautista , is the capital and most populous municipality in Puerto Rico, an unincorporated territory of the United States. As of the 2010 census, it had a population of 395,326 making it the 46th-largest city under the jurisdiction of...
, where she finished her primary and secondary education. She was a student at Santurce Central High School when she auditioned and participated in school productions of "The Magic Flute
The Magic Flute
The Magic Flute is an opera in two acts composed in 1791 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to a German libretto by Emanuel Schikaneder. The work is in the form of a Singspiel, a popular form that included both singing and spoken dialogue....
", "Il trovatore
Il trovatore
Il trovatore is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Salvadore Cammarano, based on the play El Trovador by Antonio García Gutiérrez. Cammarano died in mid-1852 before completing the libretto...
", "Rigoletto
Rigoletto
Rigoletto is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi. The Italian libretto was written by Francesco Maria Piave based on the play Le roi s'amuse by Victor Hugo. It was first performed at La Fenice in Venice on March 11, 1851...
", "Lucia di Lammermoor
Lucia di Lammermoor
Lucia di Lammermoor is a dramma tragico in three acts by Gaetano Donizetti. Salvadore Cammarano wrote the Italian language libretto loosely based upon Sir Walter Scott's historical novel The Bride of Lammermoor....
" and "Aida
Aida
Aida sometimes spelled Aïda, is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Antonio Ghislanzoni, based on a scenario written by French Egyptologist Auguste Mariette...
" (Ms. Rivera believes these were the first operas ever produced by a high school anywhere in the world). She delighted audiences in Puerto Rico with her soprano
Soprano
A soprano is a voice type with a vocal range from approximately middle C to "high A" in choral music, or to "soprano C" or higher in operatic music. In four-part chorale style harmony, the soprano takes the highest part, which usually encompasses the melody...
voice in concerts which she organized. She planned to use the money obtained from these concerts to pay for her studies at the Juilliard School of Music in New York City.
Broadway
Rivera moved to New York after she graduated from high school. She enrolled at Juilliard's and took voice classes, pianoPiano
The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
lessons, music theory, harmony and composition, graduating in 1943. Upon the outbreak of World War II, she sang for the American troops overseas as a member of the Red Cross.
In 1945, she was given the role of Adele in the musical "Rosalinda", a Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
version of Johann Strauss II
Johann Strauss II
Johann Strauss II , also known as Johann Baptist Strauss or Johann Strauss, Jr., the Younger, or the Son , was an Austrian composer of light music, particularly dance music and operettas. He composed over 500 waltzes, polkas, quadrilles, and other types of dance music, as well as several operettas...
's Die Fledermaus
Die Fledermaus
Die Fledermaus is an operetta composed by Johann Strauss II to a German libretto by Karl Haffner and Richard Genée.- Literary sources :...
. Rivera traveled to France and Germany with the production. That very same year she made her operatic debut as Rosina in "The Barber of Seville
The Barber of Seville
The Barber of Seville, or The Futile Precaution is an opera buffa in two acts by Gioachino Rossini with a libretto by Cesare Sterbini. The libretto was based on Pierre Beaumarchais's comedy Le Barbier de Séville , which was originally an opéra comique, or a mixture of spoken play with music...
" by Gioachino Rossini at the New Orleans Opera
New Orleans Opera
Opera has long been part of the musical culture of New Orleans, Louisiana. Operas have regularly been performed in the city since the 1790s, and for the majority of the city's history since the early 19th century, New Orleans has had a resident company regularly performing opera in addition to...
.
New York Metropolitan Opera
In December 1951, she became the first Puerto Rican to sing a lead role at the New York Metropolitan Opera as Lucia in the production of Lucia di LammermoorLucia di Lammermoor
Lucia di Lammermoor is a dramma tragico in three acts by Gaetano Donizetti. Salvadore Cammarano wrote the Italian language libretto loosely based upon Sir Walter Scott's historical novel The Bride of Lammermoor....
. She earned accolades for her performance from critics around the world. In 1953, Rivera was proclaimed "Citizen of the Year" by the City of New York.
In 1954 Rivera was featured as a guest singer in Name That Tune
Name That Tune
Name That Tune is a television game show that put two contestants against each other to test their knowledge of songs. Premiering in the United States on NBC Radio in 1952, the show was created and produced by Harry Salter and his wife Roberta....
, and later that year, at an instance of Your Show of Shows
Your Show of Shows
Your Show of Shows is a live 90-minute variety show that appeared weekly in the United States on NBC , from February 25, 1950, until June 5, 1954, featuring Sid Caesar and Imogene Coca....
, serving as a replacement for Marguerite Piazza
Marguerite Piazza
Marguerite Piazza is an American soprano and entertainer.In 1935, Piazza was the first Queen of the Krewe of Virgilians, during Mardi Gras, in New Orleans. A 1940 graduate of Loyola University of the South's College of Music, she then studied at Louisiana State University, where she was a student...
. In 1956, she performed at the Theater of the University of Puerto Rico
University of Puerto Rico
The University of Puerto Rico is the state university system of Puerto Rico. The system consists of 11 campuses and has approximately 64,511 students and 5,300 faculty members...
and one of her back-up singers was a young fellow Puerto Rican by the name of Justino Diaz
Justino Díaz
Justino Díaz is an internationally renowned bass-baritone opera singer. In 1963, Díaz won an annual contest held at the Metropolitan Opera of New York, becoming the "first" Puerto Rican to obtain such an honor and as a consequence, made his Metropolitan debut on October 1963 in Verdi's Rigoletto...
, who would someday also become a renowned opera
Opera
Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
singer. That same year Rivera was presented with a special recognition by the Government of Puerto Rico.
In 1959, Rivera returned to New York where she had a weekly radio show at WHOM. She traveled regularly between New York and Puerto Rico, in Puerto Rico she participated in the IV Pablo Casals Festival
Casals Festival
The Casals Festival is a classical music event celebrated every year in San Juan, Puerto Rico, in honor of world renowned musician Pablo Casals.-Background:...
.
Later years
She taught Puerto Rican music, Italian and Spanish at the Hostos Community College for 15 years before retiring in 1987. She also held conferences at Hunter CollegeHunter College
Hunter College, established in 1870, is a public university and one of the constituent colleges of the City University of New York, located on Manhattan's Upper East Side. Hunter grants undergraduate, graduate, and post-graduate degrees in more than one hundred fields of study, and is recognized...
, Rutgers College and Lehman College
Lehman College
Lehman College is one of the constituent colleges of the City University of New York, USA. Founded in 1931 as the Bronx campus of Hunter College, the school became an independent college within the City University in 1968. The college is named after Herbert Lehman, a former New York governor,...
. In 1993, Rivera earned her Doctorate Degree in Humanities from the Pontifical Catholic University of Puerto Rico
Pontifical Catholic University of Puerto Rico
The Pontifical Catholic University of Puerto Rico is a Roman Catholic university located in Ponce, Puerto Rico. It provides courses in the areas of education, business administration, arts and human studies and science, leading to Bachelor's, Master's and Doctorate Degrees. Its campus is also home...
and in 1996 she was bestowed with a Honoris Causa from Lehman College.
Legacy
The city of Ponce has a park in Barrio PrimeroPrimero (Ponce)
Primero is one of the 31 barrios of the municipality of Ponce, Puerto Rico. Together with Segundo, Tercero, Cuarto, Quinto, and Sexto, Primero is one the municipality's six core urban barrios.-Location:...
, Ponce, dedicated to her memory.