{"value"=>"<p>Teresa Stratas (née Anastasia Strataki) is a Canadian-born American soprano regarded as one of the greatest and most expressive opera actresses of all time. Born in Toronto in 1938, she was the daughter of Greek immigrants, and grew up in poor circumstances. She sang at community events from a young age, and later performed in clubs, movie houses, and on radio programs. Stratas sang mainly Greek songs and standards until, at the age of 16, she heard opera for the first time when a touring production of the Metropolitan Opera performed <span class=\"title\">La Bohème</span> in Toronto.</p> <p>Stratas studied with Irene Jessner at the University of Toronto for three years, and debuted with the Canadian Opera in 1958. The following year, she won the Metropolitan Opera Auditions of the Air, and was offered a contract with the company. After making a few appearances in small roles, Stratas was asked to substitute as Liú in <span class=\"title\">Turandot</span>, for which she received huge ovations and strong reviews, launching her to fame. In addition to the Met, she began to perform at major opera houses across the United States and in Britain, Italy, Germany, Russia, and Paris during the 1960s.</p> <p>Stratas's regular appearances in New York included those as Sardula (Menotti's <span class=\"title\">Le Dernier Sauvage</span>), Lisa (<span class=\"title\">The Queen of Spades</span>), Nedda (<span class=\"title\">Pagliacci</span>), Micaëla (<span class=\"title\">Carmen</span>), Zerlina (<span class=\"title\">Don Giovanni</span>), Cherubino (<span class=\"title\">The Marriage of Figaro</span>), Despina (<span class=\"title\">Cosí Fan Tutte</span>) and Hänsel (<span class=\"title\">Hänsel and Gretel</span>). In 1961, she created the title role in Peggy Glanville-Hicks's <span class=\"title\">Nausicaa</span> at the Athens Festival. Stratas sang the title role of Alban Berg's <span class=\"title\">Lulu</span> in that opera's first complete performance and recording (1979), and sang Violetta in Francisco Zeffirelli's film of <span class=\"title\">La Traviata</span> in 1983. She appeared on Broadway in <span class=\"title\">Rags</span> in 1986, performed on a new recording of the musical <span class=\"title\">Show Boat</span> in 1988, and portrayed Marie Antoinette in the 1991 Metropolitan premiere of John Corigliano's <span class=\"title\">The Ghosts of Versailles</span>. Her other filmed roles include Nedda in <span class=\"title\">Pagliacci</span>, and the title role in <span class=\"title\">Salome</span>.</p> <p>Stratas was friendly with Lotte Lenya and had a particular liking for the music of Kurt Weill, recording two albums of his material: <span class=\"title\">Teresa Stratas Sings the Unknown Kurt Weill</span> (1981), for which Lenya sent Stratas unpublished songs; and <span class=\"title\">Stratas Sings Weill</span> (1985). She also served for several years as a judge for the Lotte Lenya vocal competition, sponsored by the Kurt Weill Foundation for Music.</p> <p>Stratas took two breaks from her performance career, the first in the 1980s to work with Mother Teresa in Calcutta, the second in the 1990s to work in a Romanian orphanage. She has received several honorary degrees and prizes, as well as the Canadian Governor General's Performing Arts Award for Lifetime Artistic Achievement (2000).</p> <p>In 1995, Stratas underwent a botched surgery on her nose which effectively ended her singing career, and she sued the surgeon. During the 1980s, she was married to the British poet and playwright Tony Harrison; she had previous relationships with the conductor Zubin Mehta and the set designer Gerd Staub. Among her close friends are conductor James Levine and mezzo-soprano Rosalind Elias.</p>"}
{"value"=>"<p>The Teresa Stratas papers, dating from 1938 to 2016, document the singer's life and career through letters, photographs, annotated scores, subject files, posters, programs, clippings, datebooks, costume and set designs, awards, art, and books. The largest components of the collection are letters, photographs, scores, and subject files. Small portions of the collection are electronic; these consist of Microsoft Word files.</p> <p>Letters date from the 1950s onward. They contain postcards, notes, and multi-page letters from friends, colleagues, and family of Stratas, as well as from fans, opera companies, and managers. The bulk is arranged chronologically; fan mail and letters from some correspondents are filed separately. These include Rosalind Elias, Tony Harrison, Zubin Mehta, Gerd Staub, Winthrop Sargeant, David Diamond, and Rudolf Bing. Letters from these individuals, as well as fan mail, can also be found among the chronological letter files.</p> <p>Photographs consist of formal and informal portraits of Stratas; opera production scenes; and shots of Stratas with colleagues, including Zubin Mehta, Rosalind Elias, James Levine, Herbert Von Karajan, Lotte Lenya, Placido Domingo, and Gianni Schicchi, among others. Most of the photographs are loose, but some are housed in albums.</p> <p>The production photographs date from the early 1960s to the 1980s. They are arranged by title, and often contain documentation of more than one company. Besides the Met, there are photographs of productions at Covent Garden, Bayerische Staatsoper, La Scala in Milan, the San Francisco Opera, and other companies. Also present are screenshots of films in which Stratas appeared, including <span class=\"title\">Pagliacci</span>, <span class=\"title\">Salome</span>, and <span class=\"title\">La Traviata</span>.</p> <p>The photographs filed under Metropolitan Opera hold images of Stratas's audition, as well as shots of her with Rudolf Bing. The portraits of Stratas date from the 1960s to the 2010s and include headshots in roles, as well as promotional images. The photographs also contain a file of images of Tony Harrison.</p> <p>Scores consist primarily of annotated piano-vocal scores and librettos for operas, some in multiple copies. These include <span class=\"title\">Amahl and the Night Visitors</span>, <span class=\"title\">Ariadne auf Naxos</span>, <span class=\"title\">The Bartered Bride</span>, <span class=\"title\">La Bohème</span>, <span class=\"title\">Don Giovanni</span>, <span class=\"title\">Eugene Onegin</span>, <span class=\"title\">Hänsel and Gretel</span>, <span class=\"title\">Lulu</span>, <span class=\"title\">Manon</span>, <span class=\"title\">The Marriage of Figaro</span>, <span class=\"title\">The Merry Widow</span>, <span class=\"title\">Nausicaa</span>, <span class=\"title\">Pagliacci</span>, <span class=\"title\">Pelléas et Mélisande</span>, <span class=\"title\">Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny</span>, <span class=\"title\">Rusalka</span>, <span class=\"title\">Salome</span>, <span class=\"title\">Suor Angelica</span>, <span class=\"title\">La Traviata</span>, and <span class=\"title\">Turandot</span>. Also present are the musicals <span class=\"title\">Kiss Me, Kate</span>, <span class=\"title\">Rags</span>, and <span class=\"title\">Show Boat</span>, as well as inscribed song scores by Samuel Barber, Lee Hoiby, Richard Hundley, and Ned Rorem, among others. Annotated scores for songs recorded by Stratas on her Kurt Weill recordings can be found in the Subject Files under <span class=\"title\">Stratas Sings Weill</span>. Vocal and piano-conductor scores for <span class=\"title\">Rags</span> can also be found in the Subject Files. Some score files also contain letters or memorabilia.</p> <p>The Subject Files document projects, events, people, productions, and other topics. They contain notes, contracts, letters, photographs, programs, clippings, royalty statements, ephemera, and other papers. The largest components are <span class=\"title\">Rags</span>, which holds cast and fan letters, photographs, and scores; and Stratas's lawsuit against the surgeon who unsuccessfully operated on her. Those files contain Stratas's medical history as it pertains to that operation, depositions, clippings, narratives, and other legal files and correspondence.</p> <p>The Subject Files also include transcripts of speeches and interviews with Stratas; biographies; the transcript of Stratas's interview of Rosalind Elias (filed under Elias); contracts and business letters; correspondence with artist managers Harrison-Parrot Limited and the Robert Lantz Office; and scripts, letters and production information regarding television and motion picture films, including <span class=\"title\">Amahl and the Night Visitors</span>, <span class=\"title\">Callas Forever</span>, <span class=\"title\">La Traviata</span>, and <span class=\"title\">Under The Piano</span>. Also present are Stratas's proposal for a film of the opera <span class=\"title\">Suor Angelica</span>; and files on the Metropolitan Opera and the Bayerische Staatsoper. The Met files include correspondence regarding a dispute between the company and Stratas over the dual production of <span class=\"title\">Il Tabarro</span> and <span class=\"title\">Pagliacci</span>. The subject files also hold material pertaining to Tony Harrison, including poetry manuscripts, notebooks, programs, clippings, and posters, all dating primarily from the 1980s to early 1990s.</p> <p>Datebooks and Calendars offer coverage from the mid-1960s to 2007, but have a gap between 1987 and 1994. The clippings and programs both date from the 1950s to the 2000s and offer extensive but not comprehensive coverage of Stratas's career. Programs and clippings can also be found in the subject files in relation to specific projects.</p> <p>The costume designs (watercolor paintings and drawings) are for unidentified roles dating from the 1960s and 1970s. The set designs consist of drawings and two scale models for Met productions, one for <span class=\"title\">The Ghosts of Versailles</span> and the other for <span class=\"title\">Il Tabarro</span>.</p> <p>Stratas's awards and honors include honorary degrees, the Canadian Governor General's Performing Arts Award, the Order of Canada, and a medal from Queen Elizabeth II. Posters advertise performances in the United States and Europe, as well as recordings, and date from 1960 to 1989.</p> <p>Art is comprised of pen or ink portraits of Stratas by unidentified artists, as well as two large oil-on-canvas paintings of Stratas in unknown roles, both of which date from 1997.</p> <p>The books, all inscribed, consist mainly of copies of Tony Harrison's poetry.</p> <p>The collection also contains over 350 audio recordings and over 100 moving images dating from 1958 to the 2000s. These include operas, recitals, and other performances, many unreleased, as well as practice and rehearsal sessions, recording studio outtakes, and interviews with Stratas. The operas include many Metropolitan Opera radio broadcasts, as well as video of Met performances. Recording outtakes are mostly from Stratas's Kurt Weill projects. Other notable items include special events such as the 1999 Canadian Governor General's Performing Arts Awards ceremony and Stratas's performance at the White House in 1989; a 1967 CBC film of Stratas in performance; and audio recordings of Tony Harrison reading his poetry. Audio and moving images are unavailable pending preservation transfer.</p>"}