Helen Vanni

Helen Spaeth was born on January 30, 1924, to German parents, in Davenport, Iowa, where she studied piano and voice before attending college at St. Catherine University in Saint Paul, Minnesota.[1][2]

Vanni made her debut at the Metropolitan Opera in 1956 in the role of the page in Rigoletto, and she appeared in over 400 performances at the Met from 1956 to 1970. She shared the stage with notable singers such as Leontyne Price, Renata Tebaldi, Maria Callas, Jussi Björling, Victoria de los Ángeles, and Licia Albanese.[1][3][4][5] She performed regularly with the Santa Fe Opera from 1960 through 1977.[6] In her debut Santa Fe Opera season she sang three leading roles: Cherubino in The Marriage of Figaro, the title role in Rossini's La Cenerentola, and Tessa in The Gondoliers.[7] Roles at the San Francisco Opera included the title role in the rarely performed Mignon by Ambroise Thomas.[8] Notably, she sang the title role in Ariadne auf Naxos in 23 performances at the Glyndebourne Festival Opera in 1971–72.[9]

In addition to her performing career, she taught at the Manhattan School of Music and the Cleveland Institute of Music, where she was head of the voice faculty.[7][10] Notable recordings include music of Arnold Schoenberg with pianist Glenn Gould; Anton Bruckner's Symphony No. 5 with the Philadelphia Orchestra conducted by Eugene Ormandy; and Mendelssohn's incidental music to A Midsummer Night's Dream with the Boston Symphony Orchestra conducted by Erich Leinsdorf.[11][12][13]

Helen Vanni was married to Mario Vanni, who died in 2015. They had three children. Vanni died on March 5, 2023, at the age of 99.[6]