At a glance
- Age
- 78
- Born
- May 25, 1929
- From
- New York City
- Nationality
- United States
Biography
The line most often attached to her name comes from a career built on stage rather than in print: Beverly Sills sang opera, and she did it at the highest level for roughly three decades. Her peak years ran from the 1950s through the 1970s, the period in which American audiences came to know her voice.
She was a soprano, working in the operatic repertoire, and she was American — born in New York City in 1929. That combination mattered at the time. Her reputation was made in performance, night after night, in a form that offers no shortcuts and little cover.
Sills died in 2007. What survives of her, beyond recordings, is the example of someone who reached the top of a demanding art and stayed there long enough for it to count.
She was a soprano, working in the operatic repertoire, and she was American — born in New York City in 1929. That combination mattered at the time. Her reputation was made in performance, night after night, in a form that offers no shortcuts and little cover.
Sills died in 2007. What survives of her, beyond recordings, is the example of someone who reached the top of a demanding art and stayed there long enough for it to count.
