Person
Nevada, Emma (1859-1940)Other forms
Alpha (Nevada, Estados Unidos) 1859-02-07 - Liverpool (Inglaterra, Reino Unido) 1940-06-20
American soprano. Mother of the soprano Mignon Nevada.
Born on 7 February 1859 in Alpha (Nevada, United States).
She received voice lessons from the baritone Salvatore Marchesi and mezzo-soprano Mathilde Marchesi, both singing instructors at the Wiener Konservatorium. In 1880 she made her debut in a performance of Vincenzo Bellini's opera "La sonnambula" at Her Majesty's Theatre in London. Four years later, she returned to the United States and sang at the New York Academy of Music. In England, she appeared at London's Royal Opera House in 1887, singing the role of Amina in Charles Gounod's opera "Mireille", and participated in the premiere of "The Rose of Sharon" (1884), an oratorio which the composer Alexander Campbell Mackenzie dedicated to her.
In the 1890s, Emma Nevada did a concert tour that took her from Paris, to several Spanish cities, including Badajoz, Cádiz and Pontevedra. During her two appearances at the lyceum in Pontevedra, on 20 and 24 March 1984, she sang an aria from Giaochino Rossini's "Il barbiere di Siviglia" and various Spanish songs with the tenor Alberto Ramírez, under the baton of José Loriente. Her concerts in foreign countries almost always received rave reviews in the press. In 1895 she visited Salvador Viniegra, Manuel de Falla's friend, at his Cádiz home. On 10 June 1922, she informed Falla and the Centro Artístico, Científico y Literario de Granada that she would be unable to travel to Granada, due to professional engagements that kept her in London. She passed away on 20 June 1940 in Liverpool (England).