Biography

1929–, American coloratura soprano, b. Brooklyn, N.Y. as Belle Silverman. Her childhood career as a radio singer led to voice studies with Estelle Liebling. She toured extensively in the United States and Europe before making her debut with the New York City Opera singing Rosalinda in Johann Strauss’s Die Fledermaus in 1955. She subsequently became the leading soprano with that company. In 1969 she made a triumphal debut at La Scala as Pamira in Rossini’s Siege of Corinth, the role in which she made her Metropolitan Opera debut in 1975. Regarded as one of the great American sopranos, Sills won fame not only for her light coloratura voice but also for her considerable acting ability. She appeared in such roles as Cleopatra in Handel’s Julius Caesar, Elvira in Bellini’s I Puritani, all four female roles in Offenbach’s Tales of Hoffmann, and the title roles in Massenet’s Manon and Donizetti’s Maria Stuarda, Anna Bolena, and Lucia di Lammermoor. After she retired from singing she remained active in the arts as general director of the New York City Opera (1979–89), chairwoman of Lincoln Center (1994–2002), and chairwoman of the Metropolitan Opera (2002–5).
See her autobiographies Bubbles (1976, rev. ed. 1981) and Beverly (1987); biography by B. Paolucci (1990).

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