Happy Birthday: Suzanne Danco

Suzanne Danco was born in Brussels and grew up in a Flemish background although French was her native language. She studied at the Conservatoire Royal de Bruxelles, and in 1936 she won a vocal competition in Vienna, after which the conductor Erich Kleiber recommended that she continue her studies in Prague with Fernando Carpi. She appears to have made her concert debut in Italy in 1940, and her stage debut in 1941 at the Genoa Opera, playing Fiordiligi in Mozart's Così fan tutte. She appeared in most of the major opera houses in Europe through the 1940s and 1950s, including at La Scala (Jocasta in Oedipus Rex by Stravinsky, and Ellen Orford in Peter Grimes), at the Teatro di San Carlo (Marie in Wozzeck), at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden (Mimi in La bohème), and at the festivals of Glyndebourne and Aix-en-Provence (Fiordiligi and Donna Elvira). In 1951, Danco performed in Boston at a special Peabody Mason Concert series
commemorating the Paris Bi-Millennial year. Although her operatic repertoire was not large, she was noted for the range of musical styles that she undertook, from her Mozart roles (Fiordiligi, Elvira, Cherubino, and the Countess) to modern works by Berg, Britten and Stravinsky. Her tone was described
as cool, clear and aristocratic, and well suited to French roles such as Mélisande in Pelléas et Mélisande and the Princess in Ravel's L'enfant et les sortilèges. Yet she also had success in some Italian works such as Il barbiere di Siviglia and La bohème. She is perhaps best remembered as a recitalist and concert artist, again in a wide range of styles from Bach cantatas to song cycles by Britten and de Falla, but especially in the repertoire of French mélodies, where her immaculate diction and innate command of style were heard to greatest advantage. Suzanne Danco retired from singing in 1970 but remained active as a teacher, both at the Accademia Musicale Chigiana in Siena and as a regular visitor to the Britten-Pears School at Snape. She died on 10 August 2000 at her home in Fiesole near Florence. Suzanne Danco made many recordings for Decca Records in the 1940s and 1950s. Some of these are available on CD, including Le nozze di Figaro,

conducted by Erich Kleiber in 1955 (Decca Legends 466369), Gluck's Orphée et Eurydice conducted by Hans Rosbaud in 1956 (Phillips Duo 468537), and Don Giovanni, also conducted by Rosbaud. She also worked closely with Ernest Ansermet and the Suisse Romande Orchestra on a series of recordings in the 1950s, including: Ravel's two one-act operas, L'heure espagnole and L'enfant et les sortilèges, Debussy's Le martyre de Saint Sébastien, and Fauré's Requiem. There have been a number of CD reissues of Suzanne Danco's recital performances and recordings, and in 2001 a compilation disc was issued, The Singers: Suzanne Danco, recorded 1947-1952 (Decca 467909). [Source]