Biography

Opera singer (soprano).

Luciano Pavarotti insisted that she sing the role of Gilda in "Rigoletto," in its November, 1989, Metropolitan Opera performance, while he sang as the Duke of Mantua. June Anderson said in a 1989 New York Times interview, "You have small-voiced sopranos chirp 'Caro nome' and then they can't be heard. Besides, how many times can you say no to the Met? Their past offers have been either for unsuitable roles or ones in the second cast."

She said in an interview that her hobbies include clothes shopping, antiques collecting, and art.

Often compared with Australian soprano Joan Sutherland.

Her opera-season training regimen is to drink three litres of water a day, watch her salt intake, and abstain from wine.

People who should be singing in church choirs are singing major roles. In some ways, success is harder to deal with than not being successful. A Verdi soprano? Grab her! Opera has become like instant soup; just add boiling water and people think it's there. [1990]

Now that I've become fluent in the [Italian] language, a whole world has opened up to me. Subtleties of speech become yours, allowing your projection of the words to color the music. It's had a big effect on my interpretations.

[on joining the New York City Opera, from 1977 to 1982:] "It was certainly not a happy experience, but it may have been a necessary one, because I now feel that if I survived that, I can survive anything."

I had had it. I went back to school, and that was that. 'No great loss,' I said to myself. 'I have half a brain. It's a total waste of a brain to be a singer.'" [But after graduating cum laude with a B.A. degree in French literature from Yale University in 1974, she determined to be a professional singer after all:] No one wanted to know my name. I was down to my last $50. That's when I decided I was going to be a singer if it killed me! [interview for Opera News, August 1986]

[on switching from light coloratura roles:] It's the same direction, it's just getting into deeper water. I wanted to put it off as long as possible. I kept saying, and it's been quoted so many times, I didn't want to do "Normina. I wanted to do Norma. And Leonora. I didn't want to sound like a soubrette trying to do these things. I've done things like Il Corsaro and La Battaglia di Legnano very early in my career, so Verdi's always been a presence. I did mostly Rigolettos and Traviatas, and then I added Desdemona a few years ago. ... So I suppose Leonora would be next in line. [Opera News, 14 February 1998)]