Maria Ewing is an American opera singer and actress. With her ex-husband, English director Peter Hall, she is the mother of actress Rebecca Hall. Her mother, Hermina M. (née Veraar), was Dutch, and her father, Norman I. Ewing, was an American of Sioux Native American, Scottish, and African-American ancestry. She studied in Cleveland, Ohio and New York City. Ewing made her debut at the Metropolitan Opera in 1976 in Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro. Her first European performance was at La Scala, Milan as Mélisande in Debussy's Pelléas et Mélisande. Her repertoire includes Carmen, Dorabella in Mozart's Cosi fan tutte, Salome, Marie in Berg's Wozzeck and Shostakovich's Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk. Ewing is particularly well known for her sensitive interpretation of the title role in Richard Strauss's Salome, where Oscar Wilde's stage directions for the original play specify that, at the end of the so-called Dance of the Seven Veils, Salome lies naked at Herod's feet. Ewing appeared fully nude at the end of this sequence, in contrast to other singers who have used body stockings. She also sang and appeared in Henry Purcell's Dido and Aeneas. Ewing was in part the inspiration behind the recent film Passing – about two light-skinned African-American women who can pass as white – directed by Ewing's daughter Rebecca Hall.
Maria Ewing is an American opera singer and actress. With her ex-husband, English director Peter Hall, she is the mother of actress Rebecca Hall. Her mother, Hermina M. (née Veraar), was Dutch, and her father, Norman I. Ewing, was an American of Sioux Native American, Scottish, and African-American ancestry. She studied in Cleveland, Ohio and New York City. Ewing made her debut at the Metropolitan Opera in 1976 in Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro. Her first European performance was at La Scala, Milan as Mélisande in Debussy's Pelléas et Mélisande. Her repertoire includes Carmen, Dorabella in Mozart's Cosi fan tutte, Salome, Marie in Berg's Wozzeck and Shostakovich's Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk. Ewing is particularly well known for her sensitive interpretation of the title role in Richard Strauss's Salome, where Oscar Wilde's stage directions for the original play specify that, at the end of the so-called Dance of the Seven Veils, Salome lies naked at Herod's feet. Ewing appeared fully nude at the end of this sequence, in contrast to other singers who have used body stockings. She also sang and appeared in Henry Purcell's Dido and Aeneas. Ewing was in part the inspiration behind the recent film Passing – about two light-skinned African-American women who can pass as white – directed by Ewing's daughter Rebecca Hall.
Family Members
Sponsored by Ancestry
Advertisement
Advertisement
