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Pilar Lorengar | |
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| Born | Lorenza Pilar García Seta (1928-01-16)16 January 1928 Zaragoza, Kingdom of Spain |
| Died | 2 June 1996(1996-06-02) (aged 68) Berlin, Germany |
| Occupation | Soprano singer |
| Years active | 1949–1991 |
| Organization | Deutsche Oper Berlin |
| Title | Kammersängerin |
| Spouse | Jürgen Schaff |
| Awards | Order of Merit of Berlin,Prince of Asturias Award for the Arts (1991) |
Lorenza Pilar García Seta (16 January 1928 – 2 June 1996), known professionally asPilar Lorengar, was a Spanish (Aragonese)soprano. She was best known for her interpretations ofopera and the Spanish genreZarzuela, and as a soprano she was known for her fullregister, a youthful timbre as well as a distinctivevibrato.[1]
Lorengar was born in the El Gancho district ofZaragoza. At a very young age she participated in a radio program calledOndas Infantiles, organized by Radio Zaragoza; she began formal music lessons at the age of fourteen under Margarita Martínez. She moved to Barcelona to study at the Barcelona Music Conservatory and began performingincognito under the name Loren Arce in various halls in order to pay for her lessons. She studied inMadrid under Spanish lyric soprano Ángeles Otein, and she also studied inWest Berlin withCarl Ebert and mezzo-sopranoHertha Klust,Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau's teacher.
Lorengar became a member of the chorus of the Teatro de la Zarzuela around 1949.[2] She made her professional debut in 1950 inOran,Algeria, playing the role of Maruxa. In 1951 she made her Spanish debut in the principal role in the ZarzuelaEl canastillo de fresas (The Strawberry Basket). In 1952, she performed as a soloist in Barcelona inBeethoven'sNinth Symphony and also inBrahms'Requiem.
Her international opera career started in 1955 at theFestival international d'Art Lyrique inAix-en-Provence, where she played Cherubino inThe Marriage of Figaro. She went on to play in London,Glyndebourne andBuenos Aires. In 1958 she signed a contract with theDeutsche Oper Berlin, a relationship that would last for thirty years. Her first performance for the Deutsche Oper took place a few months later, in 1959.[3] In 1963 she was distinguished with the title ofKammersängerin by theSenate of Berlin.
In 1961, she first performed at theSalzburg Festival as Ilia inIdomeneo. She went on to play Desdemona inOtello at theSan Francisco Opera, Violetta inLa traviata at theDeutsche Oper in Berlin, and Donna Elvira inDon Giovanni at theMetropolitan Opera. Through her career she performed in Madrid,Brussels,La Scala atMilan,Liceu at Barcelona, frequently with theVienna Philharmonic and theVienna State Opera, Paris and even as far away as Tokyo.
Her 1985 Zarzuela duet album recorded withPlácido Domingo at the Salzburg Music Festival brought her again to the forefront of Spanish Zarzuela.[4] Both she and Domingo receivedGrammy Award nominations forBest Classical Vocal Soloist for the album. Her final triumph in Berlin was as Valentine inLes Huguenots in 1987.
In 1991, thePríncipe de Asturias Foundation awarded the "Generation of Spanish lyric singers" (de los Ángeles,Berganza,Caballé,Carreras, Domingo,Kraus and Lorengar) the Arts award. Lorengar announced her retirement and performed her last concert at the Campoamor Theatre inOviedo (Asturias), Spain. In 1994, she was awarded theOrder of Merit of Berlin.
Pilar Lorengar died of cancer in Berlin, scene of her longest artistic associations, where she resided with her husband, dentist Dr Jürgen Schaff. I.E.S. Pilar Lorengar, a free public vocational high school for the media arts located in her city of birth,Zaragoza, Spain, was named in her honor.
She can be seen on black-and-white video in German translation performances from theDeutsche Oper ofDon Giovanni (as Donna Elvira) andDon Carlos (as Elizabeth). In both of these performances, she shares the stage withDietrich Fischer-Dieskau andJosef Greindl.
