Helen Strassburger Boatwright (November 17, 1916 – December 1, 2010) was an Americansoprano who specialized in the performance of American song, recorded the first full-length album of songs by composerCharles Ives and had a career that spanned more than five decades.

Born asHelena Johanna Strassburger inSheboygan, Wisconsin, she was the youngest of six children in a largeGerman American family. After high school, she studied with Anna Shram Irvin^[1] and earned bachelor's and master's degrees in music fromOberlin College. Her operatic debut was as Anna in a production ofOtto Nicolai'sThe Merry Wives of Windsor atTanglewood.

During her career, she worked with many important figures in the world of music, including conductorsLeopold Stokowski,Erich Leinsdorf,Seiji Ozawa andZubin Mehta. She also performed withLeonard Bernstein atTanglewood in the 1940s, sang oppositetenorMario Lanza in his operatic stage debut, and performed for PresidentJohn F. Kennedy in theEast Room of theWhite House in 1963. In 1954, she became the first person to record a full-length album of Ives' songs,24 Songs, with pianistJohn Kirkpatrick. She also studied with composerNormand Lockwood. Another particular favorite composer of hers wasHugo Wolf. She knew his songs intimately, and in her later years she nearly always included a set or even an entire half of a recital of his work.

She met her future husband,violinistHoward Boatwright (who died in 1999), in Los Angeles in 1941 when they were to perform in aNational Federation of Music Clubs competition. They married two years later, on June 25, 1943, and had three children. They performed together throughout their married life in North America, Europe, and India. Many of her husband's compositions for voice were written for her. Other notable orchestral and choral groups she sang with werePaul Hindemith's Collegium Musicum,Alfred Mann's Cantata Singers, andJohannes Somary's Amor Artis Chorale.^[1]

In 1964, her husband Howard became thedean of theSyracuse University School of Music and she joined him teaching there. In 1969 the Boatwrights established a university-sponsored summer program, L'École Hindemith inVevey,Switzerland. They taught and performed there every summer until 1988. She was a professor of voice at theEastman School of Music inRochester from 1972 to 1979, and was a guest professor atCornell University and thePeabody Conservatory of Music atJohns Hopkins University. She also gave master-classes atGlimmerglass Opera,University of Massachusetts Amherst,University of North Carolina andWashington University in St. Louis.^[2]

In 2003, Syracuse University presented Boatwright with anhonorary doctor of music degree. Boatwright continued to study music and teach, and in 2006, she celebrated her 90th birthday with a standing-room only concert at St. David's Episcopal Church inDeWitt, New York.^[3]

Boatwright died on December 1, 2010, aged 94, inJamesville, New York. Her achievements were honored during the 2011Grammy Awards.^[4]

• 24 Songs/Songs FromEmily Dickinson – Composers Recordings (2001)
• Handel:Chandos Anthems I-VI –Vanguard (1998)
• Hansel and Gretel (1954) – View Video DVD (2001)
• Chandos Anthems I-VI - Vanguard SRV-227 SD / SRV-229 (1966)
• Music ofFranz Tunder - Howard & Helen Boatwright (1954)
• Schubert -Mass No. 6 in E-flat major -Decca DL 9422 (195?)
• The Happiest Millionaire –Disneyland Ster 5001 (196?)
• Buxtehude Missa Brevis, Magnificat, Two Cantatas. Urania US 5159-CD. Released oniTunes 2013, 2015.

• Charles Ives, Feldeinsamkeit performed by Helen Boatwright onYouTube
• Rehearsal with Steven Heyman
• Interview with Helen Boatwright, August 22, 2003