Japanese soprano WATANABE Yoko died of heart failure in her home in Milan on July 15. She was 51. Watanabe made her opera debut as Nedda in _I Pagliacci_ in 1978. Her two most famous roles were Cio-Cio-San and Liu, which she sang in many opera houses in the world. She was the first Japanese soprano who sang a leading role at the Big Four--Teatro alla Scala, the Wiener Staatsoper, the Met and the Covent Garden.
An der Wiener Staatsoper sang Watanabe die Cio-Cio-San, die Liu und die Nedda.
Auszug aus der Biographie (www.operissimo.com):
Yoko Watanabe studierte in Tokio und Mailand und gab ihr B殄nendeb殳 als Nedda in 'Pagliacci' in Treviso. Seither hat sie in allen f殤f Kontinenten gastiert und neben der Nedda Figuren wie Mim, Mica鼠a, Donna Elvira, Marguerite, Suor Anglieca, Adriana Lecouvreur, Amelia Grimaldi, Manon Lescaut und Li dargestellt.
Die Li in Puccinis 'Turandot' sang sie auch an der Scala in Mailand und anl郭slich der Festlichkeiten im Rahmen der Olympischen Spiele mit der Royal Opera Covent Garden in Los Angeles. Seit sie 1982 in Strassburg als Cio-Cio-San in einer 'Butterfly'-Inszenierung von Jean-Pierre Ponnelle deb殳ierte, hat sie diese Rolle in mehr als 25 St嚇ten in aller Welt verk嗷pert, so u.a. in New York, London, San Francisco, Chicago, Wien, Berlin, Hamburg, M殤chen, Mailand, Florenz, Neapel, Macerata, Torre del Lago, Monte Carlo, Madrid, Tokio und Buenos Aires. In Z殲ich kennt man Yoko Watanabe als Li, die sie im Hallenstadion sang, als Margherita und Elena in Boitos 'Mefistofele' und nat殲lich als Cio-Cio-San
Yoko Watanabe, a Japanese opera singer who starred at several of the world's top opera houses, died on July 15 after a four-year battle with cancer. She was 51.
Watanabe originally planned to become a dancer. She began studying Japanese dance at three, and ballet when she was six. But her hopes for a professional dancing career were dashed by instructors who told her she was too tall and broad-shouldered. At 16, she attended a performance of Puccini's "Madama Butterfly" that changed her life.
An accomplished singer and pianist, Watanabe graduated from the Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music in 1976. She studied opera in Italy for two years before making her European debut at the age of 25. For the next two decades, the graceful soprano played leading roles in operas by Bizet, Mozart and Verdi.
In the 1980s, Watanabe tackled the part of Cio-Cio-San, the geisha who is wooed then abandoned by an American naval officer, in "Madama Butterfly." It became her signature role, one she would perform with the Fujiwara Opera in Japan, and in her debuts with the Royal Opera in London, the Lyric Opera of Chicago and the Metropolitan Opera in New York.
Watanabe is survived by her husband, Italian tenor Renato Grimald
Yoko Watanabe, the Japanese soprano who sang the title role of Puccini's "Madame Butterfly" more than 400 times, died July 15 at her home in Milan, Italy. She was 51.
A Japan Opera Foundation official, Teruko Tsubaki, announced her death but refused to specify the cause. Watanabe had been diagnosed with cancer in January 2000, Tsubaki said.
"Watanabe was the first Japanese ever to have performed lead roles in the world's four major opera houses," Tsubaki said, referring to La Scala in Milan, Wiener Staatsoper in Vienna, Austria, the Metropolitan Opera in New York and the Royal Opera House in London.
An only child, Watanabe grew up in Fukuoka on Kyushu, the southernmost island of Japan. "It was very difficult to see opera there," she told the Los Angeles Times in 1991. "There wasn't much culture."
Still, a local production of "Butterfly," which she saw when she was 16, set her on her future career path. "I went to (the star's) dressing room, knocked and said, 'Teach me!' She said, 'Tomorrow you come back and I will listen to your voice.' "
Kuniko Kozono, the star of that production, became her first teacher. Watanabe went on to graduate from the Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music in 1976. Winning second prize at a competition in Tokyo that year enabled her to study in Milan. The first-prize winner was Renato Grimaldi, the Italian tenor she married and who survives her.
Grimaldi ultimately abandoned his career in favor of his wife's because "it's very difficult to have two singers in one family," Watanabe said. "He coaches me. He is my worst critic. He complains about everything from vocalization to stage presence, everything. As singers, we need others' ears. After a performance, everyone says, 'Bravo, bravo. ' It's OK to hear 'bravo,' but you have to learn, too."
Watanabe made her professional debut singing Nedda in Leoncavallo's "Pagliacci" in Treviso, Italy, in 1978. In 1984, she made her Los Angeles debut during the Olympic Arts Festival singing Liu in Puccini's "Turandot," a role she repeated for her La Scala debut a year later.
She made her Met debut as Butterfly in 1987. Writing in The New York Times, Will Crutchfield described her tone as having "more metal than cream in it" but praised her "heartfelt portrayal" and subtle characterization.
Although she sang other Puccini heroines as well as having leading roles in Mozart's "Don Giovanni, " Gounod's "Faust" and Bizet's "Carmen," Butterfly became her signature role.
"It is true that my figure is Japanese, so when the public sees me as Cio-Cio San, it is more convincing," she told the Orange County (Calif.) Register in 1991. "But when it comes time to sing, it is not a Japanese singer, it is Italian verismo opera. The accent has to be clear, the gestures are big. It's so far from Japanese that it's completely different."
In December 1999, Watanabe fell ill during a performance. A month later, she was diagnosed with cancer, prompting her to end her career and seek treatment.