About
Eileen Farrell, soprano
Eileen Farrell is one of the most legendary American sopranos. Born in Willimantic, Connecticut, on February 13, 1920, Farrell was the daughter of vaudeville singers. She made her concert debut at the Columbia Broadcasting Studios in 1942, after studying with Merle Alcock and Eleanor McLellan. She was a frequent soloist in the 1950s and 1960s under conductors such as Leonard Bernstein, Arturo Toscanini and Thomas Schippers.
She made her operatic debut as Santuzza with the San Carlo Opera in Tampa, Florida in 1956, and performed with the San Francisco Opera and Lyric Opera of Chicago before making her Met debut singing Gluck's Alcestis in 1960.
Eileen Farrell followed her stage career by holding the Distinguished Professor of Music position, first at Indiana University School of Music in Bloomington and then at the University of Maine in Orono.
Farrell also enjoyed a successful film, radio and television career, notably recording the vocal which Eleanor Parker lip-synched to in the firm Interrupted Melody. Later in life, she turned her tremendous talent to Blues, and made several recordings.
Eileen Farrell was devoted to her family, New York Policeman Robert Reagan and her two children. She passed away on March 23, 2002 in New Jersey.
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