Nan Merriman

Nan Merriman (born Katherine Ann Merriman on April 28, 1920, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; died July 22, 2012) was an American operatic mezzo-soprano. she died peacefully, July 22, 2012 at 10:50pm of natural causes in her home in Los Angeles California.

Nan Merriman studied singing in Los Angeles with Alexis Bassian and the legendary Lotte Lehmann. By the age of twenty she was singing in Hollywood film soundtracks and it was there that she was spotted by Laurence Olivier. He picked Merriman to accompany him and his wife Vivien Leigh on a tour of Romeo and Juliet, where Merriman performed songs during the set changes.

Merriman sang many roles both live and on radio under the baton of Arturo Toscanini between 1944 and 1952, while he was conductor of the NBC Symphony Orchestra. Among the roles she sang with him, all released on CD, are Maddalena in Act IV of Giuseppe Verdi's Rigoletto, Emilia in Verdi's Otello, Mistress Page in Verdi's Falstaff, and the trousers role of Orfeo in Act II of Gluck's Orfeo ed Euridice. She was also featured as Dorabella in a famous 1956 La Scala performance of Mozart's Così fan tutte, which was conducted by Toscanini's short-lived protégé, Guido Cantelli. This has also been released on compact disc, as have her studio recordings of Spanish and French songs with Gerald Moore at the piano.

Merriman was particularly well received in The Netherlands. It was there that she met and married Dutch tenor Tom Brand, who had been recently widowed with several children. She retired from performing to care for the family in 1965. Tom Brand died in 1970. After the children were grown, Merriman returned to Los Angeles California, where she resided until her death July 22, 2012.

References

• Rosenthal, Harold. "Merriman, Nan". Grove Music Online. Fitzroy Dearborn. Retrieved 2007-05-25.
• http://www.dutchdivas.net/mezzos/nan_merriman.html

External links

• Nan Merriman -Pittsburgh Music History