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Deborah Sasson

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Deborah Sasson
Sasson at the Sternstunden Gala of BR, 2014
Born
Deborah Ann O'Brien

(1958-08-22) August 22, 1958 (age 66)
Boston, U.S.
Education
Occupations
  • Operatic soprano
  • Musical actress
  • Composer

Deborah Sasson née Deborah Ann O'Brien (born 22 August 1958), is an American operatic soprano, musical theatre actress and composer, mostly active in Germany. She worked also in pop music.

Life and career

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Deborah Ann O'Brien was born in Boston[1] on 22 August 1958.[2] As a teenager she sang in a high school band. After high school she studied classical singing at Oberlin College in Oberlin, Ohio with Ellen Repp and Helen Hodam; she studied further at the New England Conservatory of Music with Gladys Miller, graduating as a Master of Music.[1] She began as a concert singer. She was a finalist of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions.[1] She made her debut on Broadway in Show Boat.[3] Leonard Bernstein saw her performance and cast her in the role of Maria in a production of his West Side Story at the Hamburg State Opera[4] in 1979 which started her career in Germany.[1]

She was a member of the ensemble of the Theater Aachen from 1979 to 1982, and appeared as a guest at the am Deutsche Oper Berlin, La Fenice in Venice and the San Francisco Opera. Her roles included Mozart's Despina in Così fan tutte and Zerlina in Don Giovanni, Donizetti's Norina in Don Pasquale and Adina L'elisir d'amore, Rossini's Rosina in The Barber of Seville and Verdi's Gilda in Rigoletto.[1]

Sasson appeared at the Bayreuth Festival as a Flower Maiden in Parsifal first in 1982, alongside Peter Hofmann in the title role who was to become her husband.[1] She performed the role until 1989.[1] She recorded with Hofmann a duet version of Scarborough Fair as part of her album Rock Classics.[5]

Sasson later turned to musical theatre again and popular music,[1] and from 1988 has worked in pop music. She has released album such as (Carmen) Danger in Her Eyes and Passion and Pain that achieved chart placements.[6] She wrote in 2010, together with Jochen Sautter, a musical Das Phantom der Oper[7] and appeared in the role of Christine, touring in Germany for several years.[8] Again with Sautter, she wrote a musical Der kleine Prinz, based on Le Petit Prince, in 2015, which was performed at theatres in Germany and Switzerland.[9][7]

Personal life

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She was first married to the conductor Michel Sasson.[10] She was married to the tenor Peter Hofmann from 1983 to 1990.[1]

Sasson gives solo concerts with her own ensemble;[11] she performed in a duo programme with the opera singer Gunther Emmerlich.[12][13]

Recordings

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Sasson appeared in a recording of Mahler's Eighth Symphony from the Tanglewood Music Festival,[2] conducted by Seiji Ozawa in 1980.[14]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Kutsch, K. J.; Riemens, Leo (1999). "Sasson, Deborah". Großes Sängerlexikon, Third Edition. Vol. IV, Moffo–Seidel. K. G. Saur Verlag.
  2. ^ a b Nowotny, Walter (1 August 2023). "Geburtstag im August 2023 / 11.8. Deboral Sasson wird 65". Online Merker (in German). Archived from the original on 2 October 2023. Retrieved 17 October 2024.
  3. ^ Fritsch, Werner (7 January 2014). "Das etwas andere Phantom: Deborah Sasson über ihre Version des Musicals". HNA.de (in German). Archived from the original on 27 April 2023. Retrieved 17 October 2024.
  4. ^ "Deborah Sasson und Kant-Chöre stimmen auf Weihnachten ein". Die Rheinpfalz (in German). 27 November 2023. Archived from the original on 2 March 2024. Retrieved 19 October 2024.
  5. ^ Hofmann, Peter; Sasson, Deborah; Cress, Curt; Petereit, Dieter; Tuxen, Nils; Heck, Roland; Deutsche Oper Berlin Orchester (1984), Rock classics [1] (in German), OCLC 1183498012
  6. ^ "Deborah Sasson". hitparade.ch (in German). Archived from the original on 26 April 2023. Retrieved 17 October 2024.
  7. ^ a b Hordych, Barbara (4 January 2018). "Sein eigener Herr". Süddeutsche.de (in German). Archived from the original on 14 January 2018. Retrieved 19 October 2024.
  8. ^ "Das Phantom der Oper". Sächsische Zeitung (in German). 22 October 2018. Archived from the original on 14 April 2019. Retrieved 17 October 2024.
  9. ^ Hug, Michael (15 January 2016). "Basel: Musical-Theater Basel – Deborah Sasson/Jochen Sautter "Der kleine Prinz"". Online Merker (in German). Archived from the original on 17 May 2022. Retrieved 17 October 2024.
  10. ^ Eichtler, Jeremy (26 March 2013). "Michel Sasson, 77; BSO violinist cofounded Newton Symphony". Boston Globe. Archived from the original on 13 April 2019. Retrieved 13 April 2019.
  11. ^ "Festliche Weihnacht mit Weltstar Deborah Sasson". Startseite leipzig.de (in German). Retrieved 19 October 2024.
  12. ^ Mendelssohn Bartholdy, Felix; Schumann, Robert; Brahms, Johannes; Dvořák, Antonín; Cornelius, Peter; Bruch, Max; Rossini, Gioachino; Sasson, Deborah; Emmerlich, Gunther; Bender, Klaus (2002), Ein Fall für Zwei Deborah Sasson & Gunther Emmerlich; mit den schönsten Duetten und heiteren Texten der Liebe auf der Spur (in German), Dresden: Sächsische Künstleragentur, OCLC 314005647
  13. ^ Gröger, René (20 December 2023). "Nachruf: Sänger Gunther Emmerlich gestorben". BR-KLASSIK (in German). Archived from the original on 19 January 2024. Retrieved 19 October 2024.
  14. ^ "Symphony No. 8". Boston Symphony Orchestra. 1999. Retrieved 17 October 2024.
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