Lorraine Hunt Lieberson, a world-renowned mezzo-soprano whose singing career began here in Boston, has died of cancer at age 52.
I met Lieberson only once or twice, but I did have the privilege of singing in the chorus when she sang the role of Dejanira in Handel’s Hercules with Emmanuel Music in 1999. Dejanira has an extraordinary mad scene in that oratorio, and Lieberson’s performance was vocally and dramatically astounding. It was seven years ago, and it still gives me chills.
Since then, Lieberson took the classical music world by storm. In 2004, the New Yorker’s classical music critic, Alex Ross, called her “maybe the greatest musician alive.” Her performances routinely received similarly ecstatic accolades.
The news of Lieberson’s death is shocking and terribly sad. I saw her sing with the Boston Symphony last November when she gave the east coast premiere of a set of songs by her husband, composer Peter Lieberson. She looked and sounded wonderful. No hint of sickness was evident from the audience, though I knew she had been fighting cancer for several years, and had recently had to cancel a number of performances. As it turned out, though, those BSO performances were to be among the last she gave in public. The classical music world has lost one of its greatest artists at the height of her powers, and many people in the musical communities of Boston and elsewhere have lost a very dear friend.
