Pilar Lorengar

Lorenza Pilar García Seta (January 16, 1929, Zaragoza, Spain – June 2, 1996, Berlin, Germany) was a Spanish (Aragonese) soprano who used the professional name Pilar Lorengar. She was best known for her interpretations of opera and the Spanish genre Zarzuela, and as a soprano she was known for her full register as well as a distinctive vibrato.

Pilar was born in the El Gancho district of Zaragoza. At a very young age she participated in a radio program called "Ondas Infantiles", organized by Radio Zaragoza; she began formal music lessons at the age of fourteen under Margarita Martínez. She moved to Barcelona to study at the Barcelona Music Conservatory and began performing "incognito" under the name Loren Arce in various halls in order to pay for her lessons. She studied in Madrid under a famous Spanish lyric singer named Ángeles Otein, and she also studied in West Berlin under Carl Ebert and Hertha Klust.

Pilar became a member of the chorus of the Teatro de la Zarzuela [http://teatrodelazarzuela.mcu.es] around 1949. She made her professional debut in 1950 in Oran, Algeria, playing the role of Maruxa. In 1951 she made her Spanish debut in the principal role in the Zarzuela "El canastillo de fresas" ("The Strawberry Basket"). In 1952, she performed as a soloist in Barcelona in Beethoven's "Ninth Symphony" and also in Brahms' "Requiem".

Her international opera career started in 1955 at the Festival international d'Art Lyrique in Aix-en-Provence where she played Cherubino in "Le nozze di Figaro". She went on to play in London, Glyndebourne and Buenos Aires. In 1958 she signed a contract with the Deutsche Oper Berlin, a relationship that would last for thirty years. In 1963 she was distinguished with the title of Kammersänger from the Senate of Berlin.

In 1961, she first performed at the Salzburg Festival as Ilia in "Idomeneo". She went on to play Desdemona in "Otello" at the San Francisco Opera, Violetta in "La Traviata" at the "Deutsche Oper" in Berlin, and Donna Elvira in "Don Giovanni" at the Metropolitan Opera. Through her career she performed in Madrid, Brussels, La Scala at Milan, Liceu at Barcelona, frequently with the Vienna Philharmonic and the Vienna State Opera, Paris and even as far away as Tokyo.

Her 1985 Zarzuela duet album recorded with Plácido Domingo at the Salzburg Music Festival brought her again to the forefront of Spanish Zarzuela. Her final triumph in Berlin was as Valentine in "Les Huguenots".

In 1991, the Príncipe de Asturias Foundation awarded the “Generation of Spanish lyric singers” (los Ángeles, Berganza, Caballé, Carreras, Domingo, Kraus and Lorengar) the Arts award. Pilar announced her retirement and performed her last concert at the Campoamor Theatre in Oviedo, Asturias, Spain. In 1994, she was awarded the "Order of Merit" of the State of Berlin.

right|frame|Decca album cover:The Art of Pilar LorengarPilar died in Berlin, Germany, her new chosen homeland.

External links and references

* [http://cmisapp.ayto-zaragoza.es/chz/modulos/mediateca/personajes/detalle.jsp?idpersonaje=29# Biography in Castilian from the Municipality of Zaragoza]
* [http://www.iclassics.com/artistBio?contentId=568 Artist's biography in English]
* [http://www.fundacionprincipedeasturias.org/ing/premios/galardones/galardonados/trayectorias/trayectoria575.html Background notes on Pilar Lorengar in English from the Prince of Asturias Foundation]
* [http://acebo.cnice.mecd.es/~malcoben/Ofelia.htm Notes in Castilian on Angeles Otein]
* [http://teatrodelazarzuela.mcu.es Teatro de la Zarzuela (multilingual)]
* [http://www.operadis-opera-discography.org.uk/CLSILORE.HTM Discography] (Capon's Lists of Opera Recordings)