Elaine Malbin

Elaine Malbin, born May 24, 1929, in Brooklyn, New York, is an American soprano whose career encompassed opera, musical theater, concert performance, and television from the 1940s through the 1960s. Raised in Brooklyn, she began vocal studies as a child and gave her professional recital debut at Town Hall on March 31, 1945, at the age of fourteen. That same year she performed regularly on WNEW radio, singing popular songs during the final year of World War II. On May 7, 1947, she made her Carnegie Hall debut with the New York Pops in a program titled "Viennese Night," featuring songs and arias by Viennese composers, and returned to perform with that ensemble several more times over the following year. From 1948 to 1951 she sang in the NBC Chorus, participating in concerts and recordings with the NBC Symphony Orchestra.

Malbin made her professional opera debut on May 15, 1949, with the San Carlo Opera Company as Musetta in Puccini's La bohème. Her Broadway debut followed on October 4 of that year, when she appeared as Peep-Bo in The Mikado at the Mark Hellinger Theatre during that venue's inaugural season. She performed in two additional Gilbert and Sullivan productions at the same theater through October 22: Edith in The Pirates of Penzance and the Plaintiff in Trial by Jury. Early in 1950 she sang opera arias at the Detroit Opera House with the Detroit Civic Opera, and on April 18 she appeared at the Mann Center for the Performing Arts with the Robin Hood Dell Orchestra at an evening honoring Margaret Truman. On July 12, 1950, she performed the role of Jenny in Kurt Weill's Down in the Valley in a concert version with the New York Philharmonic under conductor Maurice Levine.

Her association with the New York City Opera began in September 1950, when she sang Princess Ninetta in Prokofiev's The Love for Three Oranges. The following month she added Frasquita in Bizet's Carmen and Zerlina in Mozart's Don Giovanni to her work with the company, later returning to Carmen in the role of Micaela. She also sang Liu in Puccini's Turandot with the company and reprised Zerlina in subsequent seasons. In December 1950 she debuted with the Philadelphia La Scala Opera Company as Gilda in Verdi's Rigoletto. In March 1951 she performed the soprano solos in Bach's St. Matthew Passion with the Philadelphia Orchestra at Rutgers University, and later that spring returned to the New York City Opera to portray Javotte in Massenet's Manon. Her New York City Opera roles across the 1950s and 1960s also included Micaela in Carmen, Liù in Turandot, Mimì in La bohème, and Zerlina in Don Giovanni.

Malbin returned to Broadway in October 1952 in My Darlin' Aida, a musical adaptation of Verdi's Aida by Charles Friedman that relocated the story to the American Civil War era, in which she portrayed the title role through the show's closing in January 1953. In April 1953 she returned to the New York City Opera to sing Adele in Johann Strauss II's Die Fledermaus. Shortly thereafter she made her United Kingdom debut in the original West End production of Kismet at the Stoll Theatre, portraying Marsinah in a run that totaled 648 performances. She later reprised the role of Marsinah on Broadway in 1955 and appeared in the production's first national tour. Her Broadway career extended from 1949 to 1962, and also included a starring role in Carnival.

In 1954 Malbin appeared at the Glyndebourne Festival as Colombina in Busoni's Arlecchino and at the Edinburgh Festival as Echo in Strauss's Ariadne auf Naxos. That same year she starred in NBC Television Opera Theatre productions of Richard Strauss's Salome and Puccini's Suor Angelica. In 1955 she portrayed the title role in Puccini's Madama Butterfly for NBC Television Opera Theatre, a performance widely regarded as among her finest work. The following year she took the role of Joan of Arc in the world premiere of Norman Dello Joio's The Trial at Rouen, composed specifically for NBC Television Opera Theatre. Her television opera work for NBC also included productions of I Pagliacci, Il Tabarro, Dialogues of the Carmelites, and La Traviata, several of which are held at the Paley Center for Media. NBC subsequently developed a touring company built around her following the success of these broadcasts. Her first television opera appearance had come earlier, as Violetta in a CBS Opera Television Theatre production of La Traviata opposite Lawrence Tibbett, first broadcast on March 12, 1950, when she was nineteen years old.

On April 11, 1950, Malbin recorded two duets with tenor Mario Lanza for RCA Victor; those recordings were released on Lanza's Toast of New Orleans album. She appeared with the San Francisco Opera, where she debuted in a staged version of Carmina Burana and sang Mimì in La bohème, as well as with the Houston Grand Opera and other leading American opera companies. Internationally, she performed at opera houses and music festivals in the United Kingdom, Italy, and France, and appeared in Madama Butterfly with the Scottish Opera Company. Concert engagements included performances with the New York Philharmonic and the Philadelphia Orchestra, as well as summer venues such as the Greek Theater in Los Angeles, Jones Beach in New York, and the Robin Hood Dell in Philadelphia. She also appeared on television programs including the Ed Sullivan Show, the Perry Como Show, the Eddie Fisher Show, multiple editions of The Voice of Firestone, and the Jack Paar and Johnny Carson Tonight Shows.

On July 4, 1962, at the request of President John F. Kennedy, Malbin sang at the Independence Day celebration at Independence Hall in Philadelphia. She also performed for Presidents Truman, Johnson, and Nixon. Malbin retired from performing at the height of her career in 1968. In January 1979 she returned to the stage as Cleopatra in Handel's Giulio Cesare at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., and gave a recital at Alice Tully Hall the same year. Following those performances she moved into semi-retirement, turning her attention to teaching, mentoring young artists, and serving on the boards of opera and arts foundations. She has continued to participate in events at the Paley Center in New York centered on her NBC television opera performances, attending screenings and sitting on discussion panels.