Geraldine Decker

Geraldine Helen Decker (born Geraldine Helen Rice, March 11, 1931, New York City; died June 14, 2013, Oxnard, California) was an American mezzo-soprano and voice teacher whose performing career spanned from 1971 to 2010. She worked extensively with the Metropolitan Opera and the Seattle Opera, appeared on Broadway in 1973 in the play Oliver Oliver, and taught voice at Pepperdine University.

Born in the Bronx, Decker relocated with her family to California during her youth and completed her secondary education at Corvallis High School in Studio City, California, graduating in 1949. She married Howard Decker, with whom she would spend 55 years and raise two sons, Wayne and Dirk. While her children were young, she studied voice with Dr. Nandor Domokos in Los Angeles, later continuing her training with Luisa Franceschi and baritone Ellae Verna in New York City.

Decker did not begin her professional opera career until the age of 40, after her sons had left home. She first attracted critical attention in 1974 at the Seattle Opera, where she sang four roles across Richard Wagner's Ring Cycle: Erda in both Das Rheingold and Siegfried, Schwertleite in Die Walküre, and the First Norn in Götterdämmerung. She returned to Seattle each summer to perform those same roles through 1987. Her broader repertoire at the Seattle Opera encompassed a wide range of character parts, including Azucena in Verdi's Il trovatore, Klytämnestra in Strauss' Elektra, Herodias in Strauss' Salome, Mistress Quickly in Verdi's Falstaff, Mother Jeanne in Poulenc's Dialogues of the Carmelites, Grandmother Burja in Janáček's Jenůfa, Filippyevna in Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin, Albine in Massenet's Thaïs, Mama McCourt in Moore's The Ballad of Baby Doe, Marthe Schwerlein in Gounod's Faust, and the Nurse and Innkeeper in Mussorgsky's Boris Godunov.

Her debut at the Lyric Opera of Chicago came in 1978, when she sang Mamma Lucia in Mascagni's Cavalleria rusticana. She performed the same role on December 17, 1980, for her Metropolitan Opera debut, in a cast that featured Grace Bumbry as Santuzza and was conducted by David Stivender. Over the following six seasons she was a regular presence at the Met, taking on roles that included Gertrud in Humperdinck's Hansel and Gretel, Gertrude in Gounod's Roméo et Juliette with Placido Domingo conducting, Grandmother Burja in Jenůfa, and Schwertleite in Die Walküre. In 1981 she appeared as the Large Woman in the Met premiere of Poulenc's Les Mamelles de Tirésias and as Annina in the premiere of Colin Graham's staging of Verdi's La traviata, a production broadcast nationally on Live from the Met. Her final Met appearance was on March 23, 1987, as the Nurse in Boris Godunov, with Paul Plishka in the title role and James Conlon conducting.

In 1982 Decker created the role of Nelly Dean in the world premiere of Bernard Herrmann's Wuthering Heights at the Portland Opera. That same year she appeared in a minor singing role in Franco Zeffirelli's film adaptation of La Traviata. Among the other companies she worked with were the Cabrillo Music Theatre, Hawaii Opera Theater, the Long Beach Opera, the Los Angeles Civic Light Opera, and Opera San José. Her screen work also included a role as a maid in the 1976 film Harry and Walter Go to New York and the part of Mrs. Beemer in the 1990 Disney film Polly: Comin' Home!

Decker resided in Oxnard, California, for more than 50 years. She died there on June 14, 2013, at the age of 82, from complications of diabetes.