Nelly Morpurgo

Short Biography

On July 28, 2013, the Dutch soprano Nelly Morpurgo deceased.Nelly Morpurgo was born Pieternella Johanna Morpurgo in Amsterdam on March 3, 1934 and studied singing with among others Coby Riemersma. As at April 16, 1960 she sang at the Concertgebouw of Amsterdam's role Brigita in "Iolanta" at the VARA Matinee alongside Gerry de Groot in the title role. Nelly Morpurgo made her debut on November 3, 1961 by the then the Dutch Opera in Amsterdam as the Zweite Knabe in Die Zauberflöte by Mozart. In 1965 the company went into the Dutch Opera Foundation, where Nelly Morpurgo starring sang. In total Nelly Morpurgo DNO sang in some 65 productions. Her big successes were as Judith in "Bluebeard's Castle" by Bartók (1973, 1975 and 1977) and as Fenena in "Nabucco" by Verdi (1971, 1972 and 1975). Nelly Morpurgo also host led several times in the Opera Studio of La Monnaie Opera in Brussels. There she sang the role of the Countess in Le Nozze di Figaro "by Mozart and the party Fifi Ficelle in 'Chambre Séparée" of the composer Temple Abady in 1967. In 1980, Nelly Morpurgo worked on the theatrical world premiere of the opera "Thijl 'by Jan van Gilse in the role of Gilline as part of the Holland Festival. They played on the prestigious Glyndebourne Festival in 1982 and 1983 as Fata Morgana in 21 performances of "The Love of Three Oranges" by Prokofiev conducted by Bernard Haitink. Of this production is a recording released on DVD and Glyndebourne has plans to soon release the CD version. Her last appearance was in 1986 by the Dutch Opera Foundation as the witch in "Arabella" by Richard Strauss. Nelly Morpurgo was seriously ill for some time and stayed in a nursing home in IJmuiden. There she died of heart failure and in silence she was cremated on July 29, 2013.