{{Short description|Canadian soprano singer}} {{Use Canadian English|date=August 2019}} {{Use mdy dates|date=August 2019}} {{Infobox person | name = Clarice Carson | birth_name = Clarice Katz | birth_date = {{Birth date|1929|12|23}} | birth_place = Montreal, Quebec, Canada | death_date = {{Death date and age|2015|05|02|1929|12|23}} | death_place = Toronto, Ontario, Canada | occupation = Soprano singer | years_active = 1950–1986 }} '''Clarice Carson''' ({{nee}} Katz''';''' December 23, 1929 – May 2, 2015) was a Canadian soprano singer who made her name in opera from the 1950 to 1986. Born to Polish émigrés in Montreal, she sought to become a signer at an early age and made her public début at the Sarah Fischer Concerts. A first operatic appearance for Carson followed in 1953 and she portrayed various lead roles in performances across the world. She was inducted into the Canadian Opera Hall of Fame in 1998 and became the first Canadian to receive a commemorative plaque at the National Opera Center in New York in 2013.
==Biography== She was born Clarice Katz in Montreal, Quebec, on December 23, 1929.<ref name=CEncyEntry>{{cite encyclopedia|last=B. Mcpherson|first=James|title=Clarice Carson|url=https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/clarice-carson-emc|encyclopedia=The Canadian Encyclopedia|date=July 30, 2007|access-date=August 3, 2019|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190803195740/https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/clarice-carson-emc|archive-date=August 3, 2019}}</ref> She was the daughter of Polish émigrés who were employed in the garment industry. Although Carson's parents desired her to become a bookkeeper, her objective was to sing from an early age.<ref name=G&MObit>{{cite news|last=Crory|first=Neil|title=Clarice Carson: Opera singer had powerful voice befitting her personality|url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/theatre-and-performance/clarice-carson-opera-singer-had-powerful-voice-befitting-her-personality/article24654690/|work=The Globe and Mail|date=May 27, 2015|access-date=August 3, 2019|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170325211100/http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/theatre-and-performance/clarice-carson-opera-singer-had-powerful-voice-befitting-her-personality/article24654690/|archive-date=March 25, 2017}}</ref> She began studying professional vocal studies with soprano Pauline Donalda and pianist Jacqueline Richard in Montreal at the age of 19,<ref name="G&MObit" /><ref name=OperaCanadaObit>{{cite journal|last=So|first=Joseph|title=In memoriam|url=https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A418088642/GPS?u=wikipedia&sid=GPS&xid=73278c6c|journal=Opera Canada|volume=56|issue=1|date=Spring 2015|access-date=August 3, 2019|via=Gale General OneFile}}</ref> before moving to New York to be taught by Julia Drobner.<ref name="CEncyEntry" /> Katz adopted the local stage name Clarice Carson, which she subsequently adopted as her legal name.<ref name="G&MObit" />
Carson made her public début at the Sarah Fischer Concert series in Montreal in 1956,<ref name="OperaCanadaObit" /> and later her first operatic appearance at the Opéra de Montréal as the Lady in Waiting in ''Macbeth'' three years later.<ref name="G&MObit" /> In 1960, she was cast as Micaëla in ''Carmen'' and as Siebel in Goethe's ''Faust'' three years later. With those roles, Carson received more offers to work in opera.<ref name="CEncyEntry" /> She signed her first major contract with the New York City Opera to be part of its national tour for the 1965–66 season and made her début as the Countess of ''The Marriage of Figaro''. For the 1966–1967 season, Carson accepted a deal to join the Metropolitan Opera National Company. There, she appeared as Violetta in ''La traviata'' and the Female Chorus in ''The Rape of Lucretia.''<ref name="G&MObit" /> Carson subsequently spent three more seasons from 1967 to 1970 at the Metropolitan Opera, playing the Pamina in ''The Magic Flute.''<ref name="CEncyEntry" /> In December 1968, she came to further attention by portraying Musetta in ''La bohème,''<ref name=LHeraldNov68>{{cite news|title=Quebec Singer In Opera Role|url=https://newspaperarchive.com/lethbridge-herald-nov-19-1968-p-12/|work=Lethbridge Herald|agency=The Canadian Press|date=November 19, 1968|access-date=August 3, 2019|page=12|via=NewspaperArchive.com|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190803202327/https://newspaperarchive.com/lethbridge-herald-nov-19-1968-p-12/|archive-date=August 3, 2019}}</ref> after two of the singers were afflicted by illness.<ref name="G&MObit" /> Carson was later cast in ''Tosca'' from March to April 1969.<ref name="LHeraldNov68" /> Overall, she sang in 63 performances in ten roles at the Metropolitan Opera.<ref name="OperaCanadaObit" />
Although she created few recordings of her performances,<ref name="OperaCanadaObit" /> in 1970, Carson sang the title role of Tosca for CBC Television.<ref name="CEncyEntry" /> That same year, she was cast as the title role in the Vancouver Opera Association's production of ''Aida''.<ref name="VSOct70">{{cite news|last=Wyman|first=Max|title=A night of ravishment; Clarice Carson's Aida Brings a Lump to the Throat|url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/492476520/|work=Vancouver Sun|page=25|date=October 2, 1970|access-date=August 3, 2019|via=Newspapers.com|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190803195740/https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/492476520/|archive-date=August 3, 2019}}</ref> Carson then sang the lead role in ''Suor Angelica'' and Giorgietta in ''Il tabarro'' for the Opéra du Québec in 1971.<ref name="CEncyEntry" /> The following year, she appeared in New York in a concert version of ''Les Troyens'',<ref name="CEncyEntry" /> and reprised the title role of ''Tosca'' for Canadian Opera Company (COC) at the National Arts Centre in Ottawa.<ref name="OJOct72">{{cite news|title=Clarice Carson singing role of Tosca|url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/43295244/|work=Ottawa Journal|date=October 14, 1972|access-date=August 4, 2019|page=24|via=Newspapers.com|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190804071240/https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/43295244/|archive-date=August 4, 2019}}</ref> Carson was cast as Desdemona in ''Otello'' in '{{not a typo|a}} Opera du Quebec' production in 1973,<ref name="CEncyEntry" /><ref name="MGNov73">{{cite news|last=Siskind|first=Jacob|title=Clarice Carson saves the day|url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/421460228/|work=Montreal Gazette|date=November 1, 1973|access-date=August 4, 2019|page=50|via=Newspapers.com|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190804071239/https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/421460228/|archive-date=August 4, 2019}}</ref> before returning to New York to partake in the concert edition of ''Palestrina''.<ref name="CEncyEntry" />
During 1974, Carson portrayed Donna Anna in ''Don Giovanni'', Cio-Cio San in ''Madama Butterfly'' and Alice Ford in ''Falstaff''.<ref name="CEncyEntry" /> For the 1975–1976 season, she rejoined the Metropolitan Opera to portray Fiordiligi in ''Cosi fan tutte''. In 1977, Carson returned to the COC and was cast as Elisabeth of Valois in ''Don Carlos'',<ref name="CEncyEntry" /> and débuted with the Manitoba Opera for a second appearance in ''Don Giovanni''.<ref name="WFPOct77">{{cite news|title=Giovanni opens opera season|url=https://newspaperarchive.com/winnipeg-free-press-oct-20-1977-p-53/|work=Winnipeg Free Press|pages=27–42|date=October 20, 1977|access-date=August 3, 2019|via=NewspaperArchive.com|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190803202327/https://newspaperarchive.com/winnipeg-free-press-oct-20-1977-p-53/|archive-date=August 3, 2019}}</ref> Operatic bass player Paul Plishka invited her to partake in a concert of selections from his most popular repertoires in high school auditoriums in 1978.<ref name="NYTimesApr78">{{cite news|last=Hulbert|first=Dan|title=Met Singers to Aid|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1978/04/16/archives/new-jersey-weekly-met-singers-to-aid-arts-center-drive.html|work=The New York Times|date=April 16, 1978|access-date=August 4, 2019|page=384|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190804071240/https://www.nytimes.com/1978/04/16/archives/new-jersey-weekly-met-singers-to-aid-arts-center-drive.html|archive-date=August 4, 2019}}</ref> Two years later, Carson joined the Pittsburgh Opera to sing the role of Donna Anna in ''Don Giovanni''.<ref name="PPGJan80">{{cite news|title=Clarice Carson Will Sing In "Don Giovanni"|url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/89560292/|work=Pittsburgh Post-Gazette|date=January 22, 1980|access-date=August 4, 2019|page=8|via=Newspapers.com|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190804071238/https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/89560292/|archive-date=August 4, 2019}}</ref> Other performances that Carson portrayed during her career were Constanze in ''The Abduction'' in, Maddalena in ''Andrea Chénier'' and the title roles of ''Salome'' and ''Turandot'' in opera buildings across the world.<ref name="CEncyEntry" />
She retired from the opera after playing Senta in a production of ''The Flying Dutchman'' with the Lyric Opera of Chicago in late 1983. Carson confided in her friend and former manager Ann Summers at the time that, "I'm lonely on the road".<ref name="CEncyEntry" /><ref name="G&MObit" /> Her final stage performance was in 1986,<ref name="OperaCanadaObit" /> and she began operating a store called Carson-Palmer: Fashion Alternatives on Eglinton Avenue in Toronto,<ref name="G&MObit" /> where she rented out formal dresses to women who did not want high-end gowns.<ref name="TStarObit">{{cite news|url=https://www.thestar.com/entertainment/music/2015/05/07/canadian-opera-singer-clarice-carson-dead-at-age-85.html|title=Canadian opera singer Clarice Carson dead at age 85|last=Crawford|first=Trish|date=May 7, 2015|work=Toronto Star|access-date=August 3, 2019|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190803195738/https://www.thestar.com/entertainment/music/2015/05/07/canadian-opera-singer-clarice-carson-dead-at-age-85.html|archive-date=August 3, 2019}}</ref> Carson also served as an active board member and mentored several young singers with the International Resource Centre for Performing Artists (IRCPA).<ref name="CEncyEntry" /> She died of kidney failure in the afternoon on May 2, 2015, at her home in Toronto.<ref name="G&MObit" /><ref name="CBCDeath">{{cite news|title=Clarice Carson, Canadian soprano and opera great, dead at 85|url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/entertainment/clarice-carson-canadian-soprano-and-opera-great-dead-at-85-1.3059590|publisher=CBC News|agency=The Canadian Press|date=May 3, 2015|access-date=August 3, 2019}}</ref>
==Personality and personal life==
Carson's daughter described her as "extremely intelligent", and a person who was "very generous" and liked to enjoy life.<ref name="G&MObit" /> She was familiar to audiences in Ottawa,<ref name="OJOct72" /> though she was unable to achieve much recognition and success outside of North America.<ref name="G&MObit" /> Carson was a feminist from her childhood.<ref name="G&MObit" /> Adrian Waller of the ''Montreal Gazette'' noted Carson's "especially large" and "extremely well placed" soprano voice.<ref name="MGazetteAug71">{{cite news|last=Waller|first=Adrian|title=Clarice Carson shines in evening opera|url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/421010245/|work=Montreal Gazette|date=August 4, 1971|access-date=August 3, 2019|page=13|via=Newspapers.com|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190803195739/https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/421010245/|archive-date=August 3, 2019}}</ref> At the age of 18, Carson married William "Bill" Ornstein and they had two children. The marriage had an amicable conclusion. She later had a short marriage to Greek-American tenor and vocal coach Philon Ktsanes.<ref name="G&MObit" />
==Legacy== Joseph So of ''Opera Canada'' called Carson "An important figure in Canadian opera history".<ref name="OperaCanadaObit" /> In December 1998, she was inducted into the Canadian Opera Hall of Fame by the Opéra de Montréal at Place des Arts.<ref name="CBCDeath" /> In August 2013, Carson received a commemorative plaque at the National Opera Center in New York to acknowledge her career as an international opera soprano, making her the first Canadian to receive such an honour.<ref>{{cite web|title=Canadian Opera Diva Clarice Carson Honored in New York|url=http://ircpa.net/2013/08/canadian-opera-diva-clarice-carson-honoured-in-new-york/|publisher=The International Resource Centre for Performing Artists|date=August 9, 2013|access-date=August 3, 2019|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190803195740/http://ircpa.net/2013/08/canadian-opera-diva-clarice-carson-honoured-in-new-york/|archive-date=August 3, 2019}}</ref> She donated her musical scores, personal correspondence, program booklets and tape recordings of her performances to the IRCPA library to ensure her work was preserved for future generations.<ref name="G&MObit" /><ref name="TStarObit" />
==References== {{reflist|30em}}
==External links== * {{Discogs artist|3630754}}
{{Portal bar|Biography|Opera}} {{Authority Control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Carson, Clarice}} Category:1929 births Category:2015 deaths Category:Singers from Montreal Category:Canadian people of Polish descent Category:20th-century Canadian women opera singers Category:Canadian operatic sopranos