# Norma Sharp

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{{short description|American operatic soprano (born 1943)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=January 2016}}
{{Infobox person
| name          = Norma Sharp
| birth_date    = {{birth date and age|1943|07|20}}
| birth_place   = [Shawnee, Oklahoma](/source/Shawnee%2C_Oklahoma), US
| death_date    = 
| death_place   = 
| education     = {{plainlist|
* [University of Kansas](/source/University_of_Kansas)
* {{nowrap|{{lang|de|[Musikhochschule Hamburg](/source/Musikhochschule_Hamburg)}}}}
* {{lang|de|[Musikhochschule Köln](/source/Musikhochschule_K%C3%B6ln)}}
}}
| occupation    = {{plainlist|
* Operatic [soprano](/source/soprano)
* Academic voice teacher
}}
| years_active  = 
| organization  = {{plainlist|
* {{lang|de|[Badisches Staatstheater Karlsruhe](/source/Badisches_Staatstheater_Karlsruhe)}}
* [Bayreuth Festival](/source/Bayreuth_Festival)
* {{nowrap|{{lang|de|[Hochschule für Musik "Hanns Eisler"](/source/Hochschule_f%C3%BCr_Musik_%22Hanns_Eisler%22)}}}}
}}
}}

'''Norma Sharp''' (born July 20, 1943)<ref name="Merker" /> is an American operatic [soprano](/source/soprano). She is known for singing Mozart and Richard Strauss, but also sang Wagner roles at the [Bayreuth Festival](/source/Bayreuth_Festival). She worked mostly in Germany, made an international career, and has been a professor of voice at the {{lang|de|[Hochschule für Musik "Hanns Eisler"](/source/Hochschule_f%C3%BCr_Musik_%22Hanns_Eisler%22)}} from 1992.

== Career ==

Sharp was born in [Shawnee, Oklahoma](/source/Shawnee%2C_Oklahoma), and studied voice and musicology at the [University of Kansas](/source/University_of_Kansas).<ref name="Cummings2000" /> She continued her studies on a scholarship at the {{lang|de|[Musikhochschule Hamburg](/source/Musikhochschule_Hamburg)}} with Helmut Melchert and at the {{lang|de|[Musikhochschule Köln](/source/Musikhochschule_K%C3%B6ln)}} with Peter Witsch.<ref name="Theater" /> She was a member of the {{lang|de|[Badisches Staatstheater Karlsruhe](/source/Badisches_Staatstheater_Karlsruhe)}}.<ref name="Bayreuth" /> Her voice, termed [lyric](/source/Lyric_soprano) and "{{lang|de|jugendlich-dramatisch}}" ([spinto](/source/spinto)), led to preferred interpretation of roles in operas by Mozart and Richard Strauss.<ref name="Berlin" />

She appeared in London at [Covent Garden](/source/Royal_Opera_House),  in Glasgow at the [Scottish Opera](/source/Scottish_Opera) and in 1978 at the [Glyndebourne Festival](/source/Glyndebourne_Festival) as Donna Anna in Mozart's ''[Don Giovanni](/source/Don_Giovanni)''. She sang the part of the countess in Mozart's ''{{lang|it|[Le nozze di Figaro](/source/Le_nozze_di_Figaro)}}'' at her debut at [La Scala](/source/La_Scala) in Milan.<ref name="Bayreuth" />

Sharp performed at the [Bayreuth Festival](/source/Bayreuth_Festival) from 1977 to 1981,<ref name="Cummings2000" /> singing parts in the {{lang|de|[Jahrhundertring](/source/Jahrhundertring)}}, the centenary performance of Wagner's ''{{lang|de|[Der Ring des Nibelungen](/source/Der_Ring_des_Nibelungen)}}'' staged by [Patrice Chéreau](/source/Patrice_Ch%C3%A9reau) in 1976. She appeared as the [Rhine Maiden](/source/Rhine_Maiden) Woglinde in ''{{lang|de|[Das Rheingold](/source/Das_Rheingold)}}'' and ''{{lang|de|[Götterdämmerung](/source/G%C3%B6tterd%C3%A4mmerung)}}'', and {{lang|de|Waldvogel}} (Voice of a forest bird) in ''[Siegfried](/source/Siegfried_(opera))'', also in the version filmed in 1980.<ref name="Bayreuth" /> In ''[Parsifal](/source/Parsifal)'', she sang one of the flower maidens.<ref name="Bayreuth" />

In recital, she is focused on German romantic and contemporary [Lied](/source/Lied)er, accompanied by pianists such as [Irwin Gage](/source/Irwin_Gage), Wilhelm von Grunelius and [Wolfram Rieger](/source/Wolfram_Rieger).<ref name="Berlin" />

From 1992 she has been a professor of voice at the {{lang|de|[Hochschule für Musik "Hanns Eisler"](/source/Hochschule_f%C3%BCr_Musik_%22Hanns_Eisler%22)}} in Berlin.<ref name="Berlin" />

== Selected recordings ==

Sharp appeared in her Bayreuth performances on film – the ''Ring'' cycle filmed in 1980 and ''Parsifal'' in 1982. She sang Waldvogel and Gutrune in the 1983 ''Ring'' digital recording with [Marek Janowski](/source/Marek_Janowski) conducting the {{lang|de|[Staatskapelle Dresden](/source/Staatskapelle_Dresden)}}, with [Theo Adam](/source/Theo_Adam) as Wotan, [Jessye Norman](/source/Jessye_Norman) as Sieglinde, [Siegfried Jerusalem](/source/Siegfried_Jerusalem) as Siegmund, and [René Kollo](/source/Ren%C3%A9_Kollo) as Siegfried.<ref name="Levine" />

== References ==

{{reflist | 25em 
| refs =

<ref name="Cummings2000">{{cite book
  | last      = Cummings
  | first     = David M.
  | title     = International Who's Who in Music and Musician's Directory
  | chapter-url       = https://books.google.com/books?id=ez1JfIVM4ykC&pg=PA588
  | year      = 2000
  | publisher = Psychology Press
  | isbn      = 978-0-948875-53-3
  | pages     = 588–589
  | chapter   = Sharp, Norma
}}</ref>

<ref name="Merker">{{cite web
 |url          = http://www.der-neue-merker.eu/geburtstage-im-juli-2013
 |title        = 20.7. Norma Sharp wird 70
 |publisher    = Der neue Merker
 |language     = German
 |accessdate   = March 26, 2014
 |archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20140705093657/http://www.der-neue-merker.eu/geburtstage-im-juli-2013
 |archive-date = July 5, 2014
 |url-status   = dead
}}</ref>

<ref name="Theater">{{cite web
  | url        = http://theaterderzeit.de/person/8544/
  | title      = Norma Sharp
  | publisher  = Theater der Zeit
  | language   = German
  | accessdate = March 26, 2014
}}</ref>

<ref name="Bayreuth">{{cite web
 |url          = http://auffuehrungsdatenbank.bayreuther-festspiele.de/fsdb/personen/329/index.htm
 |title        = Norma Sharp
 |publisher    = [Bayreuth Festival](/source/Bayreuth_Festival)
 |language     = German
 |accessdate   = March 8, 2014
 |archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20170814223737/http://auffuehrungsdatenbank.bayreuther-festspiele.de/fsdb/personen/329/index.htm
 |archive-date = August 14, 2017
 |url-status   = dead
}}</ref>

<ref name="Berlin">{{cite web
  | url        = http://hfmberlin.de/en/Norma_Sharp.html?SID=uhkxpjoqfrayhr
  | title        = Prof. Norma Sharp
  | publisher        = [Hochschule für Musik "Hanns Eisler"](/source/Hochschule_f%C3%BCr_Musik_%22Hanns_Eisler%22)
  | accessdate        = March 26, 2014
  | archive-url        = https://web.archive.org/web/20140309011254/http://hfmberlin.de/en/Norma_Sharp.html?SID=uhkxpjoqfrayhr
  | archive-date        = March 9, 2014
  | url-status        = dead
  }}</ref>

<ref name="Levine">{{cite web
  | last       = Levine
  | first      = Robert
  | url        = http://www.classicstoday.com/review/review-10781/#sthash.HvJgDi2H.dpuf
  | title      = Wagner: Der Ring des Nibelungen/Janowski
  | publisher  = classicstoday
  | accessdate = March 26, 2014
}}</ref>

}}

== External links ==
* {{AllMusic|id=mn0002182044}}
* [http://www.black-international-cinema.com/BIC05/XX.BIC2005/HTML/mayvoicesinberlin/NormaSharp_bio.pdf Norma Sharp] black-international-cinema.com

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sharp, Norma}}
Category:Living people
Category:American operatic sopranos
Category:1943 births
Category:People from Shawnee, Oklahoma
Category:University of Kansas alumni
Category:Academic staff of the Hochschule für Musik Hanns Eisler Berlin
Category:Hochschule für Musik und Theater Hamburg alumni
Category:Hochschule für Musik und Tanz Köln alumni
Category:American expatriates in Germany
Category:American women academics
Category:21st-century American women

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Norma Sharp](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norma_Sharp) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norma_Sharp?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.