This page uses content from the Ruth Ann Swenson biography page on the English version of Wikipedia and is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. This list of authors can be seen in the page history. Rotten Tomatoes disclaims any and all warranties as to the accuracy or reliability of the content.

Ruth Ann Swenson (August 25, 1959) is an American soprano.

Born in Bronxville, New York and raised on Long Island in Commack, she studied at the Academy of Vocal Arts in Philadelphia and briefly at Hartt College of Music in West Hartford CT. She made her San Francisco Opera debut in 1983, as Despina in Mozart's Così fan tutte. Her Metropolitan Opera debut came in 1991, as Zerlina in Mozart's Don Giovanni. In 1993, she won the Richard Tucker Music Foundation Award.

Career

Swenson received an honorary doctorate degree in April 2006 from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, where she has taught master classes.

Swenson has appeared on many of the great opera stages of the world, including the Opera National de Paris, the Royal Opera House at Covent Garden, the Berlin State Opera, the Grand Théâtre de Genève, the Hamburg State Opera, the Bavarian State Opera and the Chicago Lyric Opera.[1]

Roles she has played include Liù in Turandot, Rosina in The Barber of Seville, the Four Heroines in The Tales of Hoffmann, Elvira in I Puritani, Zerbinetta in Ariadne auf Naxos, Gilda in Rigoletto, Juliette in Roméo et Juliette and Giulietta in I Capuleti e i Montecchi, Violetta in La Traviata, Lucia in Lucia di Lammermoor, Adina in L'elisir d'amore, Marguerite in Faust, the Countess in The Marriage of Figaro, and Rodelinda in Rodelinda.

Breast Cancer

The 47-year-old Swenson was diagnosed with breast cancer and underwent surgery in October 2006 at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. She will receive chemotherapy treatment as a precautionary measure following surgery. She stated that her prognosis is excellent.[2]

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