Opera Singer. A mezzo soprano, she is probably best remembered for her 1940s appearances with Arturo Toscanini and the NBC Symphony. Born Katherine Ann Merriman she was raised in Pittsburgh's East End until moving to Los Angeles at 15 where after training with legendary soprano Lotte Lehmann she got her start in show business by performing on movie soundtracks. Spotted by Sir Laurence Olivier she toured with the great actor and Vivien Leigh singing arias during the set changes of a traveling production of "Romeo and Juliet". After making her 1942 operatic debut in Cincinnati as La Cieca from Ponchielli's "La Gioconda" she won a voice contest part of the prize of which was a 15 minute recital on NBC that was heard by Toscanini. Nan was to assume the title lead in the Maestro's 1943 broadcast of Gluck's "Orfeo" and to appear in Beethoven's "Missa Solemnis" then was to take on three of Giuseppe Verdi's ladies, Meg Page in "Falstaff", the prostitute "Maddalena" from "Rigoletto", and Desdemona's maid Emilia in "Otello". After World War II she became an audience favorite with the Lyric Opera of Chicago and the San Francisco Opera and in 1948 bowed with the New York Philharmonic but from about 1950 on largely confined her career to Europe. Nan received rave reviews in such major venues as Glyndebourne, Paris, and Vienna, her repertoire including Meg, Maddalena, and Emilia as well as such lesser known characters as Baba the Turk from Igor Stravinsky's "The Rake's Progress" and Laura in Alexander Dargomyzhsky's "The Stone Guest". She received high praise as Dorabella in a 1956 La Scala Milano production of Mozart's "Cosi fan tutte" and was to become quite popular in The Netherlands in both opera and recital. In the early 1960s Nan was to meet Dutch tenor Tom Brand who had recently been widowed and left with a large family and following her 1965 marriage retired from the stage to care for her new brood. Nan remained in Holland upon Brand's 1970 death then after the children were grown returned to Los Angeles in 1973 where she lived out her days. At her death from the infirmities of advanced age much of her recorded legacy remained available on CD including the Toscanini sets and a prized disc of French and Spanish songs on which she was accompanied by pianist Gerald Moore.
Opera Singer. A mezzo soprano, she is probably best remembered for her 1940s appearances with Arturo Toscanini and the NBC Symphony. Born Katherine Ann Merriman she was raised in Pittsburgh's East End until moving to Los Angeles at 15 where after training with legendary soprano Lotte Lehmann she got her start in show business by performing on movie soundtracks. Spotted by Sir Laurence Olivier she toured with the great actor and Vivien Leigh singing arias during the set changes of a traveling production of "Romeo and Juliet". After making her 1942 operatic debut in Cincinnati as La Cieca from Ponchielli's "La Gioconda" she won a voice contest part of the prize of which was a 15 minute recital on NBC that was heard by Toscanini. Nan was to assume the title lead in the Maestro's 1943 broadcast of Gluck's "Orfeo" and to appear in Beethoven's "Missa Solemnis" then was to take on three of Giuseppe Verdi's ladies, Meg Page in "Falstaff", the prostitute "Maddalena" from "Rigoletto", and Desdemona's maid Emilia in "Otello". After World War II she became an audience favorite with the Lyric Opera of Chicago and the San Francisco Opera and in 1948 bowed with the New York Philharmonic but from about 1950 on largely confined her career to Europe. Nan received rave reviews in such major venues as Glyndebourne, Paris, and Vienna, her repertoire including Meg, Maddalena, and Emilia as well as such lesser known characters as Baba the Turk from Igor Stravinsky's "The Rake's Progress" and Laura in Alexander Dargomyzhsky's "The Stone Guest". She received high praise as Dorabella in a 1956 La Scala Milano production of Mozart's "Cosi fan tutte" and was to become quite popular in The Netherlands in both opera and recital. In the early 1960s Nan was to meet Dutch tenor Tom Brand who had recently been widowed and left with a large family and following her 1965 marriage retired from the stage to care for her new brood. Nan remained in Holland upon Brand's 1970 death then after the children were grown returned to Los Angeles in 1973 where she lived out her days. At her death from the infirmities of advanced age much of her recorded legacy remained available on CD including the Toscanini sets and a prized disc of French and Spanish songs on which she was accompanied by pianist Gerald Moore.
Bio by: Bob Hufford
Advertisement
