Opera Singer. A mezzo soprano able to sing dramatic soprano roles, she is remembered for her predominantly West Coast career that saw her specialize in the works of Giacomo Puccini. Born Emogene Marjorie Hurd to a musical family, she was raised in Oakland, was a member of the Order of Job's Daughters in her youth, and following her 1939 high school graduation began her professional career in the Bay Area. Performing initially as 'Emogene Hurd' and then after her first marriage as 'Emogene Cornwell', she started by picking up jobs at nightclubs, churches, and synagogues, progressed to light operetta, then joined the Pacific Opera and the traveling San Carlo Opera prior to establishing herself with the San Francisco Opera. A popular member of the latter company for several years, her most noted roles were Cio-Cio-San's maid Suzuki in Puccini's "Madame Butterfly" and the tragic title heroine of the same composer's "Tosca"; Emogene and her second husband Walter Hurd moved to Rosemont in 1959 and over the next decades she was a respected Sacramento music teacher. She lived out her days in a Citrus Heights nursing facility and died of the effects of advanced age.
Opera Singer. A mezzo soprano able to sing dramatic soprano roles, she is remembered for her predominantly West Coast career that saw her specialize in the works of Giacomo Puccini. Born Emogene Marjorie Hurd to a musical family, she was raised in Oakland, was a member of the Order of Job's Daughters in her youth, and following her 1939 high school graduation began her professional career in the Bay Area. Performing initially as 'Emogene Hurd' and then after her first marriage as 'Emogene Cornwell', she started by picking up jobs at nightclubs, churches, and synagogues, progressed to light operetta, then joined the Pacific Opera and the traveling San Carlo Opera prior to establishing herself with the San Francisco Opera. A popular member of the latter company for several years, her most noted roles were Cio-Cio-San's maid Suzuki in Puccini's "Madame Butterfly" and the tragic title heroine of the same composer's "Tosca"; Emogene and her second husband Walter Hurd moved to Rosemont in 1959 and over the next decades she was a respected Sacramento music teacher. She lived out her days in a Citrus Heights nursing facility and died of the effects of advanced age.
Bio by: Bob Hufford
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