Irene Dalis Has Passed Away

Above: Irene Dalis as Herodias in SALOME

Another of my great idols from my early years of opera-going has passed away: Irene Dalis – who, after a long singing career went on to run Opera San Jose – has died at the age of 89.

In 2007, I wrote an appreciation of Dalis for my blog and a few months afterward she either found it or it was pointed out to her, and she sent me a lovely note of thanks. I still have the Christmas cards she used to send me back in the ’60s and ’70s when she was singing at The Met.