Music
Emilia Cundari
1930–2005 · operatic soprano
Detroit-born, Windsor-raised soprano and Marygrove College graduate who sang at the Metropolitan Opera and La Scala and recorded with Bruno Walter.
- Born
Detroit, Michigan- Died
Southfield, Michigan
aged 74- Detroit years
- 1930, 1950s, 2000s
- Field
- Music
01 / The Detroit story
The Detroit story
Cundari was born in Detroit in 1930 to Italian immigrant parents and grew up across the river in Windsor, Ontario, where her father co-owned Mario's Restaurant. After music studies at Windsor's St. Mary's Academy she crossed back to Detroit to earn a bachelor of music degree at Marygrove College. A Grinnell music scholarship then took her to New York, where she debuted at New York City Opera in 1953. Signed by the Metropolitan Opera, she sang Barbarina in The Marriage of Figaro in 1956 and her first leading role, Micaëla in Carmen, in 1957. She recorded Beethoven's Ninth and Mahler's Second Symphony with Bruno Walter, then moved to Italy, sang at La Scala and toured Europe. After marrying the singer Sergio Pezzetti in 1965 she returned to Windsor to teach and perform occasionally. She died in Southfield in 2005.
Highlights
- Metropolitan Opera debut as Barbarina, 1956; Micaëla in Carmen, 1957
- Recorded Beethoven's Ninth and Mahler's Second with Bruno Walter
- Bachelor of music from Marygrove College in Detroit
- Sang at La Scala in Milan
02 / Their Detroit places
Their Detroit places 1
Where they lived, worked, performed and liked to hang out. Closed and demolished places stay here too, because they are part of the city's history.
Studied here · early 1950s
Dignity Detroit
Closed · 1927–2019
Cundari earned her bachelor of music degree at this Catholic college; it closed in 2019 and the campus now serves as the Marygrove Conservancy.