Ribla: dramatic soprano

              Ribla

Figure

Dramatic Soprano



Figure

GERTRUDE RIBIA

The Press

… attractively slim of figure and richly endowed of voice.  Here is an opulent, dramatic soprano, tastefully used.  It is warm and ringing and pleasant to hear … the audience appreciated her worth and welcomed her repeatedly with curtain calls …—
Philadelphia


Miss Ribla easily garnered vocal honors, singing with ample power, flexibility and color, and matching this with acting of dramatic verity …—
Philadelphia Inquirer


… Her voice is a good one, and she used it to prove that there are still many great singers as yet unknown …—
Philadelphia Daily News


… Miss Ribla, from the moment of her entrance, showed that she was an artist who approached her work carefully and with an impressive seriousness of purpose.  She is a gifted young woman with a fine dramatic instinct and excellent musicianship.  Her development of the role was so intelligently planned that last night Aida appeared … as a very real person.  Miss Ribla is no mere producer of well-placed tones; she is a creator, a woman of the theater …—
Philadelphia Evening Ledger


Miss Ribla … dominated the production.  Her voice has brilliance and flexibility and an extensive range.  There is imagination and temperament in her acting and singing, and in everything she did there was intelligence …—
Philadelphia Evening Bulletin


… Gertrude Ribla in the title role had a smooth soprano voice, and she moved and sang unaffectedly.—
Irving Kolodin, New York Sun


Gertrude Ribla sang Angelica's taxing music expressively and portrayed the tragic nun with a keen grasp of emotional conflict.—
Louis Biancolli, New York World-Telegram


Miss Ribla's voice was warm; it had a wide range and a stirring quality.  Her temperament revealed the utmost magnificence of the aria she sang …—
La Presse-Montreal


… Gertrude Ribla in the role of Santuzza in Cavalleria Rusticana scored a personal triumph, dominating the performance with her fine, her superb voice and acting ability.—
Allentown (Penn.) Morning Call


Gertrude Ribla, a young singer, displayed a remarkably powerful and lovely soprano in the dramatic role of Santuzza.  Musically and pictorially she was all a Turiddu would have desired.—
Berkshire Evening Eagle


… The Santuzza of Cavalleria was the young American soprano, Gertrude Ribla, who disclosed a voice of unusual range and power and decided acting talent.  She sang the dramatic role of the spurned woman with assurance, and realized all the possibilities inherent in its musical and dramatic content.—
Albany Times Union


… Miss Ribla was, in fact, something of a sensation.  This 26-year-old newcomer not only possesses a magnificent, uninhibited soprano, well adapted to the operatic stage, but she also has acting talent to go with it … this young lady seems to be of a caliber to merit the early attention of the Metropolitan…—
Albany Knickerbocker News



Opera Repertoire


Santuzza
in
Cavalleria Rusticana


Aida
in
Aida


Leonora
in
Il Trovatore


Desdemona
in
Otello


Mimi
in
La Boheme


Angelica
in
Suor Angelica


Tosca
in
Tosca


Elsa
in
Lohengrin


Elizabeth
in
Tannhäuser







Gertrude Ribla, Soprano
THE story of Gertrude Ribla reads like a novel.  There was nothing unusual about her early life.  Born in Brooklyn, she went to Bryant High School, took part in school plays.  For a time, she worked in a store to earn money for a business course.  After that she took a job as typist in an 8th street shop, when along came one of those rare chances which novelists make so plausible.  By just clipping out a coupon, she entered the 1935 music festival sponsored by the New York Evening Journal.  In three incredible weeks she had won the contralto award, a scholarship with Mme.  Frances Alda, and the personal attention of Mrs. Alfred P. Sloan.  Until I entered the contest, she recalls, no one ever suspected that I could sing, not even my parents!  And if they had, it wouldn't have helped much.  There wasn't any money to spend for voice training. In a short time, Gertrude Ribla found herself hailed as one of the greatest voice-discoveries of her time.  For three long years she studied with Mme. Alda, devoting all her energies and time to concentrated study.  When she made her debut in 1938 at the Rafael Diaz Recital Series at the Plaza in New York, she knew that she had at last reached her first goal.  Critics were unanimously enthusiastic, and the public welcomed a new star.

With such a beginning Gertrude Ribla could not fail to make a name for herself.  Concert and opera engagements have kept her continually busy.  She has toured the country in opera, was a finalist in the 1939 Metropolitan Opera Auditions, and made a triumphant appearance with the Montreal Symphony under Wilfred Pelletier.  Her performance this last season was the outstanding feature of the Philadelphia La Scala Opera productions.  A striking brunette, Miss Ribla has youth, fire and warmth — and a future which promises ever more and greater success!


Sample Program

I


O Sleep, Why Dost Thou Leave Me?
Handel


Se tu m'ami
Pergolesi


Alleluja
Mozart





II


Gretchen am Spinnrade
Schubert


Sind es Schmerzen, sind es Freuden
Brahms


Das verlassene Mägdlein
Wolf


Cäcilie
Strauss





III


Ritorna Vincitor (Aida)
Verdi





IV


Chère Nuit
Bachelet


Beau Soir
Debussy


II Pleure dans mon Coeur
Debussy


Trepak
Moussorgsky





V


Confiteor
Bamboschek


A Piper
Michael Head


The Kerry Dance
Malloy


Love Went A-Riding
Frank Bridges






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