{"id":46906,"date":"2017-08-28T12:08:04","date_gmt":"2017-08-28T16:08:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/?p=46906"},"modified":"2017-08-28T12:04:34","modified_gmt":"2017-08-28T16:04:34","slug":"in-memoriam-irene-salemka-mcgillivray-1931-2017","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/2017\/08\/28\/in-memoriam-irene-salemka-mcgillivray-1931-2017\/","title":{"rendered":"IN MEMORIAM |\u00a0Irene Salemka McGillivray (1931-2017)"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Irene
Irene Salemka McGillivray, pictured on August 23, 1980 in Regina. (Photo Roy Antal)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

An important figure in Canadian opera is no longer with us.<\/p>\n

Irene Salemka McGillivray passed away early Sunday morning in her Collingwood, Ontario home. The former operatic soprano\u00a0was 86.<\/p>\n

Baritone Peter McGillivray shared in a statement with Musical Toronto that his aunt had been battling illness and dementia\u00a0in the years leading up to her passing.<\/p>\n

Born in small-town Manitoba, Salemka also spent her formative years in Weyburn, Saskatchewan and Regina, where each successive city further nurtured her interest in pursuing an operatic career.<\/p>\n

In her prime, she was one of the premiere Canadian singers in Europe’s major opera houses. From early performances in lead roles at the Canadian Opera Company and Vancouver Opera, her later career spanned such cities\u00a0as Stuttgart, Vienna, London, Naples, Milan, Paris, and Basel. From 1956-1964, Salemka was the lead soprano at the Frankfurt State Opera. She appeared in prima donna<\/em> roles such as Mimi, Cio-Cio San, The Merry Widow, and Donna Elvira.<\/p>\n

\"Irene
Irene Salemka McGillivray (Regina Leader-Post archive photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cSadly her career has largely been neglected because she retired to private life almost 40 years ago,\u201d Peter McGillivray noted. \u201cI particularly cherish a Deutsche Gramophon recording of Don Giovanni<\/em> in German with her as Elvira opposite none other than [Dietrich] Fischer-Dieskau.\u201d<\/p>\n

For more CLASSICAL MUSIC NEWS, visit\u00a0HERE<\/a><\/span>.<\/h3>\n

Want more updates on Toronto-centric classical music news and review\u00a0before anyone else finds out? F<\/em>ollow us on\u00a0<\/em>Facebook<\/a>\u00a0<\/span>or\u00a0Twitter<\/a><\/span><\/em>\u00a0for all the latest.<\/em><\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A leading Canadian soprano on European opera stages in the 1950s and 60s, Irene Salemka McGillivray passed away Sunday in her Ontario home. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":47,"featured_media":46907,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[6439,39,41,43],"tags":[9794,9793,9792,2623,3071],"yst_prominent_words":[],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2017\/08\/Irene-Salemka-Aug.-23-1980-in-Regina.-Photo-Roy-Antal.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9bakr-ccy","amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46906"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/47"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46906"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46906\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":46912,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46906\/revisions\/46912"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/46907"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46906"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46906"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46906"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=46906"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}