Jeannette Zarou

Zarou, Jeannette

Jeannette Zarou. Soprano, b Ramallah, Palestine. She emigrated to Canada in 1947, began studies in 1961 with Irene Jessner at the University of Toronto, and made her COC debut in 1964 as the Priestess in Aida. She created the title role in the Royal Cons Opera School (University of Toronto Opera Division) 1966 stage premiere of Willan's Deirdre and repeated the performance for the COC that same year. She was also a winner in 1966 of the CBC Talent Festival. Other COC roles have included Liù in Turandot (1965), Micaëla in Carmen (1966), Marguerite in Faust (1970), Marzelline in Fidelio (1973), and Mimi in La Bohème (1976). In 1967 she toured with Leonard Bernstein and the New York Philharmonic, singing the soprano part in Mahler's Fourth Symphony. A leading lyric soprano 1967-74 with the Deutsche Oper am Rhein in Düsseldorf, she has performed with major European houses in Amsterdam, Berlin, Hamburg, Cologne, Vienna, and Wiesbaden and extensively in concert and recital. Her performance of Ariadne in Strauss' Ariadne auf Naxos at the 1975 Stratford Festival drew praise from John Kraglund in the Toronto Globe and Mail 'not only for the strength and security of vocal performance, but for the emotional impact of both the musical and dramatic interpretation' (1 Aug 1975).