Puccini Madama Butterfly Zylis Gara, Alexander, Uppman, Casei, Woitach NY 3 April 1976

Act 2: 00.50.00 Act 3: 01.40.10
A tribute to the soprano Teresa Zylis-Gara, who died on 28 August 2021 and was effective in so many roles, thanks to her exquisite voice and thoughtful musicianship. As Butterfly, she could touch the heart with her gift for pathos and the iridescent beauty of her voice. In a 1974 interview for The Atlanta Constitution, she spoke about the risks of being too emotional in performance. At the time, she was in Atlanta to sing the title role of Puccini’s “Madame Butterfly,” and she recalled crying onstage during one particularly intense scene while performing the role as a student. “It was terrible,” she said. “When you cry you can’t sing. Since that time I’ve never allowed myself to get this far, but it’s still a danger for me.”
Determined to advance her career, Zylis-Gara made professional decisions that affected her personal life, as she explained in the interview. She had married Jerzy Gara, the director of a technical school in Lodz, in 1954. The next year their son, also named Jerzy, was born. But it proved “impossible to be a wife, mother and artist of international fame all at one time,” she said. “I chose to be the artist,” she added. “I accept my choice and everything that has happened in my private life as a result.”
When her son was six, she left him in the care of her mother in Lodz and settled in Germany to pursue her career, which quickly prospered, however the marriage ended in divorce. “It is something special to have a talent,” she said. “It brings a responsibility with it.” She added, referring to her son, “I saw sometimes he was not happy; and this is difficult.” He survives her, as does a granddaughter.