Katherine K. Preston will be reading ‘The People’s Prima Donna.’ Emma Abbott’s Public Identity and Marketing Opera to 19th-Century Americans. In the 1880s, a soprano from Peoria, Illinois named Emma Abbott created an opera company that appealed to middle-class Americans. Her troupe sang opera in in English and charged low ticket prices. A major factor in the company’s success was the personal identity that Abbott created: as a skilled singer, an upstanding Christian woman, a ‘girl next door,’ and a native of the Midwest with roots in Yankee New England. Her phenomenal success, which was gained through hard work, determination, and pluck, earned her the nickname ‘the People’s Prima Donna.’ Preston is a Professor of Music at the College of William and Mary. The event will be held at 4:30 p.m. Thursday, March 28 in FA-Casadesus Recital Hall.
This event is free and open to the public. For more information, call (607) 777-2592, visit us at music.binghamton.edu or become a fan on Facebook.