Background
Saunders, Arlene was born on October 5, 1935 in Cleveland.
Saunders, Arlene was born on October 5, 1935 in Cleveland.
Bachelor of Music, Baldwin-Wallace College, 1957.
After making her operatic debut as Rosalinde von Eisenstein, in Die Fledermaus, with the National Opera Company in 1958, she made her first appearance with the New York City Opera in 1961, as Giorgetta in Il tabarro (conducted by Julius Rudel). With that company, she soon sang in Carmen (as Micaëla), Louisiana bohème (as Mimì), Louise (opposite Norman Treigle as the Père), Die lustige Witwe and Don Giovanni (as Donna Elvira). In 1964, Saunders began a relationship with the Hamburg State Opera, with whom she made films of Le nozze di Figaro (as the Contessa, 1967), Der Freischütz (1968), and Die Meistersinger (with Giorgio Tozzi and Richard Cassilly, 1970). in 1968.
Foreign Radio Corporation of America, she recorded Il re pastore (with Lucia Popp and Reri Grist), in 1967.
In 1971, she created the title role in Ginastera"s Beatrix Cenci, which she repeated at the City Opera in 1973. She sang at the Metropolitan Opera in 1976, as Eva in Die Meistersinger, and in 1978, the soprano returned to the City Opera for Louisiana fanciulla del West.
She also appeared at Milan, London (Covent Garden), Paris, Vienna, Rome and Buenos Aires. In 1967, Mission Saunders was named a Kammersängerin, in Hamburg.
In 1985 she gave her Farewell as the Marschallin in Der Rosenkavalier, at the Teatro Colón.
Member Pi Kappa Lambda (Epsilon Phi chapter).