Graciela Rivera was the first Puerto Rican to sing a lead role at the Metropolitan Opera in New York.
Background
Rivera was born in Ponce, Puerto Rico, on April 17, 1921. Her father, Gonzalo Salvador Rivera, was an evangelical minister, and her mother was Ennqueta Padilla. She was one of eight children born to a family of limited resources and modest economic means. Due to the nature of her father's job, they were forced to move often around the island, and went from Ponce to the town of Catano when Rivera was two years old.
Education
She received her education at the public schools in Catano, and attended the Escuela Superior Central (Central High School) in Santurce, in the metropolitan San Juan area. The school was well regarded both for its educational programs and for its solid music and arts training.
After graduation from high school, Rivera was admitted to Julliard and graduated in 1943.
Career
Graciela began to sing when she was a young child. She attended her father s religious sendees and sang religious hymns accompanied by a foot-pedal organ. It was not until she was in high school, however, that her musical talents were discovered. One day, music teacher Dwight W. Hiestand was testing the students voices to classify their vocal registers. He asked Rivera to sing and discovered that she had a superb coloratura soprano voice. He took her under his wing and taught her the foundations of music. Soon she started to appear in the school's music productions, where she received great accolades. She was cast as the lead in the school productions of Donizetti's Lucia de Lammermoor and Verdi's Rigoletto where the audience was charged a 25- or 50-cent admission.
Her talent was so great that her teachers encouraged her to pursue a professional career in music. After graduation from high school, Rivera was admitted to Julliard. She had to work and offer summer recitals to support herself and pay for her school expenses. After her second year at Julliard, she received a scholarship that covered her tuition. In 1940 she met Joseph Zumchak, a U.S. military officer stationed in San Juan. After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, his ship was ordered to travel to New York. Taking advantage of Rivera's Christmas break from Julliard, they married in 1941. Acting often as her professional manager, he was one of her greatest supporters throughout her career.
Rivera graduated from Julliard in 1943 and immediately started a professional career in opera. She was so well received by the public that her career received an immediate boost. During the war, Rivera toured the world with the USO, singing for the American troops, appearing on the U.S.S. Missouri and the U.S.S. Philippine Sea. In 1950 she appeared in Rossini's Barber of Seville in the Royal Theater in Rome. After the performaxace, His Holiness Pope Pius XII welcomed her to the Vatican, praised her talents, and blessed her voice.
After her performance at the Met, Rivera continued appearing on all the most important stages of New York such as Carnegie Hall, Madison Square Garden, and Radio City Music Hall.
In 1952, Rivera was invited by Archbishop of Mexico Luis Maria Martinez to sing with the chorus of Mexico's Cathedral of the Virgin of Guadaloupe in a special television program broadcast to the Mexican nation. She became the first woman invited to sing with the chorus since its founding in 1553. Her quick chain of artistic successes positioned her as one of best coloratura sopranos of the time. She sang with the most important opera companies in the all the important theaters of United States and Europe. She has said that the only theater in Europe where she never performed was La Scala in Milan and that was because Maria Callas, the theater's resident star, felt threatened by Rivera's talents and blocked her from appearing.
Rivera was also active making appearances with radio and television in the United States throughout the 1950s. She participated in radio through the CBS Concerts and had her own radio show on WHOM in New York titled Graciela Rivera Sings. When television emerged, she appeared on shows such as CBS' Name that Tune, Your Show of Shows, and NBC's The Jack Paar Show.
After her retirement from professional music she started a new career in education. For 15 years she worked as a professor of music at the Hostos Community College in New York and held the Graciela Rivera Opera Workshops.
After many years living in the United States, Rivera retired to Puerto Rico in 1987. She makes sporadic appearances in the Puerto Rican electronic media, and her audiences still remember and admire her. Her husband published a biography of this notable Puerto Rican diva in 1990, where he tells the story of her path to fame and success. Because of her incredible accomplishments as an opera singer, the newly renovated theater of the Central High School, her alma mater, will carry her name.
Rivera died on 17 July 2011 at her home in the Mays Landing section of Hamilton Township, Atlantic County, New Jersey. She was survived by her daughter, Ginny Soto, and son-in-law, Sam Soto, of Mays Landing, N.J.; her daughter-in-law, Jean Marie Zumchak; and her grandchildren, Joseph Zumchak III, and Jacob Zumchak of Port Richey, Fla.; in addition to many nieces and nephews.
Membership
One of Rivera's most important attributes was her devotion to new talent. She felt a sense of duty and obligation to help fellow Puerto Rican performers to succeed. She was one of the founding members of the Puerto Rico Opera Company and sponsored a music contest to offer scholarships for underprivileged children.
Personality
Quotes from others about the person
On February 4, 1952, Rivera became the source of national pride for her fellow Puerto Ricans when she became the first Puerto Rican to perform at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York, appearing as Lucia in Lucia di Lammermoor. The New York Times noted that:
"Her tones were pure, clear, and beautifully modulated from the start, and there were real indications that she was going to be a real hit when the applause after her legend of the fountain area caused a pause in the show. But it was after the mad scene that that the cheers and the applause really broke loose. They continued until she had answered seven curtain calls".
Connections
Graciela Rivera and Joseph Zumchak married in 1941.