CA: Transition to Retirement

Margery Mayer (Voutsas) in retirement in Carmel Highlands, CA, circa 1977.Source: liederrock

Margery Mayer (Voutsas) in retirement in Carmel Highlands, CA, circa 1977.

In retirement Mayer continued teaching voice, as well as singing as a soloist in her church and in the Monterey peninsula music group, Piano Plus. She taught her great-grandsons to find Middle C on the piano when they turned two. She also did couture sewing, gardening and water color, and continued to extend her trademark hospitality to friends new and old.

Her zest for music and dramatic flair were still on view at her surprise 90th birthday party when she reprised her Carmen role by teasing guests with a full and warm rendition of L’amour, L’amour!

Memorial Contributions

Margery Mayer Voutsas is survived by her two sons, two granddaughters and six great-grandsons. She was predeceased by her sister and by her three husbands, Dietrich George Berthold, Sigvart J. Steen, and George Voutsas.

The family requests that memorial gifts be made to Wagner College for the Margery Mayer and Sigvart J Steen Music Award.

Instructions

A donation to the Award at Wagner College can be made by mail a or online by clicking on the highlighted title below. This link will transfer you to the location on the Wagner College website where contributions of various types can be made. Locate the section “About Your Gift” and then please select Other as the “Gift Designation” type and be sure to specify the Award name as follows:

The Margery Mayer and Sigvart J Steen Music Award

Obituaries for Margery Mayer (Steen) (Voutsas)


Chicago

Margery Mayer Voutsas, 1918-2014

Chicago-raised opera singer performed title role in 'Carmen' 30 times
By Joan Giangrasse Kates, Special to the Tribune
 
Posted: May 28, 2014, The Chicago Tribune

New York

Margery Mayer Voutsas 
Obituary
1918 - 2014

Posted: May 31 – June 1, 2014, The New York Times

In memoriam: Retired music professor Margery Mayer Steen Posted: May 19, 2014, The Wagnerian, Wagner College

Margery Mayer, 96 Posted: May 20, 2014, The Staten Island Advance

California

Margery Mayer Voutsas
1918 - 2014
 
Posted: June 6 to 8, 2014, Monterey County, The Herald

Margery Mayer Voutsas March 29, 1918 – May 12, 2014 Posted: June 6, 2014, The Carmel Pine Cone

 

Click to Return to the Margery Mayer Performance Record

"Margery Mayer sang Amneris with such opulence, conviction and assurance that her protrayal stood out as the most artistic and praiseworthy of the night." - The New York Journal American

"Margery Mayer who sang the title role ('Carmen') for the first time here is the most satisfying newcomer in the part to be heard in many a year.

Her voice fits the song, which is to say that it is warm and luscious in tim- bre, flawlessly produced, with an innate refinement in the phrasing of the immortal Bizet melodies. Miss Mayer's perfect singing dominated the performance with ease." -Glenn Dillard Gunn, Washington Times-Herald

"A voice of rich and sensuous beauty. Miss Mayer shone especially in songs requiring emotional surge. Add to this excellent musicianship and artistic phrasing." - Chicago American

"Her dramatic contralto im- parted wonderful resonance and tonal contrast to every note. Here is a grand voice, always gauged to the music, and well controlled in every phase of emotional expres- sion. Certainly Miss Mayer has one of the best contralto voices in the busi- ness." - The Pittsburgh Press, 2/1954

"The mercury has risen on Miss Mayer's impersonation of Carmen since she first sang this role two years ago. Fiery pace has shar- pened and the tones throw off more heat. Phrasing and style were on a high level last night and so was grasp of mood. Miss Mayer's Carmen is one of the best in town - at any price." - Louis Biancolli, New York World-Telegram

"Miss Mayer sang beautifully, almost as if her voice matched the viola that is Hindemith's chosen instrument." - Claudia Cassidy, Chicago Tribune, 12/1945

"Miss Mayer Splendid: ... To sing such difficult and polytonal music so impeccably was an outstanding feat." - Sun-Times, 12/1945

Within the first week of the 1943 tour, Margery Mayer was cast to appear in 7 operas in 7 days, leading off with her début in the role of Amneris in Aida and culminating with another début in the role of Azuchena in Il Trovatore.

The company's impresario, Fortune Gallo, had known Miss Mayer from the Chicago Opera where he had just finished the season as Artistic Director. Conjecture might be that these two debut's bookending five other operas under fire were both an initiation and a test before assigning her the title role of Carmen.

As a sign of the confidence this clever showman had in the 25 year old singer, he reserved her début in this title role to be sung in front of the high profile New York audience and critics at the Broadway Theater. By the end of this tour, Miss Mayer had sung 7 Amnerises, 5 Azuchenas and just one Carmen ( title role).

Based on her success, the following year, on a coast to coast tour of the United States and Canada, Gallo entrusted the three roles to Miss Mayer exclusively on the next years eight month tour for a total of 47 performances (see Map 2).

"Miss Mayer was what made last night's Carmen different. She has a lush contralto voice which has been excellently trained and which she used with consistent merit. It is one of really beautiful timbre, has ample power and range, and Miss Mayer made effective use of it both vocally and dramatically." - San Francisco News (Editor's comment: thawing out from Canadian winter, Carmen burns bright and hot in Frisco as per excerpt from review of 1/8/45)

In the coming decade, while Miss Mayer had become a regular member of the New York City Opera, Mr. Gallo secured her services on four occasions for another 3 Carmens and four each of Amneris and Accucena for a total of 71 performances across the three roles, with more than 50% of these in what was to be her signature role, Carmen.

"Margery Mayer made the most of her opportunities as Suzuki .." (In her NYCO debut with Camilla Williams) - The New York Times, 5/1946

"The outstanding perfor- mance was that of Margery Mayer as Amneris." - Boston Herald

"The role of Azucena was sung by Margery Mayer with superb effect." - Washington Evening Star

"...the work we did in class laid the groundwork for my understanding and appreciation of the works we saw performed. The class is scheduled to attend a rehearsal of Verdi's Falstaff, in which work Margery Mayer starred as Mistress Page and Dame Quickly, with the Montreal Opera and the New York City Opera. Miss Mayer communicates her love for the opera, as well as her grasp of the material at hand, as she performed the roles herself." - Quote from student enrolled in Prof. Mayer's graduate level course: 'Exploring Opera in New York' at Wagner College, 1975.

Mayer as Amneris in 'Aida'. Photo: G. Nelidoff, Chicago