Maralin Niska


Maralin Niska was an American operatic soprano. Well known as a singing-actress, she was a mainstay of the New York City Opera during the 1960s and 1970s She was also a regular performer at the Metropolitan Opera from 1970-1977.

Early life, education, and early career

Born in San Pedro, California, Niska earned a Bachelor of English Literature from the University of California, Los Angeles and began her professional life as a second grade public school teacher for seven years. She then returned to school to study voice at the Thornton School of Music at the University of Southern California and U.C.L.A. She studied under Louise Mansfield, Lotte Lehmann, and primarily Ernest St. John Metz. She performed extensively in southern California during the 1950s, including performances with the USC Opera, UCLA Opera, Los Angeles Opera, Redlands Bowl and other regional companies. Her extensive national and international career began at the opening of the Metropolitan Opera National Company as Susannah in the Carlisle Floyd work in Indianapolis in 1965. After retiring from the stage, she lived in Santa Fe, New Mexico, and was married to William Mullen.

New York City Opera

The soprano was first heard at the New York City Opera in the fall of 1967, as the Contessa Almaviva in Le nozze di Figaro, with Norman Treigle in the title role. She went on to perform with that company in many productions, including La bohème, La traviata, Madama Butterfly, Pagliacci, Suor Angelica, Faust, Prince Igor, The Turn of the Screw, La bohème, The Makropoulos Case, Susannah, Tosca, Don Giovanni, Don Giovanni, Ariadne auf Naxos, Médée, Manon Lescaut, Salome, Idomeneo, a double-bill of Cavalleria rusticana and Pagliacci, La voix humaine, La fanciulla del West, Die Fledermaus, and Maria Stuarda. In all she sang 29 leading roles with the company, the most of any singer in its history.

Metropolitan Opera

Niska debuted at the Metropolitan Opera in 1970, in La traviata, and went on to appear in La bohème, Tosca, Les vêpres siciliennes, and Salome. On March 15, 1977, Niska sang Musetta in La bohème, for the first of the series, "Live From the Met," with Renata Scotto and Luciano Pavarotti. She then sang Pagliacci with the company. Her final performance with the Met was on their 1978 tour to Wolf Trap Farm Park, in Don Giovanni, in which she portrayed Donna Elvira opposite James Morris, Rockwell Blake, Roberta Peters, Donald Gramm, and John Macurdy. The soprano sang with various other companies in America, as well.

Videography