Sigma Alpha Iota

sai-national.org • FALL 2016 • PAN PIPES 11 M N O P R S T U W X Y Z stint as prima donna for the Family Hour of the Prudential Life Insurance Company. A press kit for her national tour described a typical day this way: "… up at 8:30 for half an hour of push-ups, knee-bends, [and] breathing exercises; breakfast at nine; 10:30-noon, vocal exercises and lesson. Lunch and an afternoon of study with opera coach, French and Italian teachers, dramatic coach, perhaps another voice lesson. Squeeze in costume fittings, concert rehearsal with her accompanist, program rehearsal for her broadcast – and a walk in the park for some fresh air." She was initiated as an Honorary Member of SAI by the Sigma Xi Chapter of the University of California at Los Angeles. The initiation took place May 31, 1945. After marrying in 1952, she starred as soprano Dame Nellie Melba, in a biographical movie. Two years later, she hosted the Patrice Munsel Show on ABC for one season. Her last performance with the Met was in 1958 as Mimi in La Bohème. She later toured in My Fair Lady, Hello Dolly!, The Sound of Music, and The King And I, the latter two with her four children. "I knew it wasn't going to be easy," she said. "But I love to sing. So I must have audiences. So I must go to them. Simple, isn't it?" — SAI Archives SAI Honorary Member Patrice Munsel, a coloratura who was the youngest performer contracted to the Met, died on August 4 in New York at the age of 91. Munsel was born on May 14, 1925, in Spokane, WA, the only child of dentist Audley and Eunice, who played piano. She took ballet and tap dancing and studied rhythmic whistling. "There were always birds whistling in the background so I decided to whistle my way to Hollywood," she said on her website. Munsel served as captain of the girls' football team for Lewis and Clark High and performed leads in school productions of Gilbert and Sullivan and Madame Butterfly. After school teachers spoke to her parents about Munsel's singing voice, she was taken to the University of Idaho at age 14 to sing for conductor Valdimir Bakaleinikoff who said she had "the most beautiful voice I have ever heard in a singer so young." She traveled to New York often to consider her singing prospects and began serious vocal instruction. "I started taking two voice lessons a day," she said. "Plus piano, harmony and theory, French, Italian, fencing, coaching opera and just to make sure I had something to do, I went to the gym three times a week. I studied 6 hours a day, 6 days a week for two years." "During this time I learned nine operas, plus French and Italian. My opera coach was Giacomo Spadoni, who was the chorus master at the Met. Maestro Spadoni went on to Hollywood and worked with Kathryn Grayson and Mario Lanza. Mr. Spadoni thought I was ready for the Met and I thoroughly agreed with him. After all, at the age of seventeen, how long can one wait?" At age 17, she tied for first place in the 1943 Metropolitan Auditions for the Air, securing a contract with the Met to appear in leading coloratura roles, the youngest ever to be honored. Munsel tied with Christine Johnson, who was later herself initiated as an Honorary Member by the Sigma Nu Chapter at the Louisville Conservatory of Music. Before performing with the Met, Munsel made her concert debut in her hometown in a wartime benefit for the Red Cross and later sang for the servicemen stationed there. That December, she made her Met debut in Mignon as Philine. She received a standing ovation eight minutes long. She would perform at the Met more than 200 times, including Cosi Fan Tutti, Rigoletto, Tales of Hoffmann, The Barber of Seville, Die Fiedermaus, and Romeo and Juliet. She was dubbed the "Baby of the Met" and "Princess Pat of the Met." In 1944 she began a four-year GRACE NOTE 'Baby of the Met' Patrice Munsel Passes Munsel Praises SAI I n a 1998 PAN PIPES article to support the SAI Century Drive, Munsel said, "SAI was terribly important to me at Lewis & Clark High School in Spokane, Washington. To be close to a group of young women who were all interested in the arts and music gave me true support. Their enthusiasm continued to inspire me when I left school at 15 to pursue a career in opera. SAI has expanded in wonderful ways to help and nurture young talent."

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