Betsy Norden

Who is Betsy Norden?

Betsy Norden is an American soprano who appeared with the Metropolitan Opera over 500 times.

Born in Cincinnati, Ohio, she studied at Boston University, and began her career in musical comedy. However, Norden joined the Met chorus in 1969, and sang her first solo role there on January 27, 1972, as the Peasant Girl in Le nozze di Figaro, opposite Cesare Siepi in the name part, with Karl Böhm conducting. The lyric soprano went on to sing thirty-nine different roles at the Met, including Despina in Cosi fan tutte, Zerlina in Don Giovanni, Oscar in Un ballo in maschera, Musetta in La bohème, Liu in Turandot, Sophie in Werther, Gretel in Hänsel und Gretel and Constance in Dialogues des Carmélites, as well as numerous secondary roles.

On December 27, 1975, she sang four different roles on the same day during the matinee and evening performances of Hänsel und Gretel and Il trittico.

Norden was seen in several of the Met's telecasts, including Don Carlos, Lulu, Il trittico, Rigoletto, Hänsel und Gretel, Don Carlos again, and Dialogues des Carmélites.