Anna Thillon

Who was Anna Thillon?

Born in London, [Sophia] Anna Thillon was an operatic singing sensation in the United States, based in San Francisco, California and then New York, New York. She performed in that city's first professional season.

She had had much of her training in France where she began her career around 1838 and married Claude Thillon, a professor of singing. She made her English debut in 1844 and her roles in London included Marie in Donizetti's Daughter of the Regiment and Stella in Balfe's The Enchantress.

In London at the Princess's Theatre in 1848, Jan. 20 and subsequently, she appeared in The Young Guard with contralto Sara Flower as Donna Olympia. Her American career began in 1851 but she retired four years later.

After her relatively early retirement she lived in the English seaside town of Torquay and died there a widow at 84. There is no record of any children.