Maria Ewing

Maria Louise Ewing (March 27, 1950 – January 9, 2022) was an American opera singer who sang both soprano and mezzo-soprano roles. She was noted as much for her acting as her singing.

Maria Louise Ewing was born in Detroit, Michigan, the youngest of four daughters. Her mother, Hermina Maria (née Veraar), was Dutch. Her father, Norman Isaac Ewing, was African American. On Finding Your Roots, Ewing's daughter Rebecca Hall discovered that, while Norman had performed as a Sioux Native American figure and was even reported as a Sioux Chief in newspapers, he had been born to mixed race African-American parents, and had no Native American ancestry; his own father, Ewing's grandfather John William Ewing, had been born into slavery, and became a prominent figure in Washington, D.C.'s black community. Her great-great-great-grandfather was Revolutionary War veteran Bazabeel Norman, a free black man.

Ewing graduated from Detroit's Finney High School in 1968. Ewing later studied in Cleveland and New York City.

Ewing made her debut at the Metropolitan Opera in 1976 in Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro.Her first European performance was at La Scala, Milan as Mélisande in Debussy's Pelléas et Mélisande. Her repertoire includes Carmen, Dorabella in Mozart's Cosi fan tutte, Salome, the title role in L'incoronazione di Poppea, Marie in Berg's Wozzeck and Shostakovich's Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk. Ewing is particularly well known for her sensitive interpretation of the title role in Richard Strauss's Salome, where Oscar Wilde's stage directions for the original play specify that, at the end of the so-called Dance of the Seven Veils, Salome lies naked at Herod's feet. Ewing appeared fully nude at the end of this sequence, in contrast to other singers who have used body stockings. She also sang and appeared in Henry Purcell's Dido and Aeneas.

Ewing's discography includes video versions of Salome, L'incoronazione di Poppea, and Carmen and audio versions of Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk and Pelléas et Mélisande. She has also recorded concert music by Ravel, Berlioz and Debussy and programs of popular American song. She played Rosina in a Glyndebourne production of Il barbiere di Siviglia (1982), available on DVD. Her starring performance in the Metropolitan Opera's 1987 production of Dialogues of the Carmelites was also recorded and made available as a stream.

Ewing has also sung jazz in live performance, including appearances with the band Kymaera at Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club in London.

In 1982, she married the English theatre director Sir Peter Hall, and during this period of her life was formally styled Lady Hall. The couple divorced in 1990. Their daughter is the actress Rebecca Hall, who lives in Sussex, England. Ewing died in Detroit, Michigan on January 9, 2022, at the age of 71.