Joy Clements

Joy Clements (née Joyce Marie Albrecht; April 29, 1932 – October 24, 2005) was an American lyric coloratura soprano who had a substantial opera and concert career from 1956 through the late 1970s. She notably sang regularly with both the New York City Opera and the Metropolitan Opera during the 1960s through the early 1970s. She also traveled regularly for performances with opera companies and orchestras throughout the United States but only appeared in a relatively few number of performances internationally.

Born in Dayton, Ohio to Lula Frances Albrecht (née Day) and Verne Brent Albrecht, Joyce (later Joy) first studied singing at the University of Miami in Coral Gables, Florida and, shortly after graduating, made her professional opera debut as Musetta in Puccini's La bohème with the Opera Guild of Greater Miami in 1956. She pursued graduate studies at the Philadelphia Musical Academy, where she studied from 1956 to 1958.

During this time she occasionally appeared in operas with smaller houses in the United States. In 1958 she moved to New York City and began further studies with Marinka Gurewich, whom remained her teacher for many years.

In 1959 Clements signed a contract with the New York City Opera (NYCO) making her debut with the company in April of that year as Monica in Gian Carlo Menotti's The Medium with Claramae Turner in the title role and conductor Werner Torkanowsky. Over the next ten years, she was frequently heard with that company in such roles as Micaëla in Bizet's Carmen, Speranza in L'Orfeo (with conductor Leopold Stokowski), Despina in Mozart's Così fan tutte (with conductor Julius Rudel), Mary Warren in the world premiere of Robert Ward's The Crucible (with Chester Ludgin, 1961), Lauretta in Puccini's Gianni Schicchi, Rose Maurrant in Street Scene, Susanna in Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro (with Tatiana Troyanos as Cherubino), the title role in Floyd's Susannah (with Norman Treigle as the Reverend Blitch), and Yum-Yum in The Mikado among others.

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