Mignon Nevada

Mignon Nevada (14 August 1886 – 25 June 1971) was an English operatic soprano. She was born in Paris, daughter of the American operatic soprano Emma Nevada and her English husband Raymond Palmer. She was named after the title character of the 1866 opera Mignon, written by her godfather, French composer Ambroise Thomas. Her voice was light and agile, and her mother trained her to be a coloratura soprano, although Sir Thomas Beecham thought this was a mistake, that she should have been a mezzo-soprano instead.

Her debut was in February 1908 at the Teatro Costanzi in Rome as Rosina in Rossini's Il barbiere di Siviglia.The New York Times reported that her mother's friends, Adelina Patti and Mary Garden travelled all the way to Rome just to attend Mignon's debut. Her performances were so well received that she was engaged to sing eight more times beyond her original four performances. Her success led her mother to request an audience for Mignon with Pope Pius X. (Her mother had had an audience with Leo XIII ten years prior.)

Mignon made other early appearances in Italy and Portugal and then made her way to England where she appeared as Ophelia in Thomas' Hamlet under Thomas Beecham at the opening of the 1910 winter season at Covent Garden. In 1917 she appeared as Desdemona in Verdi's Otello with Frank Mullings in the title role and Frederic Austin as Iago. Beecham described her portrayal of Desdemona as "the best I have seen on any stage." Her other roles in London included Olympia in Offenbach's The Tales of Hoffmann, Zerlina in Mozart's Don Giovanni, and Marguerite in Gounod's Faust. Her last appearance there was in 1922.

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