Peter Elvins, Opera Singer And Voice Teacher, 70

[DGH]

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Peter Elvins, who would have been 71 today (April 11, 2004), died
Thursday, April 8, 2004, at Massachusetts General Hospital after a
five-year remission from esophageal cancer, at the age of 70.

Equipped with a bass voice and an aura of confidence, Peter Elvins had
a lifelong passion for opera. Passing for 18, he was hired as a
chorister for the prestigious Chautauqua Opera Company in New York
when he was 15, beginning a 55-year career as an opera singer and
teacher that led him to perform all over the world.

Born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Mr. Elvins grew up in St. Louis,
Missouri. He returned to study English at Harvard, graduating cum
laude in 1955. He then joined the Army, where he became one of the
original 12 members of the US Army Chorus. In 1957 he married Anna
Gabrieli, also a well-known opera singer and voice teacher. Moving to
Milan with their young children in 1962, Mr. Elvins and his wife
studied voice and sang in various opera houses.

Mr. Elvins was also a writer and editor and worked as a correspondent
for La Scala, the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Italian magazine,
writing opera news and reviews.

After living in Milan, Italy, for nine years, Mr. Elvins moved to
Germany where he sang for the Osnabruck Opera House. He also had
leading roles in Spain, Austria, and Belgium. Returning to the United
States in 1977, Mr. Elvins performed in New York, San Francisco,
Connecticut, and Boston, where he was a regular performer with the
Boston Lyric Opera between 1980 and 1989. Mr. Elvins spent the last 25
years of his life teaching voice and courses in opera.