Shade, Ellen
A native New Yorker, Ellen Shade was born and raised on the West Side of Manhattan. After a B.A. in music at Hunter College she did graduate work at Columbia and Juilliard. Her professional career began with a season of Gilbert and Sullivan at the Jan Hus Theatre with Dorothy Raedler’s well-known troupe, followed by experience in musical comedy, on and off Broadway. She first contemplated an operatic career when she met her husband, tenor John Stewart, during a season of Gilbert and Sullivan at the New York City Center. After two summers as an apprentice artist at the Santa Fe Opera, Ellen Shade entered the American Opera Center at Juilliard, where she performed Sesto in “La Clemenza di Tito” and Bianca in “Il Giuramento” (Mercadante). Miss Shade has won the Philadelphia Lyric Opera’s annual competition and has appeared with the Boston and Cleveland Orchestras.
