Artscape honours the life of celebrated international soprano May Abrahamse who died shy of her 95th birthday.
Born on 6 May 1930, Abrahamse started singing at age 14. She burst onto the opera scene in the 1950s and 1960s and landed her first leading soprano roles in La Traviata, La Boheme and Madame Butterfly, amongst others. She continued to dedicate her life to the performing arts until the rip age of 80.
As a member of the Eoan Group’s Junior Choir in her early teens, the great Joseph Manca identified spotted her talent and included her in the Adult Choir. She subsequently landed solo parts in choral works performed by the group under Manca’s baton. Thereafter she progressed to musicals and eventually opera, and not surprisingly she found herself in the lead of all the Eoan Group productions from the mid-1950s, starting with A Slave in Araby.
The arts writer of the Argus 21 years ago described Abrahamse as having “all the qualities essential in a successful artist: a passion for what she does, humility, a robust sense of humour and an uncompromising integrity which dictates her guiding principle: “strive for perfection at all times” as Abrahamse put it.
May her legacy remain forever. The Artscape Council, CEO, and Artscape staff convey our sincere condolences to her children, family, friends and loved ones
.