Dorus-Gras Julie (-Aimée-Josephe née Van Steenkiste)

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Dorus-Gras Julie (-Aimée-Josephe née Van Steenkiste)

Dorus-Gras, Julie (-Aimée-Josephe née Van Steenkiste), South Netherlands soprano; b. Valenciennes, Sept. 7, 1805; d. Paris, Feb. 6, 1896. After training at the Paris Cons., she made her operatic debut at the Theatre Royal de la Monnaie in Brussels in 1825. On Feb. 12,1829, she sang in the first Brussels staging of Auber’s La muette de Portici. She later sang in the famous staging of the score there on Aug. 25,1830, which set the spark of the Belgian revolution. In 1831 she joined the Paris Opera, where she created roles in many operas, among them Alice in Robert le diable (Nov. 21, 1831), Eudoxie in La juive (Feb. 23,1835), Marguerite de Valois in Les Huguenots (Feb. 29,1836), and Teresa in Benvenuto Cellini (Sept. 3, 1838). She continued to sing in Paris until 1846. In 1839 she appeared as a concert artist in London, returning there to sing Lucia at Drury Lane in 1847 and Elvira in La muette de Portici at Covent Garden in 1849.

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire

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