Emilia Cundari

 

Born in 1930, Emilia Cundari was the only child of Frank Cundari, an Italian immigrant from Cosenza in the Calabria region, and his wife, Ambrosina. In her senior year at Marygrove College, Emilia competed in the Grinnell Foundation Music Scholarship Competition and won a $2000 scholarship (2014 equivalent = $20,000) towards study with the New York City Opera Company. After graduation, Emilia moved to New York, making her NYCO debut in 1953 and her Metropolitan Opera debut just three years later. In just three years, Emilia would perform supporting roles in over 125 performances with the Met both in New York and on tour across North America. In 1959, Emilia broker her Met contract a year early to move to Italy for new opportunities. Over the next few years, Emilia performed wiht the Vienna Symphony, Milano Angelium, the Perugia Sacred Music Festival, the Berlin Symphony, the Sienna Music Festival, Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, the Deutsches MozartFest, and at venues such as La Scala in Milan, and La Fenice in Venice.

 

In 1963, Emilia met a handsome basso named Sergio Pezzetti whom she married two years later at the St. Angela Merici Church in Windsor. For the next five years, they continued their performing careers in Europe. In 1971, their son Francesco Pezzetti was born, and the family eventually settled in the suburbs of Detroit.

 

She continued performing around the area and became a professor of voice at her alma mater, Marygrove College, where she and her husband aslo began building a small opera program. She would teach and perform until she passed away in 2005.

 

Tara Sievers-Hunt