Mai Kalna
{{short description|American opera singer}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Mai Kalna
| image = MaiKalna1917b.tif
| alt = Mai Kalna, from a 1917 publication.
| caption = Mai Kalna, from a 1917 publication.
| birth_name =
| birth_date = 1875
| birth_place = California
| death_date = 1934
| death_place =
| nationality = American
| other_names = Mai Kalna-Norcross (after marriage)
| occupation = soprano
| years_active =
| known_for =
| notable_works =
}}
Mai Kalna (1875-1934) was an American soprano opera singer.
Early life
Mai Kalna was from San Francisco, California,{{Cite news|url=https://newspaperarchive.com/disaster-clipping-may-13-1906-1179421/|title=Aid from Prague|date=May 13, 1906|work=Galveston Daily News|access-date=May 12, 2019|page=4|via=NewspaperArchive.com}} the daughter of Margaret E. Convis.{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/31494594/margaret_e_convis_1920/|title=Margaret E. Convis|date=March 5, 1920|work=New York Herald|access-date=May 12, 2019|page=9|via=Newspapers.com}} She was educated in France. She studied voice with Mathilde Marchesi, and pursued further voice and dramatic training in Munich with Felix Mottl and in Berlin with Rosa Sucher.{{Cite journal|last=J. V.|date=August 2, 1917|title=Mai Kalna's Reminiscences|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wew6AQAAMAAJ&q=Mai+Kalna&pg=RA4-PA16|journal=Musical Courier|volume=75|pages=16}} She also studied with Cosima Wagner at Bayreuth.{{Cite journal|date=July 28, 1917|title=Mai Kalno, Soprano, Creates Novelties for her Concerts|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Gk80AQAAMAAJ&q=Mai+Kalna&pg=RA11-PA27|journal=Musical America|volume=26|pages=27}}
Career
As a young singer in London, she sang in operas starring Nellie Melba, Emma Albani, and Adelina Patti. She sang the title role of Carmen in several European cities. Her Berlin debut was in Don Giovanni. In 1906 she was part of a concert in Prague to raise relief funds after the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. In 1908 she joined the Carl Rosa Opera Company.{{Cite news|url=https://newspaperarchive.com/entertainment-clipping-aug-15-1908-1179147/|title=London Gossip of the Week|date=August 15, 1908|work=London American Register|access-date=May 12, 2019|page=4|via=NewspaperArchive.com}} She toured India, China, Singapore, and southeast Asia in 1914.{{Cite news|url=http://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/newspapers/Digitised/Article/maltribune19140429-1.2.26|title=Madame Mai Kalna|date=April 29, 1914|work=Malaya Tribune|access-date=May 12, 2019|page=6|via=NewspaperSG}} While she was touring in Asia, the soprano Lillian Nordica died in Indonesia; Kalna was marketed to Nordica's audiences for the rest of her tour.{{Cite journal|date=July 26, 1917|title=Mai Kalna, Soprano|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wew6AQAAMAAJ&q=Mai+Kalna&pg=RA3-PA17|journal=Musical Courier|volume=75|pages=17}}
When World War I began, she returned to the United States, but lost many of her belongings in the haste of her travels. She and her husband appeared at a benefit concert for the American Red Cross on Long Island in 1917;{{Cite journal|date=September 27, 1917|title=Kalna and Norcross Add to Comfort Kit Fund|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wew6AQAAMAAJ&q=Mai+Kalna&pg=RA12-PA34|journal=Musical Courier|volume=75|pages=34}}{{Cite journal|date=September 29, 1917|title=Mai Kalna and Webster Norcross Sing in Garden City Concert|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Gk80AQAAMAAJ&q=Mai+Kalna&pg=RA19-PA26|journal=Musical America|volume=26|pages=26}} she also gave a benefit concert for Sherbrooke Hospital in Quebec that year.{{Cite journal|date=November 15, 1917|title=Mai Kalna's Concert for Sherbrooke Hospital|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wew6AQAAMAAJ&q=Mai+Kalna&pg=RA20-PA42|journal=Musical Courier|volume=75|pages=42}} In 1918 she was described as "modishly magnificent" in the New York Times, when she gave a concert at the Princess Theatre.{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/31494366/mai_kalna_1918/|title=Day of Prima Donnas|date=March 4, 1918|work=The New York Times|access-date=May 12, 2019|page=9|via=Newspapers.com}} That same year she appeared in vaudeville in a production of The Reclamation by Clifford Parker.{{Cite journal|date=April 1918|title=Songbird in Playlet|url=https://archive.org/details/variety50-1918-04|journal=Variety|pages=[https://archive.org/details/variety50-1918-04/page/n4 5]}}
In 1922 she was touring the United States as Brünhilde in a production of Die Walküre, with the United States Opera Company.{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/31494482/mai_kalna_1922/|title=Advertisement|date=November 20, 1922|work=Reading Times|access-date=May 12, 2019|page=9|via=Newspapers.com}} She also sang for radio concerts in the 1920s.{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/31493765/mai_kalna_1923/|title=Radio Programs Tonight|date=April 24, 1923|work=The Berkshire Eagle|access-date=May 12, 2019|page=5|via=Newspapers.com}}
Kalna and her husband wrote songs together, including Valse Californienne (1918).{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fU0hAQAAIAAJ&q=Mai+Kalna+Norcross&pg=PA115|title=Musical Compositions: Part 3|last=Office|first=Library of Congress Copyright|date=1918|publisher=Library of Congress.|pages=115|language=en}} In 1921 they were both elected trustees of the First Independent Christian Science Church, a breakaway Christian Science congregation in New York City, headed by Helena Barwis.{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/31494891/mai_kalna_1921/|title=Split in X-Science Church Recognized|date=June 4, 1921|work=The Evening World|access-date=May 12, 2019|page=9|via=Newspapers.com}}
Personal life
Mai Kalna married fellow American singer Webster Norcross.{{Cite journal|date=September 1, 1917|title=A Hard Working Lot, These Musicians in Summer!|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Gk80AQAAMAAJ&q=Mai+Kalna&pg=RA15-PA36|journal=Musical America|volume=26|pages=36}} She died in 1934, aged 59 years.
References
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Category:American operatic sopranos
Category:Singers from San Francisco