Cecil Arden

An American mezzo-soprano and contralto who sang supporting roles at the Metropolitan Opera for six years and then sang in concert. Born Cecile Alexia Hart in New York, she studied with Arturo Buzzi-Peccia and made her Met debut in January 1918 as Vanard in the American premiere of Mascagni's Lodoletta, beside Geraldine Farrar and Enrico Caruso. She created the Mistress of Novices in Suor Angelica and sang in the Met's first Zazà. During the First World War she sang at a Liberty Bond rally on Wall Street, and she recorded for Edison. She later lived in Rome for fifteen years.