Remembering Benita Valente

The Chicago Symphony Orchestra family joins the music world in mourning the loss of American soprano Benita Valente, who died on October 24, 2025. She was 91.

Born in Delano, California on October 19, 1934, Valente studied with Lotte Lehmann from an early age and later attended the Curtis Institute of Music as a student of Martial Singher and Margaret Harshaw. She performed extensively in Europe before making her debut at the Metropolitan Opera as Pamina in Mozart’s The Magic Flute in 1973. As a teacher, she worked with young singers at the Marlboro Music School, the Metropolitan Opera’s Lindemann Young Artists Development Program and at the Ravinia Festival’s Steans Institute, among several others.

Valente was a frequent guest with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, at the the Ravinia Festival and in Orchestra Hall, and a complete list of her appearances with the Orchestra and Chorus is below.

July 29, 1972, Ravinia Festival
BACH Jauchzet Gott in allen Landen, BWV 51
Benita Valente, soprano
Adolph Herseth, trumpet
BEETHOVEN Egmont, Op. 84
Benita Valente, soprano
José Ferrer, narrator
Lawrence Foster, conductor

July 24, 1977, Ravinia Festival
HAYDN The Creation
Kathleen Battle, soprano
Benita Valente, soprano
Seth McCoy, tenor
Donald Gramm, bass-baritone
Arnold Voketaitis, bass-baritone
Chicago Symphony Chorus
Margaret Hillis, director
James Levine, conductor

June 3, 4, and 5, 1982, Orchestra Hall
BEETHOVEN Symphony No. 9 in D Minor, Op. 125
Benita Valente, soprano
Katherine Ciesinski, mezzo-soprano
Jon Frederic West, tenor
Kurt Link, bass (June 5)
John Shirley-Quirk, bass-baritone (June 3 and 4)
Chicago Symphony Chorus
Margaret Hillis, director
Eugene Ormandy, conductor

July 29, 1984, Ravinia Festival
BEETHOVEN Symphony No. 9 in D Minor, Op. 125
Benita Valente, soprano
Isola Jones, mezzo-soprano
Jacque Trussel, tenor
John Cheek, bass
Chicago Symphony Chorus
Margaret Hillis, director
Kurt Masur, conductor

June 30, 1985, Ravinia Festival
HAYDN The Creation
Benita Valente, soprano
Philip Creech, tenor
John Cheek, bass
Chicago Symphony Chorus
Margaret Hillis, director
James Levine, conductor

July 11, 1986, Ravinia Festival
POULENC Gloria
Benita Valente, soprano
Chicago Symphony Chorus
Margaret Hillis, director
James Levine, conductor

July 13, 1986, Ravinia Festival
MOZART Requiem in D Minor, K. 626
Benita Valente, soprano
Florence Quivar, mezzo-soprano
Philip Creech, tenor
John Cheek, bass
Chicago Symphony Chorus
Margaret Hillis, director
James Levine, conductor

July 22, 1988, Ravinia Festival
HANDEL Bramo haver mille vite from Ariodante
Benita Valente, soprano
Tatiana Troyanos, mezzo-soprano
HANDEL Piangerò la sorte mia from Giulio Cesare
Benita Valente, soprano
HANDEL Caro! Più amabile beltà from Giulio Cesare
Benita Valente, soprano
Tatiana Troyanos, mezzo-soprano
STRAUSS Ein ernster Tag, ein grosser Tag (opening of act 2) from Der Rosenkavalier
Cynthia Lawrence, soprano
Benita Valente, soprano
Tatiana Troyanos, mezzo-soprano
Kurt Hansen, tenor
Richard Cohn, baritone
David Huneryager, bass
STRAUSS Ist ein Traum (finale) from Der Rosenkavalier
Benita Valente, soprano
Tatiana Troyanos, mezzo-soprano
Edo de Waart, conductor

Numerous tributes have been posted online including, the New York Times, the Telegraph, and OperaWire, among several others.

This article also appears here.