Nevada, Mignon
Nevada Emma, actually E. Wixom, *7 February 1859 Alpha (near Nevada City, California), †20 June 1940 Liverpool, American singer (soprano). Initially, she studied singing in Oakland, California, and after 1874 in Vienna with M. Marchesi. Engaged in the J.H. Mapleson band, she made her debut in 1880 on the stage of Her Majesty’s Theatre in London as Amina in La Sonnambula by V. Bellini (she then adopted the stage name Nevada). Later she sang, among others: in Trieste, Florence, and La Scala in Milan, Prague and Paris. In the 1884/85 season, she performed at the Academy of Music in New York and toured the United States. In 1885, she took part in the premiere of the oratorio The Rose of Sharon by A. Mackenzie in Covent Garden (the soprano part was written with her in mind). In 1887, she appeared there as Amina in Bellini’s La Sonnambula and the title role of Mireille in the opera by Ch. Gounod. She was also a great performer in the show-off role of Filina in Mignon by A. Thomas, but above all, she became famous as an incomparable performer of Bellini’s operas. A medallion with the likeness of Nevada was placed on the Bellini monument in Naples, next to similar medallions in honour of G. Pasta and M. Malibran. Nevada appeared on stage for the last time as Rosina in Rossini’s The Barber of Seville (Berlin 1907).