Distinction in Creative Achievement – Johanna Meier

Johanna Meier made her stage debut at the age of five weeks. When she was born in Chicago in 1938, her parents, Josef and Clare Meier, had created and established a touring American version of the Luenen Passion Play. Josef’s ancestors came from the German village where the Westphalia play was founded in 1242. When the Meiers made a permanent home in Spearfish in 1939, one year later, she became a resident of South Dakota.

Johanna performed various roles in the play during her youth. Performances were held in Spearfish in the summer and Florida in the winter—she attended Spearfish High School and the University of Miami. When it was discovered that she had a magnificent singing voice, she transferred to the Manhattan School of Music, graduating in 1960. After graduation, she went to Europe to gain some experience signing in opera. She returned to the United States and made a critically acclaimed debut as a lead soprano for the New York City Opera in 1969.

From that time forward, she performed as a lead soprano in national and international opera houses and concert theaters. During her 15 years at the Metropolitan Opera, she made 78 appearances in 15 roles. She has performed as a featured soloist with most of the major symphony orchestras of the world, including the New York Philharmonic, the Boston Symphony, the Chicago Symphony, the Munich Philharmonic, the Orchestra de Paris, and the Israeli Philharmonic.

Johanna Meier changed her career in 1991, to assist her aging parent s with the Black Hills Passion Play, and became its CEO and Director. She retired from the opera at the peak of her stellar career, performing as a lead soprano for the last time when she sang the title role of Electra in Milwaukee in 1994. Her husband, Guido Della Vecchia, has worked with her to carry her parents’ vision forward in the American version of the Passion Play. In addition to her administrative work and her work as Artistic Director, Johanna portrayed Mary, Mother of Jesus, for three performances a week each summer.

She established a summer program for aspiring young singers, the nonprofit Vocal Arts and Opera Theater School (now the Johanna Meier Opera Theatre Institute) in 1997. The two-week program attracts a nationally distinguished faculty and talented students to spearfish each summer. She has also established a Young Performers Competition for Black Hills area youth that is judged by nationally known musicians. Johanna Meier continues her creative work through the Opera Theatre Institute, and supports the arts in South Dakota as a producer, director, performer, businesswoman and philanthropist.

We honor Johanna Meier for the compelling beauty of her voice and for her devotion to the continuation of the operatic art form.