ELENA DORIA

Dear Elena, If only you could see and hear what Sonia has become today. My daughter has blossomed into an extraordinary opera singer and an incredible person. It all began with the opportunity you gave her when she was just six years old and joined the Metropolitan Opera's children's chorus. I'll never forget what happened before Sonia "aged out" from the program. You shared something personal with me-your notebook, where you recorded your initial thoughts about each child during their chorus...

Sonia and I miss you. We still have the jewelry you gave us.
Thank you for your tireless work.

Elena was an inspirational and masterful teacher, but more importantly, she was a dear friend and a loving third grandmother. I hope I do her teaching and friendship justice in the coming years.

Elena coached me through La Rondine, La Boheme, Don Giovanni and many more. She was fierce, but she was fun. A great musician, singer, coach and friend. God bless you, Elena - you have new choirs in heaven.

Elizabeth (Knighton) Printy

Dear Elena,
Rest in peace and glory.
I am flooded with memories: obviously the Met on stage and backstage, Carnegie Hall, Tanglewood, even Elena Doria cocktails. You gave our kids, my son, Scot, so much love, care, guidance, self-assurance, poise, and the joy of music.
Such an incredibly wonderful woman. We were so very fortunate to have you in our lives.
Thank you Elena. God bless you.
Love, Sandy Murray

Elena was my mother Dorothy (Geer) Hidler's very best friend growing up in Providence, and I had the privilege of getting to know Elena when my mother's health was declining and I had several wonderful phone conversations with Elena. In so many ways, she gave me a great insight into my mother's early life that I might not have had otherwise. To me, she will always be Elsie, the boon companion of my mother's youth and teenage years.

God bless

I wrote a Playbill story about Elena and the children's chorus in the late 1990s. Elena was wonderful, welcoming me to rehearsals and backstage during a performance. Even to a former chorister's voice lesson. She was great with the kids. To understand and be able to write about her technique, I even asked her for a voice lesson, and it turned into a series of them, where we worked on Guys and Dolls and The Magic Flute. Elena was one of a kind, fun and funny, talented and will be hugely missed.

My fondest memory was Elena on Lake Bomoseen in all her splendor singing "Harvest Moon" on the top of her lungs on a beautiful sunset evening overlooking the lake with my parents. Being only 16 years old I stared in amazement at grace. This beautiful memory came back to me on my last visit to Vermont. Thank you Elena for making appreciate the moon over Vermont.

My son (now age 23) was in the Met Chorus under Elena's tutelage when he was a boy. What a spectacular woman Elena was! She was strict and demanded nothing other than utterperfection from her little charges .... and she got it. She was amazing and the results of her work unbelievable. And her love of the children was palpable. She adored them!

Even though I myself was not in her chorus, I have to thank Elena for the love of opera that I acquired as a result of going to see my son...