Mildred Miller

Miller was born Mildred Müller in Cleveland, Ohio, the daughter of Elsa and Wilhem Müller, who were emigrants from Stuttgart, Germany. She attended the Cleveland Metropolitan School District and graduated from West High School in 1942. She entered the Cleveland Institute of Music (CIM) where she was a voice student of Marie Simmelink Kraft.

After graduating in 1946 from the CIM, Miller entered the New England Conservatory (NEC) where she was a pupil of Marie Sundelius. While a student there she spent two summers studying opera under Boris Goldovsky at the Tanglewood Music Center. In 1946 she made her opera debut as one of the nieces in the United States premiere of Benjamin Britten's Peter Grimes at the Tanglewood Music Festival; a production which was conducted by Leonard Bernstein. She went on to perform with Goldovsky's New England Opera Theater in 1947–1948, performing in productions of Carmen and Idomeneo.

After earning an Artist Diploma from the NEC in 1948, Miller studied opera in Italy for several months through the Frank Huntington Beebe Fellowship granted to her by the NEC. In 1949 she moved to her parents' native city to join the roster of singers at the Staatsoper Stuttgart where she was committed for two years. During that time she made many important debuts, including performances at the Bavarian State Opera, the Vienna State Opera, and the Edinburgh Festival. In 1951 she appeared at the Glyndebourne Festival as Preziosilla in Giuseppe Verdi's La forza del destino. In 1950 she married Wesley Posvar, a U.S. Air Force officer and World War II test pilot who was studying in Europe on a Rhodes Scholarship. The couple had previously met in High School in Cleveland but had lost touch with one another before reconnecting in Boston in 1949.

Other career opportunities

While performing at the Met, Miller also appeared as a guest artist on the stages of many opera houses throughout the world. She was a frequent performer at the Opern- und Schauspielhaus Frankfurt from 1959 to 1973. She also made appearances at the San Francisco Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Cincinnati Opera, San Antonio Grand Opera Festival, Pittsburgh Opera, Kansas City Opera, Fort Worth Opera, and Opera Pasadena. She was a busy recitalist as well, appearing in concerts in such venues as Carnegie Hall and the White House. She also was a regular guest on both the radio and television broadcasts of The Bell Telephone Hour and appeared several times on The Voice of Firestone and The Ed Sullivan Show.

Life and career in Pittsburgh

Miller and her husband moved to Pittsburgh in 1967 when Posvar was appointed President (ultimately Chancellor) of the University of Pittsburgh. The couple served as the first family of the University of Pittsburgh for nearly 25 years and shared an eclectic life of military assignments, world travel, and academic and artistic pursuits. The University of Pittsburgh continues to award an annual music scholarship in Miller's name.

While in Pittsburgh, Miller established herself as a teacher and coach of singing, and as a producer and director of opera programs. In 1978 she established the Opera Theater of Pittsburgh along with Helen Knox and for many years she served as artistic director and a vocal coach for the company. Although she stepped down as director in 1999, she was still involved with the company. She also taught at the Carnegie Mellon School of Music, and gave master classes all over the world. After more than 50 years of marriage, Miller's husband died of a heart attack in 2001. The couple had three children together: Wesley William Posvar, Marina Posvar, and Lisa Posvar Rossi.

Mildred Miller died on November 29, 2023, aged 98 from Parkinson's disease.