Ruth Ann Swenson (born August 25, 1959) is an American soprano who is renowned for her coloratura roles. Born in Bronxville, New York and raised in Commack, New York on Long Island, Swenson studied at the Academy of Vocal Arts in Philadelphia and briefly at Hartt College of Music in West Hartford, Connecticut. In the early 1980s she joined the Merola Program at the San Francisco Opera and toured the country as Gilda in Western Opera Theater's Rigoletto. She made her San Francisco Opera debut in 1983, as Despina in Mozart's Così fan tutte. But her breakthrough role was Dorinda the shepherdess in Handel's Orlando opposite mezzo Marilyn Horne. Her Metropolitan Opera debut came in 1991, as Zerlina in Mozart's Don Giovanni. In 1993, she won the Richard Tucker Music Foundation Award.
And it's really unfair because they could have done with both of them just fine. I keep coming back to a more crystalline tone like Ruth Ann's anyday over Renee's, which became so overwrought after a while. I can hear the honesty in Ruth Ann's singing. She uses her voice to SING THE ARIA with style, musicality. It's almost like Renee became like a De Niro or Streep of opera ....you hear Renee, u don't hear the music anymore.
