Elizabeth Mosher

Elizabeth Mosher, 80 of Santa Barbara, CA died May 23rd, 2016. A soprano and Professor of voice earned her BM and MM in voice performance from the University of Southern California. With a Fulbright Scholarship, she studied further at the Hochschule fur Musik in Hamburg, Germany. Engaged at the Biel-Solothurn Opera in Switzerland where she sang 18 leading roles. Returning to the United States in 1963, she was given two Martha Baird Rockefeller Grants and won the Walter Naumburg Award for concert artists in 1964 with a debut recital at Town Hall NYC in 1965, followed by a European tour. In 1966 she won the American Opera Auditions which resulted in a Milan debut at Teatro Nuovo in Mascagni’s L’Amico Fritz.

Her teaching career includes three Universities; The University of Michigan from 1970 to 1979, the University of Arizona from 1979 to 1997, and the University of California at Santa Barbara from 1997 to 2005. Additionally she served on the summer faculties of the National Music Camp at Interlochen, American Institute of Musical Studies in Graz, Austria, and the University of Miami in Salzburg, Austria. Her many successful students have sung with the Metropolitan Opera, Santa Fe, Glyndebourne, Covent Garden, San Francisco and can also be found in dozens of academic positions throughout the country.

Elizabeth is survived by her son Zachary Kraus of Chicago, Illinois and two nieces, Caroline Sullivan and Katherine Brown who both reside in California. Memorial services will be held at a later date in Santa Barbara, CA. In lieu of flowers please donate in her memory to either of her favorite charities, bestfriends.org or musicacademy.org.