‘Maggie from Mayo’ The life of the Irish soprano Margaret Burke Sheridan
You cannot speak of Puccini from an international point of view without reference to Margherita Sheridan who in my opinion…is one of the greatest interpreters of Puccini’s work.’
Dott. Giorgio Gualerzi, Milan 1989
In this the 100th anniversary year of the death of the famous Italian composer this documentary pays tribute to Margaret Burke Sheridan who, as Puccini’s daughter revealed, considered this Irish diva ‘the outstanding Butterfly of all time’. Margaret Burke-Sheridan was born in 1889 and died in April 1958. From Castlebar in Co Mayo, Ireland, Margaret was known as ‘Maggie from Mayo’.
‘Discovered’ by Guglielmo Marconi while singing at a fashionable soirée in London, the famous inventor subsequently brought Sheridan to Italy, to pursue her dream of becoming an opera singer. For twelve years Margaret performed at La Scala and Covent Garden where she enthralled the opera-goers. When she played the part of Madame Butterfly, Puccini was spellbound.
The bronze bust statue, which now adorns a stairway wall in the National Concert Hall in Dublin, was presented to her by the San Carlo Opera House in Naples in 1921 and bears the inscription ‘A Margherita Sheridan, Butterfly Insuperabile.’
Maggie from Mayo was written and presented by Anne Chambers and the producer was Michael O Kane.
This is an updated version of the original documentary which aired in January 2006
RTÉ lyric fm, Sunday 16th June, 6pm-7pm
