Jane Stuart Smith

Jane Stuart Smith, also known on the stage as Gianna Stuart, Making her opera debut in Detroit in 1951, she had a prominent career in opera houses in Europe, especially Italy. She was acclaimed for her portrayals of Brünnhilde in Wagner's Ring cycle and the title role in Puccini's Turandot.

Smith abandoned her successful opera career after becoming a born-again Christian, making her last opera appearance in 1959. Thereafter she devoted her life to Christian service. The History Museum of Western Virginia in Roanoke has a permanent exhibit dedicated to Smith. She then pursued further studies in voice at the Juilliard School in New York City, She also studied opera in Italy in 1949.

Singing career Smith made her professional opera debut on May 18, 1951, in the title role of Puccini's Turandot at the Detroit Masonic Temple with the Detroit Grand Opera Festival. At that performance she wore the same costumes that Rosa Raisa, the original Turandot, had worn at the premiere of the opera, having been given the costumes by that singer after her retirement. Music critic James Dorsey Callaghan of the Detroit Free Press said in his review that "Miss Smith is a woman of commanding beauty, both of person and voice. Her Princess Turandot was a magnificent portrayal of the cruelty and opulence of the Orient".

Smith was known on the Italian stage as Gianna Stuart. She also performed that role at the Baths of Caracalla in Rome in the summer of 1952, after which she performed the title role in Ponchielli's La Gioconda at the Teatro Municipale in Reggio Emilia. She also sang Turandot at the Cairo Opera House (1954), the Cincinnati Opera (1955), and the Teatro Alessandro Bonci (1955) in Cesena. In 1956 she returned to Catania to perform the role of Brünnhilde in Wagner's Die Walküre. That same year she performed the title role in Bellini's Norma for the first time at the Teatro Ponti in Monza, Italy. In 1958 she returned to Palermo as Elena (Helen of Troy) in Boito's Mefistofele with Cesare Siepi in the title role, a production which was filmed and broadcast on Italian television on March 4, 1958. In 1959 she performed Turandot at the Teatro Petruzzelli in Bari.

In the early 1950s Smith performed on several broadcasts of the NBC Radio program The Railroad Hour. In 1953 she performed in concert with the United States Army Band at Carnegie Hall, a concert which was broadcast live on WNYC radio. That same year she starred opposite Gordon MacRae and Lucille Norman in a live radio broadcast of Victor Herbert's The Rose of Algeria on NBC Red Network radio, and reunited with that pair on the same network in 1954 for performances of Rudolf Friml's The Vagabond King. In 1959 she was the soprano soloist in Handel's Messiah with the Roanoke Symphony Orchestra.

Smith appeared in some operas opposite Maria Callas, and recalled that Callas would purposefully bend back the fingers of rival singers during curtain calls to cause them pain. and the title roles in Verdi's Aida There Smith befriended the organization's founders, Francis and Edith Schaeffer, and through that relationship became a born-again Christian. When asked in an interview about giving up opera years later Smith stated: "I gave it up for the Lord. The world of opera is a wicked place. You have no idea about the temptations I faced." This was followed by a second question about whether opera was really that horrible to which Smith replied, "No, it was marvellous. That was the problem. I loved those temptations." Favorite Women Hymn Writers (1990, Crossway Books), Favorite Men Hymn Writers (1993, Crossway Books), Great Christian Hymn Writers (1997, Crossway Books), and Great Women Authors: Their Lives and Their Literature (1999, Crossway Books).

Later life In addition to being colleagues, Smith and Carlson were longtime friends who lived together at Chalet Chesalet on L'Abri's Swiss property. Eventually the duo retired from L'Abri, left Switzerland, and returned to the United States. They resided in Roanoke during which time Smith cared for Carlson while she was living with Alzheimer's disease.

In her later years, Smith taught a Bible study class at St. John's Episcopal Church in Roanoke, and was a consultant for Opera Roanoke. In 2012 she was honored by that opera company and the History Museum of Western Virginia, an institution which has since installed a permanent exhibit about Smith.

Smith died in Roanoke, Virginia, on January 14, 2016.