Joy Clements was an American lyric coloratura soprano who had a substantial opera and concert career from 1956 through the late 1970s. She notably sang regularly with both the New York City Opera and the Metropolitan Opera during the 1960s through the early 1970s. She also traveled regularly for performances with opera companies and orchestras throughout the United States but only appeared in a relatively few number of performances internationally.
In 1959 Clements signed a contract with the New York City Opera making her debut with the company in April of that year as Monica in Gian Carlo Menotti's The Medium with Claramae Turner in the title role and conductor Werner Torkanowsky. Over the next ten years, she was frequently heard with that company in such roles as Micaëla in Bizet's Carmen, Speranza in L'Orfeo, Despina in Mozart's Così fan tutte, Mary Warren in the world premiere of Robert Ward's The Crucible, Lauretta in Puccini's Gianni Schicchi, Rose Maurrant in Street Scene, Susanna in Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro, the title role in Floyd's Susannah, and Yum-Yum in The Mikado among others. Clements was first seen at the Metropolitan Opera on October 23, 1963, as the Countess Ceprano in Giuseppe Verdi's Rigoletto with Cornell MacNeil in the title role, Gianna D'Angelo as Gilda, Barry Morell as the Duke of Mantua, and conductor Fausto Cleva. She performed there for the next 10 consecutive seasons in such roles as Adele in Johann Strauss II's Die Fledermaus, Amor in Orfeo ed Euridice, Giannetta in Donizetti's L'elisir d'amore, Gretel in Hänsel und Gretel, Lisa in Bellini's La sonnambula, Musetta, and Oscar in Un ballo in maschera among others. Her last and 141st performance with the Met was as Marzelline in Beethoven's Fidelio on June 1, 1972 with Leonie Rysanek as Leonore, Robert Nagy as Florestan, William Dooley as Don Pizarro, and John Macurdy as Rocco. While working with the NYCO and the Met during the 1960s and 1970s, Clements also appeared with several opera companies throughout the United States. She sang roles with the Houston Grand Opera, the Baltimore Opera Company, the Cincinnati Opera, the Pittsburgh Opera, the Philadelphia Lyric Opera Company, the San Diego Opera, the Minnesota Opera, the Fort Worth Opera, the Tulsa Opera, and Hawaii Opera Theatre among others. In 1963 she made her first international appearances with Vancouver Opera and the Israeli Opera in Tel Aviv. In 1972, she returned to the City Opera, again in Susannah. Later the same year, she appeared in Le nozze di Figaro at the Wolf Trap Farm Park, with Treigle, Curtin and Susanne Marsee in the cast. She also appeared in a number of productions with the Théâtre de la Monnaie in Brussels during the 1975-1976 season. Among the roles she sang with these companies included Bess in Porgy and Bess, Gilda in Rigoletto, Juliette in Roméo et Juliette, Lucy in The Telephone, the title heroine in Massenet's Manon, Marguerite in Faust, the title role in Flotow's Martha, Mimi in La Bohème, Olympia in Les contes d'Hoffmann, Pamina in The Magic Flute, Shemakhan Tsaritsa in The Golden Cockerel, Violetta in La Traviata, and many of the roles she portrayed in New York City. A highlight of her career was the July 28, 1965, Concert Version of Aaron Copland'sThe Tender Land, as part of the French-American Festival, with the New York Philharmonic. Clements sang the leading role of Laurie Moss, with Turner, Richard Cassilly, Treigle and Richard Fredricks also in the cast, which was conducted by the composer. Three days later, Columbia recorded an abridged version of the opera, at the Manhattan Center. In 1971, she made her debut performance with the Philadelphia Orchestra, singing Valencienne in a concert performance of The Merry Widow.
Death
After retiring from performing in the late 1970s, Clements worked actively as a voice teacher for a number of years. She succumbed to complications from multiple sclerosis, aged 73.
