The White Falcon - 15.09.1978, Blaðsíða 5

September 15, 197ti
White Falcon
Page 5
Opera starlet visits
By JOSA Paula Ritrovato
CONVERSING IN the Porters’ living-
room, Gudrun Simonar contributes to
an enjoyable evening. (photo by
JOSA Paula Ritrovato)
Icelandic opera star Gudrun A.
Simonar, a native of Iceland, has
traveled the world over but never
visited Naval Station, Keflavik
until recently.
In search of a cat for her son,
Sharon Porter, wife of Commander
H. D. Porter, Naval Facility com-
manding officer, learned from a
friend that Gudrun Simonar, an
opera singer in Reykjavik also
works with breeding and selling
registered Siamese cats.
When Sharon Porter learned from
Gudrun that she has never seen the
base, Sharon invited her over for
dinner Saturday.
Gathered in the Porters' living-
room, Captain Thomas J. Keene, his
wife Mary, Mr. Jim Weinel (civil-
ian engineer) and his wife Soveig
took part in the conversation where
Gudrun was the center of attention.
Gudrun is a native Icelander and
lives in Reykjavik. She first
started her interest in music when
in high school in Iceland. She
went on to music academies in Lon-
don, under the highly regarded
opera instructor, Medea, and later
in Milan, Italy, under the guidance
of Raualdo Tibalti.
Traveling and performing world-
wide, Gudrun Simonar sings her op-
eras in English, Italian or Icelan-
dic, "depending upon where I am
performing," said Gudrun.
Some career highlights have been
performing at the Metropolitan
Opera House in New York. Also,
being a soprano, she has played the
challenging soprano character,
"Mimi", in Pucini's "La Boheme".
Considering herself freelance
and an "entertainer" in the opera
world, Gudrun accepts offers when
she has the time and are to her
liking. Her last performance was
in the Westman Islands but right
now she is taking it easy. "I re-
fuse a lot of offers because I
don't care for flying too much,"
she said.
Her opinion of living in the
U. S. is "It's a marvelous place
to be for a housewife." After ex-
periencing that life in New Jersey
for seven years, she learned to be
come a good cook and her son was
born there. "Everything is so eas
to get. Even though, I still am
happy to be back in Iceland. When
it got hot in New Jersey, it was
hard to adjust to and I swore to
myself I would never complain of
Iceland's wind and cool weather
again."
Presently, Gudrun keeps busy
teaching singing at music school i
Reykjavik and is in the field of
raising registered Siamese cats. I
breeding Siamese cats, she special
izes in four of the five kinds of
of Siamese, Lilac Point, Chocolate
Point, Blue Point and Seal Point.
After throwing a show last May,
where 25 of her prize cats were
shown, the event caused a large
traffic jam in the Iceland capital
For 13 years, Gudrun has taken
in stray cats. "I give them a horn
and let them stay for as long as
they want." Now a "cat society"
has been set up for strays or a
place where people need someone tc
take care of your cat for a while.
"It is easy in the U. S. to find
someone to take care of your cat
for a while, but not so in Ice-
land," said Gudrun.
Gudrun Simonar is "a legend"
among the Icelandic people and wel
known in the world of opera.
Gudrun's reaction to this is, "I'm
starting to believe it," but her
other concern is planning a trip t'
New York City to see a cat show.
Base flag teams
take field challenge
FOOTBALL ACTION gets into full
swing Monday evening as the Ad-
mirals tromped Rockville, 21-12.
Intramural play began Aug. 28,-
and will end Oct. 19 with a
tournament following. Twelve
teams are participating this
season. An estimated 15C play-
ers are involved in the Keflavik
gridiron sport. (photo by PHI
Ernest A. Myette)