The Soprano from Hawaii
Students with Mme. Sembrich on the front lawn of “The Maples,” in Lake Placid, New York. Photograph by G. T. Rabineau. 1921. From The Sembrich Collection. Click image to enlarge
For the last two decades of her life, Sembrich (standing center) dedicated her life to teaching and passing on her knowledge to the next generation of singers. Among the handful of students to study with Sembrich was soprano Ululani Robertson (seated left), a descendant of Hawaiian royalty from the islands of Maui and Hawaii. From 1921 to 1925, Robertson studied with Sembrich in New York City, Lake Placid, and here on Lake George. Following her study with Sembrich, she went on to garner fame across Europe in the title role of Puccini’s Madama Butterfly.
Ululani later recalled her study with Sembrich:
“All pupils loved my teacher. It made no difference whether they were successes or failures, they never forgot her magnetic personality. I spent my first summer with Mme. Sembrich at her home in Lake Placid. She herself was a marvelous cook and she planned her menus each day. I remember a little squirrel who, each summer, came to the back kitchen door to be fed by Madame. I think he got his winter store of nuts from her. Like people, he never forgot the gracious woman.” — from "Madame Butterfly Lauds Teacher, Mme. M. Sembrich." The Honolulu Advertiser. Sunday, January 20, 1935.
