Obituaries.(Brief Article)(Obituary)

DORLE JARMEL SORIA, New York City, December 14, 1900--July 7, 2002

The French word animatrice would have been an apt description of Dorle Soria: she was someone who made things happen. For most of her life, she was close to the center of the music and recording worlds, as journalist, publicist, recording-company executive, fund-raiser and as friend and confidante of artists such as Toscanini, Reiner, Mitropoulos, Szell, Callas, Schwarzkopf and Gobbi. A woman of boundless energy, warmth and vivacity--not to mention a ready wit and the sagacity born of great experience--she counseled, promoted and entertained a worldwide circle of friends and colleagues through her ninth decade.

A graduate of Columbia University, she was diverted from a budding journalism career by the powerful manager Arthur Judson, who hired her to do publicity for his management company (forerunner of today's CAMI) and the New York Philharmonic. Beginning with the orchestra's legendary first European tour under Toscanini in 1930, she played a significant role in establishing the Maestro's iconic stature, and she later promoted such events as the orchestra's centennial, Leonard Bernstein's debut and its 1951 European tour.

In 1942, Dorle Jarmel married Dario Soria, and after the war assisted him with the Cetra--Soria record label. She left the Philharmonic in 1953 to collaborate with her husband in launching Angel Records, a new imprint for EMI's LP recordings, notable for its high standards of packaging and annotation. Dorle masterminded Angel's imaginative promotion, including Opera Balls in honor of Maria Callas's debuts at Lyric Opera of Chicago and the Met. After leaving Angel in 1957, the Sorias assisted at the birth of the Spoleto Festival, then joined RCA Records to direct the Soria Series imprint, a collaboration with the Swiss art publisher Skira.

Dorle's monthly column, "Artist Life," devoted to news, reminiscences and interviews, began in the 1960s, appearing first in the Carnegie Hall programs, then migrating to High Fidelity/Musical America, where it continued for many years. Dario Soria, who had been managing director of the Metropolitan Opera Guild during the 1970s, died in 1980. Dorle then became active with the Metropolitan Opera Association, as an advisory director, member of its Archives Committee and coproducer of the Historic Broadcast Recordings. For the Opera Guild, she wrote a book, The Metropolitan Opera: A Guide (1982), and contributed to OPERA NEWS. She was also a moving force in the establishment of the Toscanini Memorial Archives (containing microfilms of composers' autograph manuscripts) at the New York Public Library of the Performing Arts, and donated valuable historical material from her own career to the library's Music Division.