To the 21st century Canadian opera-going public, the name Ruby Mercer (1906-1999) would likely draw a blank. Opera aficionados of a certain age, however, might have recollections of her as the host of opera programs on the CBC (1962 to 1984). I, for one, have the fondest memories of her dulcet tones and sunny on-air persona.

American by birth and Canadian by adoption, Ruby Mercer was a Metropolitan Opera soprano in the 1930s and a New York radio personality in the 1940s and 50s, not to mention an occasional star on the musical theatre stages in Manhattan and elsewhere. Ruby married Hungarian Canadian businessman Geza Por in 1958 and moved to Toronto, thus beginning her Canadian journey.

Without a doubt, Ruby made significant contributions to opera in her adopted country, bringing this art form to the wider Canadian public through her many years as an opera broadcaster. In 1968, Ruby founded the Canadian Children’s Opera Chorus, the predecessor of the Canadian Children’s Opera Company as it is known today. A prolific writer, Ruby penned a book on the Quilico family, as well as a biography on the Canadian tenor and Met General Manager Edward Johnson, The Tenor of His Time. It was Johnson who gave Ruby her big break by engaging her to sing at the Met, as Nedda in Pagliacci and Marguerite in Faust.

In 1960, two years after moving to Toronto, Ruby founded Opera Canada, a magazine that covers operatic life in the Great White North. Given the recent demise of the venerable American magazine Opera News, Opera Canada, now in its 65th year and still going strong, is now the only surviving opera print magazine in North America.

I am delighted to have this opportunity to share my personal remembrances of Ruby, who played an important role in my own journey as an opera writer. I met her by chance in the mid 1980s, in, of all places, the box office of the O’Keefe Centre, where we waited in line to buy COC tickets. Though we were strangers, we did what opera fans typically do when they get together – talk opera!

I was fascinated by her many stories, even more so when I realized that she was the host of my favourite radio opera program. When I expressed an interest in going into opera journalism, she was most encouraging. She shared with me her experiences interviewing singers, relating her stories with a delightful mix of candor and humour. By the time I started doing opera journalism, Ruby had retired from the Opera Canada editorship, succeeded by Wayne Gooding. It was Wayne who accepted my first article, on Canadian tenor Ben Heppner, which appeared as the cover story in the magazine some thirty years ago.

I have the fondest memories of our friendship. What I remember most about her is her personal warmth, ready smile, her love of music and opera, and most of all her positive outlook on life and work. Throughout the late ’80s and early ’90s, I was often her “plus one,” a term used to refer to the person who’s benefitting from using the second of a pair of media tickets often assigned to journalists. Thanks to Ruby, I was able to attend many performances.

In my long friendship with Ruby, one event in the ’90s has forever been etched in my memory. As was typical of matinee performances, Ruby and I would often have a meal together afterwards. I recall that day vividly – we attended a matinee of Hotel Nigredo, a contemporary chamber opera by Nic Gotham. Afterwards, instead of going out to eat in a restaurant, I proposed to Ruby that I would cook her dinner if we would go back to her place. My “ulterior motive” was to enjoy browsing through her opera memorabilia.

Well, the dinner I cooked was utterly unmemorable, but her scrapbook? Wow! I remember turning the pages and came upon a yellowed newspaper clipping. The headline was “Foundling now famous Metropolitan Opera soprano.” Astounded, I decided to ask Ruby. Her reply was straightforward and rather matter of fact: “Yes, I was found in a basket, left on the doorstep of a Mr. and Mrs. Mercer, in Athens, Ohio.”

Her story had a special resonance with me, given the unlikely coincidence that I happened to have been adopted as well. Sadly, I never knew the identity of my biological parents. When I shared my life story with Ruby, her response/advice was emphatic: “Forget the past! Don’t look back, only look forward!” Her tone was firm and unsentimental, rather hard to be honest. It truly underscored her inner strength, her resilience in the face of adversity, a philosophy that she applied to her life. It was an episode that I have never forgotten, a piece of advice that has stayed with me ever since.

All photographs (see Gallery below) provided by the author:

Ruby Mercer and Joseph So when Ruby was honoured with a lifetime achievement award at the Arts and Letters Club (1995).
Ruby Mercer, Joseph So, and American soprano Patricia Yanello.
Ruby Mercer in academic robes, receiving an honorary doctorate from the University of Toronto (1995).
Honorary degree ceremony for Ruby Mercer, with Dean of Music Carl Morey (1995).
Ruby Mercer with other U of T dignitaries, taken at the honorary degree ceremony.

Joseph So (Ph.D., SUNY 1974) is Professor Emeritus at Trent University, where he taught for 33 years. In addition to his academic discipline of anthropology, he also has a lifelong passion for classical music and opera, as a writer, reviewer, critic, and audience member. He has contributed articles and reviews to Opera Canada, Opera (London, UK), Canadian Encyclopedia, La Scena Musicale, and Ludwig van Toronto. He has co-edited a book, Opera in a Multicultural World: Coloniality, Culture, Performance, published by Routledge (Taylor & Francis Group) in 2016.

Joseph So donated the Ruby Mercer collection to the University of Toronto Music Library in 2023. This collection consists predominantly of recordings of interviews that Ruby Mercer conducted in her role as co-host and producer of the WNYC radio program Mr. and Mrs. Opera, as well as a Columbia Masterworks release of her interviews with Metropolitan Opera stars. To access this collection, please contact Becky Shaw, Music Archivist (r.shaw@utoronto.ca).

Ruby Mercer remembered

Gallery