THE D'OYLY CARTE OPERA COMPANY

Minnie Walsh (1879-81)

[Born Bury, Lancashire 29 May 1853, died Brooklyn, New York 16 Apr 1923]

Mary Ann "Minnie" Walsh was primarily a concert singer whose career goes back to at least December 1874 when she appeared in Greenpoint, Long Island.

Initially a member of the chorus, with Carte's First American Pirates of Penzance Company in New York, she went on as Mabel, an emergency replacement for Blanche Roosevelt, on Saturday, January 24, 1880. A critical success, she made a similar emegency substitution for Sallie Reber as Mabel with Carte's Second American Pirates Company in Philadelphia on February 12. Again she was critically acclaimed. The Philadelphia Inquirer wrote "Miss Walsh has a clear and fresh soprano voice, which she employs with notable skill and effect....and her acting was eminently artistic and pleasing." It was of little wonder that she was chosen to play Mabel on tour from February to July 1880 with D'Oyly Carte's Third American Pirates Company. She later went on tour as Mabel with yet another D'Oyly Carte North American Pirates Company, from September 1880 through February 1881.

Miss Walsh was shortly engaged by the Stuart-Gray Opera Company, touring a Phoebe Fairleigh in Billee Taylor in May 1881. She soon returned to concert and choral work. Her last appearance in the New York area may have been a concert at the Central Avenue Baptist Church in Brooklyn in February 1889.

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