Stay funny, stay positive, stay grateful. Drink good coffee. Don't be dinky!
Obituary
Gwen Curatilo, wife, mother, grandmother, teacher, mentor, friend, and soprano extraordinaire, died peacefully with family by her side on April 18, 2024 in Chico, California. She was very content, in her sweet new apartment, surrounded by her favorite art, and cared for around the clock by family and Enloe Hospice staff and friends. It was exactly what she wanted.
Gwen led a remarkable life, juggling a demanding career as a professional opera singer, raising a family, and later, as a long-time professor of voice and opera at CSU, Chico.
She met and married her dear late husband, Joe, at the University of Illinois (he was her music theory instructor and greatest fan). They moved west together, enchanted by the idea of settling in Marin County, where Joe landed his dream job with the Dixie School District. Her catalyst came in 1958, when she won the prestigious Merola Debut Award from the San Francisco Opera. By 1960, she was hired as a full-fledged member of the opera house as a lyric soprano, and performed many leading roles there in more than six years, as well as singing with the SF Symphony, the Carmel Bach Festival, Bach to Mozart, and with countless other chamber groups, opera houses, and symphonies throughout the U.S. and Europe for the next twenty years. At the same time, she studied and graduated with a Master's Degree from Dominican College in San Rafael, CA. She had an astonishing ability to memorize entire operas in a short time (one weekend?!), absorb and process different languages, and fall into her roles with natural grace and understanding. She also had a great sense of humor and loved all the amusing parts she took on: the elegant "patsy" in many PDQ Bach performances (where they played terrible tricks on her); her times with Donald Pippin and his Pocket Opera productions at the Spaghetti Factory in SF (where us kids loved diving into big bowls of pasta); and long-ago summers in Yosemite, where she sang "The Indian Love Call" from the top of the mountain, to accompany the nightly firefall (after having been driven offroad to the top in an old Jeep, wearing a full-length ball gown). She could also do a fierce and piercing Tarzan call, which she once did standing up in our VW convertible bug, on the way home from Muir Woods (and then couldn't speak or sing for a week – not recommended).
In 1968, she was invited to play one of her favorite roles – Madam Butterfly – in a CSU, Chico production, which eventually led to a 25-year teaching position at the university. She adored mentoring and encouraging young people to sing, and sheparded so many through the joys of learning and performing. Her legendary Opera Workshop productions at CSUC (and Opera Ball fundraisers) brought students and community members together for many seasons of stellar performances, some of them world premieres. And she loved (with the energy of a hummingbird) to cook and entertain, hosting many a fundraiser and joyful gathering in her art-filled Durham home.
She also volunteered at Enloe Hospice for fifteen years, inspired by the wonderful, loving care they provided to Joe in his last months. Her family is so grateful for the help and love they provided to her as well.
Her instructions to family and friends (pulled from her hand-written notes while she was in and out of the ICU): "Stay funny, stay positive, stay grateful. Drink good coffee. Don't be dinky."
Gwen (or Mrs. C., as known to many) is survived by her two children, Jan and Christopher, three grandchildren, and four great-grandchildren, with another on the way. All have a love and talent for music, but so far, none have a voice as glorious as hers (we are hopeful). A life well-lived. Brava!
Should you wish to donate to a cause near and dear to Gwen's heart, please consider contributing to the Children's Choir of Chico, in support of the young artists she loved. Go to ChildrensChoirofChico.org for their donation information.
Please feel free to add your story, comments, photos in the 'memory wall' section below. We love to see those!
Gallery
Memory wall
