Neira Riegger

Neira Riegger (1891 – April 23, 1936), also known as Nyra Dorrance, was an American singer, born Neira Donnelly Coffin (or Coffen). She was a performer and a radio producer. In her last year, she was founding director of the Opera Comique in Buffalo, New York.

Neira Coffin was born in Warsaw, New York,^[1][2] the daughter of Henry Preston Coffin and Mary Donnelly Coffin (later Mrs. Earl Jenks). Her father was an actor.^[3] She attended Cornell University,^[4] graduated from the Ithaca Conservatory of Music,^[5] and worked with Corinne Rider-Kelsey.^[6][7] She was a member of Mu Phi Epsilon.^[5]

Riegger had a wide vocal range, was sometimes classified as a contralto,^[8][9] but she also sang in the soprano range.^[4][10] She sang in oratorios, recitals, festivals, and concerts, and as a church soloist.^[4] In 1920, she gave a program of Irish songs at Carnegie Hall, Aeolian Hall,^[11] and elsewhere.^[12] In 1921, she sang spirituals by Harry Burleigh at a concert in Brooklyn.^[13]

In 1924, she toured with Geraldine Farrar's production of Carmen.^[3][14] From 1925 to 1931, she was a member of the Philadelphia Civic Opera Company.^[3] In 1929, she was a soloist with the People's Chorus of New York in a concert at The Town Hall,^[15] and sang with the Troubadours, a medieval ensemble.^[16]

Riegger sang in radio broadcasts, and became a radio producer.^[3] She was associate music director at WOR radio in New York.^[17][18] In her last year, she was the first director of the Opera Comique in Buffalo, New York.^[3][17]

Neira Coffin married chemistry professor Harold Eaton Riegger in 1912;^[4] they had a son, Harold Jr. Her husband died in 1922,^[19] and she died in 1936, at the age of 45, from complications after surgery.^[20]