time I sang in opera. On Broadway, you do eight shows a week, and there is no such thing as perfection. Every night, you try to find something new and true, perfect or not. Film and television is an intimate medium. You are communicating to one viewer instead of thousands. It is more of a physical and mental adjustment. The emotions are the same." Early life Peil (pronounced peel) was born in 1940 in Davenport, Iowa. She trained as a soprano at Northwestern University under Lotte Lehmann, and gave her senior recital on April 9, 1962. Other influential teachers in her development in the university's music department included Robert Gay, the director of the opera program, and Ewald Nolte, who taught courses in music theory and composition and conducted a university chorus in which Peil performed. While a college student she was a member of the Gamma Phi Beta sorority. Career Career as an opera and concert soprano: 1962–1982 In her senior year, Peil performed the role of Violetta in Giuseppe Verdi's La traviata in a student production directed by Gay at Northwestern; a performance which was attended by Boris Goldovsky. This led to an invitation to audition for Goldovsky's opera company for an upcoming national tour of that opera. She was offered a contract, and moved to New York City in order to take that job. She made her professional debut as Violetta in the Fall of 1962 with the Goldovsky Opera Theater. In 1964 Peil won two major singing contests, the Young Concert Artists International Auditions and the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions (MONCA), which significantly furthered her career as a classical soprano in concerts and opera. In March 1964 she won the MONCA which earned her a contract with the newly formed Metropolitan Opera National Company (MONC); a second touring company of the Metropolitan Opera. Mezzo-soprano Risë Stevens was one of the co-directors of the MONC, and Stevens mentored her during the two seasons that she performed with the company. Peil made her opera debut with the MONC in September 1965 as Clorinda in Gioachino Rossini's La Cenerentola; going on to perform that role in 72 cities on a nine-month national tour with the MONC through May 1966. She also performed the role of Micaëla in Georges Bizet's Carmen with the MONC that first season. She toured nationally with the company again in its second season as