Lerner was born '' 'Em ilia Lipczer ' '' in Sambir , Ukraine , in 1945 to Jewish parents who hid in the woods to avoid Nazi persecution until she was one . They then moved to Paris and later to the Bronx . She graduated from Queens College with a bachelor 's degree in music education . She was teaching in Pittsburgh , Pennsylvania while earning a master 's degree at Carnegie Mellon . What started as a singing hobby led to her debut at the New York City Opera in 1979 , singing Sextus in '' La clemenza di Tito '' . Later NYCO assignments included Adalgisa in '' Norma '' , Bradamante in '' Alcina '' , Smeton in '' Anna Bolena '' , and leading roles in the '' Central Park '' trilogy ( which consists of Deborah Drattell and Wendy Wasserstein 's '' The Festival of Regrets '' , Michael Torke and A. R. Gurney 's '' Strawberry Fields '' , and Robert Beaser and Terrence McNally 's '' The Food of Love '' )
Nazi persecution
The Holocaust
Mimi Lerner