April Cantelo
Encyclopedia
April Cantelo is an English soprano.
She was born Rosemary April Cantelo in Purbrook
, Hampshire
. She attended Chelmsford County High School for Girls. She studied in London under Vilém Tauský
, Joan Cross
, Imogen Holst
and others. She sang in the Glyndebourne Chorus and then made her debut in Edinburgh
in 1950.
Cantelo sang in the British premieres of Hans Werner Henze
's Boulevard Solitude
(Manon Lescaut) and Kurt Weill
's Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny
(Jenny). She appeared in the world premiere of Malcolm Williamson
's English Eccentrics. Among the roles she created are:
She directed a production of Henry Purcell
's The Fairy-Queen
in New Zealand in 1972. She has recorded widely.
April Cantelo married the conductor Colin Davis
in 1949. They had two children, Suzanne and Christopher. The marriage was dissolved in 1964 after he fell in love with their Iranian au pair.
She was born Rosemary April Cantelo in Purbrook
Purbrook
Purbrook is a village and local government sub-division located in Hampshire, England. Purbrook is on the outskirts of Waterlooville just North of the Portsmouth city Boundary...
, Hampshire
Hampshire
Hampshire is a county on the southern coast of England in the United Kingdom. The county town of Hampshire is Winchester, a historic cathedral city that was once the capital of England. Hampshire is notable for housing the original birthplaces of the Royal Navy, British Army, and Royal Air Force...
. She attended Chelmsford County High School for Girls. She studied in London under Vilém Tauský
Vilém Tauský
Vilém Tauský CBE was a Czech conductor and composer.-Life:Vilém Tauský was from a musical family: his Viennese mother had sung Mozart at the Vienna State Opera under Gustav Mahler, and her cousin was the operetta composer Leo Fall.Tauský studied with Leoš Janáček and later became a repetiteur at...
, Joan Cross
Joan Cross
Joan Cross was an English soprano, closely associated with the operas of Benjamin Britten. She also sang in the Italian and German operatic repertoires. She later became a musical administrator, taking on the direction of the Sadler's Wells Opera Company.-Career:Cross was born in London...
, Imogen Holst
Imogen Holst
Imogen Clare Holst, CBE was a British composer and conductor, and sole child of composer Gustav Holst.Imogen Holst was brought up in west London and educated at St Paul's Girls' School, where her father was director of music...
and others. She sang in the Glyndebourne Chorus and then made her debut in Edinburgh
Edinburgh
Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...
in 1950.
Cantelo sang in the British premieres of Hans Werner Henze
Hans Werner Henze
Hans Werner Henze is a German composer of prodigious output best known for "his consistent cultivation of music for the theatre throughout his life"...
's Boulevard Solitude
Boulevard Solitude
Boulevard Solitutde is a Lyrisches Drama or opera in one act by Hans Werner Henze to a German libretto by Grete Weil after the play by Walter Jockisch, in its turn a modern telling of François Prévost's Manon Lescaut. The premiere was on February 17, 1952 at the Landestheater, Hanover...
(Manon Lescaut) and Kurt Weill
Kurt Weill
Kurt Julian Weill was a German-Jewish composer, active from the 1920s, and in his later years in the United States. He was a leading composer for the stage who was best known for his fruitful collaborations with Bertolt Brecht...
's Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny
Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny
Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny is a political-satirical opera composed by Kurt Weill to a German libretto by Bertolt Brecht. It was first performed in Leipzig on 9 March 1930.-Composition history:...
(Jenny). She appeared in the world premiere of Malcolm Williamson
Malcolm Williamson
Malcolm Benjamin Graham Christopher Williamson AO , CBE was an Australian composer. He was the Master of the Queen's Music from 1975 until his death.-Biography:...
's English Eccentrics. Among the roles she created are:
- Lady in The Grace of Todd (Gordon CrosseGordon CrosseGordon Crosse is an English composer.-Biography:Crosse was born in Bury, Lancashire and in 1961 graduated from St Edmund Hall, Oxford with a first class honours degree in Music. He then undertook two years of postgraduate research on early fifteenth-century music before beginning an academic...
) - Susan in Dinner Engagement (Lennox BerkeleyLennox BerkeleySir Lennox Randal Francis Berkeley was an English composer.- Biography :He was born in Oxford, England, and educated at the Dragon School, Gresham's School and Merton College, Oxford...
) - Orpah in Ruth (Berkeley)
- Helena in A Midsummer Night's DreamA Midsummer Night's Dream (opera)A Midsummer Night's Dream is an opera with music by Benjamin Britten and set to a libretto adapted by the composer and Peter Pears from William Shakespeare's play, A Midsummer Night's Dream...
(Benjamin BrittenBenjamin BrittenEdward Benjamin Britten, Baron Britten, OM CH was an English composer, conductor, and pianist. He showed talent from an early age, and first came to public attention with the a cappella choral work A Boy Was Born in 1934. With the premiere of his opera Peter Grimes in 1945, he leapt to...
) - Bertha in The Violins of Saint Jacques (Williamson)
- Beatrice Weston in Our Man in Havana (Williamson)
- Swallow in The Happy Prince (Williamson)
- Ann in Julius Caesar Jones (Williamson)
- Semele in Semele (John Eccles).
She directed a production of Henry Purcell
Henry Purcell
Henry Purcell – 21 November 1695), was an English organist and Baroque composer of secular and sacred music. Although Purcell incorporated Italian and French stylistic elements into his compositions, his legacy was a uniquely English form of Baroque music...
's The Fairy-Queen
The Fairy-Queen
The Fairy-Queen is a masque or semi-opera by Henry Purcell; a "Restoration spectacular". The libretto is an anonymous adaptation of William Shakespeare's wedding comedy A Midsummer Night's Dream. First performed in 1692, The Fairy-Queen was composed three years before Purcell's death at the age...
in New Zealand in 1972. She has recorded widely.
April Cantelo married the conductor Colin Davis
Colin Davis
Sir Colin Rex Davis, CH, CBE is an English conductor. His repertoire is broad, but among the composers with whom he is particularly associated are Mozart, Berlioz, Elgar, Sibelius, Stravinsky and Tippett....
in 1949. They had two children, Suzanne and Christopher. The marriage was dissolved in 1964 after he fell in love with their Iranian au pair.