Joyce Barker
Encyclopedia
Joyce Barker was a South African soprano
.
Joyce Barker was born in Mooi Rivier, a small town in Natal
. At the age of nineteen she started training for a professional career with Daisy Holmes in Durban
. She won the Ernest Whitcutt Memorial Cup three years in succession and earned three different scholarships in support of her musical education. One of these was awarded by the Royal Schools of Music. With that scholarship and another awarded by the NSAM (Natal Society for the Advancement of Music), she continued her vocal training in London for three years. She made her professional debut in the United Kingdom in 1954 at the Canterbury Festival where she sang the soprano part in Mendelssohn
's oratorio
Elijah
.
In 1956, she became the first winner of the Kathleen Ferrier Award
and left the United Kingdom for Europe, where she studied with Maria Hittorff, Paula Köhler, Borishka Gereb, Mario and Katerina Baziola for voice production, and Edouardo Pedrazolli for opera. In 1959 she wone the Gold Medal at the International Concours de Chant, as well as several other awards during this period of her life.
Returning to the UK, she performed in several productions with Sadlers Wells and at the Royal Opera House
which included major roles in Götterdämmerung
and Die Walküre
(Wagner
), Mefistofele
(Boito
), and I Lombardi
, Nabucco
and Aida
(Verdi
). She also performed in Ireland for one season with roles in The Tales of Hoffmann (Offenbach
), The Marriage of Figaro
(Mozart
), and La bohème
(Puccini
). During this period she also sang in Mahler
's Eighth Symphony
and Nielsen
's Saul og David
.
Barker returned to South Africa in 1963 where she continued her singing career in opera, oratorio and cantatas for the four provincial arts councils as well as in broadcast media. She made additional guest appearances at the Royal Opera House in the 1970s.
Joyce Barker died in Johannesburg
on May 23, 1992.
Soprano
A soprano is a voice type with a vocal range from approximately middle C to "high A" in choral music, or to "soprano C" or higher in operatic music. In four-part chorale style harmony, the soprano takes the highest part, which usually encompasses the melody...
.
Joyce Barker was born in Mooi Rivier, a small town in Natal
Natal Province
Natal, meaning "Christmas" in Portuguese, was a province of South Africa from 1910 until 1994. Its capital was Pietermaritzburg. The Natal Province included the bantustan of KwaZulu...
. At the age of nineteen she started training for a professional career with Daisy Holmes in Durban
Durban
Durban is the largest city in the South African province of KwaZulu-Natal and the third largest city in South Africa. It forms part of the eThekwini metropolitan municipality. Durban is famous for being the busiest port in South Africa. It is also seen as one of the major centres of tourism...
. She won the Ernest Whitcutt Memorial Cup three years in succession and earned three different scholarships in support of her musical education. One of these was awarded by the Royal Schools of Music. With that scholarship and another awarded by the NSAM (Natal Society for the Advancement of Music), she continued her vocal training in London for three years. She made her professional debut in the United Kingdom in 1954 at the Canterbury Festival where she sang the soprano part in Mendelssohn
Felix Mendelssohn
Jakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn Barthóldy , use the form 'Mendelssohn' and not 'Mendelssohn Bartholdy'. The Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians gives ' Felix Mendelssohn' as the entry, with 'Mendelssohn' used in the body text...
's oratorio
Oratorio
An oratorio is a large musical composition including an orchestra, a choir, and soloists. Like an opera, an oratorio includes the use of a choir, soloists, an ensemble, various distinguishable characters, and arias...
Elijah
Elijah (oratorio)
Elijah, in German: Elias, is an oratorio written by Felix Mendelssohn in 1846 for the Birmingham Festival. It depicts various events in the life of the Biblical prophet Elijah, taken from the books 1 Kings and 2 Kings in the Old Testament....
.
In 1956, she became the first winner of the Kathleen Ferrier Award
Kathleen Ferrier Award
The Kathleen Ferrier Award is a prestigious contest for Opera singers held each April in London, England. The first competition was held in 1956. Originally conceived to offer a prize equivalent to a year's tuition plus support, the competition now offers a first prize of £10,000, a second prize...
and left the United Kingdom for Europe, where she studied with Maria Hittorff, Paula Köhler, Borishka Gereb, Mario and Katerina Baziola for voice production, and Edouardo Pedrazolli for opera. In 1959 she wone the Gold Medal at the International Concours de Chant, as well as several other awards during this period of her life.
Returning to the UK, she performed in several productions with Sadlers Wells and at the Royal Opera House
Royal Opera House
The Royal Opera House is an opera house and major performing arts venue in Covent Garden, central London. The large building is often referred to as simply "Covent Garden", after a previous use of the site of the opera house's original construction in 1732. It is the home of The Royal Opera, The...
which included major roles in Götterdämmerung
Götterdämmerung
is the last in Richard Wagner's cycle of four operas titled Der Ring des Nibelungen...
and Die Walküre
Die Walküre
Die Walküre , WWV 86B, is the second of the four operas that form the cycle Der Ring des Nibelungen , by Richard Wagner...
(Wagner
Richard Wagner
Wilhelm Richard Wagner was a German composer, conductor, theatre director, philosopher, music theorist, poet, essayist and writer primarily known for his operas...
), Mefistofele
Mefistofele
Mefistofele is an opera in a prologue, four acts and an epilogue, the only completed opera by the Italian composer-librettist Arrigo Boito.-Composition history:...
(Boito
Arrigo Boito
Arrigo Boito , aka Enrico Giuseppe Giovanni Boito, pseudonym Tobia Gorrio, was an Italian poet, journalist, novelist and composer, best known today for his libretti, especially those for Giuseppe Verdi's operas Otello and Falstaff, and his own opera Mefistofele...
), and I Lombardi
I Lombardi alla prima crociata
I Lombardi alla prima crociata is an operatic dramma lirico in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Temistocle Solera, based on an epic poem by Tommaso Grossi. Its first performance was given at the Teatro alla Scala in Milan on 11 February 1843...
, Nabucco
Nabucco
Nabucco is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Temistocle Solera, based on the Biblical story and the 1836 play by Auguste Anicet-Bourgeois and Francis Cornue...
and Aida
Aida
Aida sometimes spelled Aïda, is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Antonio Ghislanzoni, based on a scenario written by French Egyptologist Auguste Mariette...
(Verdi
Giuseppe Verdi
Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi was an Italian Romantic composer, mainly of opera. He was one of the most influential composers of the 19th century...
). She also performed in Ireland for one season with roles in The Tales of Hoffmann (Offenbach
Jacques Offenbach
Jacques Offenbach was a Prussian-born French composer, cellist and impresario. He is remembered for his nearly 100 operettas of the 1850s–1870s and his uncompleted opera The Tales of Hoffmann. He was a powerful influence on later composers of the operetta genre, particularly Johann Strauss, Jr....
), The Marriage of Figaro
The Marriage of Figaro
Le nozze di Figaro, ossia la folle giornata , K. 492, is an opera buffa composed in 1786 in four acts by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, with Italian libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte, based on a stage comedy by Pierre Beaumarchais, La folle journée, ou le Mariage de Figaro .Although the play by...
(Mozart
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart , baptismal name Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart , was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical era. He composed over 600 works, many acknowledged as pinnacles of symphonic, concertante, chamber, piano, operatic, and choral music...
), and La bohème
La bohème
La bohème is an opera in four acts,Puccini called the divisions quadro, a tableau or "image", rather than atto . by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa, based on Scènes de la vie de bohème by Henri Murger...
(Puccini
Giacomo Puccini
Giacomo Antonio Domenico Michele Secondo Maria Puccini was an Italian composer whose operas, including La bohème, Tosca, Madama Butterfly, and Turandot, are among the most frequently performed in the standard repertoire...
). During this period she also sang in Mahler
Gustav Mahler
Gustav Mahler was a late-Romantic Austrian composer and one of the leading conductors of his generation. He was born in the village of Kalischt, Bohemia, in what was then Austria-Hungary, now Kaliště in the Czech Republic...
's Eighth Symphony
Symphony No. 8 (Mahler)
The Symphony No. 8 in E-flat major by Gustav Mahler is one of the largest-scale choral works in the classical concert repertoire. Because it requires huge instrumental and vocal forces it is frequently called the "Symphony of a Thousand", although the work is often performed with fewer than a...
and Nielsen
Carl Nielsen
Carl August Nielsen , , widely recognised as Denmark's greatest composer, was also a conductor and a violinist. Brought up by poor but musically talented parents on the island of Funen, he demonstrated his musical abilities at an early age...
's Saul og David
Saul og David
Saul og David is the first of the two operas by the Danish composer Carl Nielsen. The four-act libretto, by Einar Christiansen, tells the Biblical story of Saul's jealousy of the young David, taken from the Book of Samuel. The first performance was at Det Kongelige Teater, Copenhagen on 28...
.
Barker returned to South Africa in 1963 where she continued her singing career in opera, oratorio and cantatas for the four provincial arts councils as well as in broadcast media. She made additional guest appearances at the Royal Opera House in the 1970s.
Joyce Barker died in Johannesburg
Johannesburg
Johannesburg also known as Jozi, Jo'burg or Egoli, is the largest city in South Africa, by population. Johannesburg is the provincial capital of Gauteng, the wealthiest province in South Africa, having the largest economy of any metropolitan region in Sub-Saharan Africa...
on May 23, 1992.