June Bronhill
Encyclopedia
June Bronhill OBE was an internationally acclaimed Australia
n soprano
opera singer.
. Her stage name
Bronhill, which she used from 1952, was an abbreviation of Broken Hill, which was her way of thanking her home town for its support in raising money to send her overseas for professional training as a singer — in the same way that Helen Porter Mitchell chose the stage name of Nellie Melba
(after Melbourne
), and that Florence Mary Wilson chose the stage name of Florence Austral
and Elsie Mary Fischer chose the stage name Elsa Stralia
(after Australia). She won the Sun Aria, now known as the Sydney Eisteddfod McDonald's Operatic Aria
in 1950.
She trained in London and gained early exposure with the Sadler's Wells
company in Mozart
's The Marriage of Figaro
. She also sang leading roles in Die Fledermaus
, The Gypsy Baron
, Menotti
's The Telephone
, Flotow
's Martha
and Hänsel und Gretel. Her roles in Offenbach
's operas, with the Sadler's Wells company, included Eurydice in Orpheus in the Underworld
and Gabrielle in La vie parisienne
. In 1964 June appeared as Elizabeth in the musical Robert and Elizabeth at the London Lyric Theatre alongside Keith Michell
as Robert Browning, a show she later took to Australia. She also appeared in England in tours of two Ivor Novello
musicals, Glamorous Night
and The Dancing Years
, the latter playing a season at the Saville Theatre in London. She also appeared as the Mother Abbess in the 1981 London revival of The Sound of Music
at the Apollo Victoria Theatre.
She was perhaps best known for title role of Hanna Glawari in Franz Lehár
's The Merry Widow
, which she sang with the Sadler's Wells Opera (now known as English National Opera
), with Thomas Round
as Danilo. She also created Maria von Trapp
in Rodgers
and Hammerstein
's The Sound of Music on the Australian stage. Bronhill was well known in the London West End
theatres as well as on the opera stage.
Over the years she made frequent visits back to her homeland, singing in operas such as The Merry Widow, Orpheus in the Underworld, Die Fledermaus and Rigoletto at the Sydney Opera House
in 1975. In 1976 she decided to move back to Australia permanently.
In Australia she appeared in operas such as Il Seraglio and Maria Stuarda. She played operetta roles such as Josephine (H.M.S. Pinafore
), Phyllis (Iolanthe
) and Ruth (The Pirates of Penzance
). She also essayed roles in The Maid of the Mountains
, Call Me Madam, A Little Night Music
, Nunsense
, My Fair Lady
and How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying
, and starred in the straight plays Arsenic and Old Lace and Straight and Narrow.
Bronhill also appeared in the role of Mrs. Crawford in the television comedy series Are You Being Served?
, the Australian version of the British comedy series, as well as in Lipton Tea television advertisements (singing a commercialised adaption of Fugue for Tinhorns
)
Bronhill was a patron of the Australian Girls Choir
from the choir's beginning. There is a scholarship in her name, the June Bronhill Encouragement Scholarship, awarded each year to the chorister with the most choral prowess.
nursing home. Her home town, Broken Hill, honoured her by declaring a minute's silence during the 2005 Australia Day
celebrations two days after her death.
(OBE) in the New Year's Honours of 1977, and later given a Lifetime Achievement Award by the Australian Variety Club.
The Australian Girls Choir offer an encouragement scholarship in honour of June Bronhill to a Year 12 chorister each year.
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
n soprano
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...
opera singer.
Biography
She was born June Mary Gough in the inland Australian city of Broken Hill, New South WalesBroken Hill, New South Wales
-Geology:Broken Hill's massive orebody, which formed about 1,800 million years ago, has proved to be among the world's largest silver-lead-zinc mineral deposits. The orebody is shaped like a boomerang plunging into the earth at its ends and outcropping in the centre. The protruding tip of the...
. Her stage name
Stage name
A stage name, also called a showbiz name or screen name, is a pseudonym used by performers and entertainers such as actors, wrestlers, comedians, and musicians.-Motivation to use a stage name:...
Bronhill, which she used from 1952, was an abbreviation of Broken Hill, which was her way of thanking her home town for its support in raising money to send her overseas for professional training as a singer — in the same way that Helen Porter Mitchell chose the stage name of Nellie Melba
Nellie Melba
Dame Nellie Melba GBE , born Helen "Nellie" Porter Mitchell, was an Australian operatic soprano. She became one of the most famous singers of the late Victorian Era and the early 20th century...
(after Melbourne
Melbourne
Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...
), and that Florence Mary Wilson chose the stage name of Florence Austral
Florence Austral
Florence Austral was an Australian operatic soprano renowned for her interpretation of the most demanding Wagnerian female roles, although she never gained the opportunity to appear at the Bayreuth Festival or the New York Metropolitan Opera.She was born Florence Mary Wilson, but adopted the...
and Elsie Mary Fischer chose the stage name Elsa Stralia
Elsa Stralia
Elsa Stralia was an Australian soprano with an international reputation in Europe and America. She was born Elsie Mary Fischer.-Biography:After appearing in Sydney, she studied in Milan and London...
(after Australia). She won the Sun Aria, now known as the Sydney Eisteddfod McDonald's Operatic Aria
Aria
An aria in music was originally any expressive melody, usually, but not always, performed by a singer. The term is now used almost exclusively to describe a self-contained piece for one voice usually with orchestral accompaniment...
in 1950.
She trained in London and gained early exposure with the Sadler's Wells
English National Opera
English National Opera is an opera company based in London, resident at the London Coliseum in St. Martin's Lane. It is one of the two principal opera companies in London, along with the Royal Opera, Covent Garden...
company in 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...
's 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...
. She also sang leading roles in Die Fledermaus
Die Fledermaus
Die Fledermaus is an operetta composed by Johann Strauss II to a German libretto by Karl Haffner and Richard Genée.- Literary sources :...
, The Gypsy Baron
The Gypsy Baron
The Gypsy Baron is an operetta in three acts by Johann Strauss II which premiered at the Theater an der Wien on 24 October 1885. Its libretto was by the author Ignaz Schnitzer and in turn was based on Sáffi by Mór Jókai. During the composer's lifetime, the operetta enjoyed great success, second...
, Menotti
Gian Carlo Menotti
Gian Carlo Menotti was an Italian-American composer and librettist. Although he often referred to himself as an American composer, he kept his Italian citizenship. He wrote the classic Christmas opera, Amahl and the Night Visitors, among about two dozen other operas intended to appeal to popular...
's The Telephone
The Telephone, or L'Amour à trois
The Telephone, or L'Amour à trois is an English-language comic opera in one act by Gian Carlo Menotti, both words and music. It was written for production by the Ballet Society and was first presented on a double bill with Menotti's The Medium at the Heckscher Theater, New York City, February...
, Flotow
Friedrich von Flotow
Friedrich Adolf Ferdinand, Freiherr von Flotow was a German composer. He is chiefly remembered for his opera Martha, which was popular in the 19th century....
's Martha
Martha (opera)
Martha, oder Der Markt zu Richmond is a 'romantic comic' opera in four acts by Friedrich von Flotow, set to a German libretto by Friedrich Wilhelm Riese and based on a story by Jules-Henri Vernoy de Saint-Georges....
and Hänsel und Gretel. Her roles in 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....
's operas, with the Sadler's Wells company, included Eurydice in Orpheus in the Underworld
Orpheus in the Underworld
Orphée aux enfers is an opéra bouffon , or opéra féerie in its revised version, by Jacques Offenbach. The French text was written by Ludovic Halévy and later revised by Hector-Jonathan Crémieux....
and Gabrielle in La vie parisienne
La vie parisienne
La vie parisienne is an opéra bouffe, or operetta, composed by Jacques Offenbach, with a libretto by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy.This work was Offenbach's first full-length piece to portray contemporary Parisian life, unlike his earlier period pieces and mythological subjects...
. In 1964 June appeared as Elizabeth in the musical Robert and Elizabeth at the London Lyric Theatre alongside Keith Michell
Keith Michell
Keith Michell is an Australian actor, particularly noted for his television and film performances as King Henry VIII of England.- Early life :He was born in Adelaide and brought up in Warnertown, near Port Pirie...
as Robert Browning, a show she later took to Australia. She also appeared in England in tours of two Ivor Novello
Ivor Novello
David Ivor Davies , better known as Ivor Novello, was a Welsh composer, singer and actor who became one of the most popular British entertainers of the first half of the 20th century. Born into a musical family, his first successes were as a songwriter...
musicals, Glamorous Night
Glamorous Night
Glamorous Night is a musical with a book and music by Ivor Novello and lyrics by Christopher Hassall, Novello's collaborator in six of the eight Novello musicals staged between 1935 and 1951...
and The Dancing Years
The Dancing Years
The Dancing Years is a musical with book and music by Ivor Novello and lyrics by Christopher Hassall. The piece is one of Novello's most popular musicals...
, the latter playing a season at the Saville Theatre in London. She also appeared as the Mother Abbess in the 1981 London revival of The Sound of Music
The Sound of Music
The Sound of Music is a musical by Richard Rodgers, lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II and a book by Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse. It is based on the memoir of Maria von Trapp, The Story of the Trapp Family Singers...
at the Apollo Victoria Theatre.
She was perhaps best known for title role of Hanna Glawari in Franz Lehár
Franz Lehár
Franz Lehár was an Austrian-Hungarian composer. He is mainly known for his operettas of which the most successful and best known is The Merry Widow .-Biography:...
's The Merry Widow
The Merry Widow
The Merry Widow is an operetta by the Austro–Hungarian composer Franz Lehár. The librettists, Viktor Léon and Leo Stein, based the story – concerning a rich widow, and her countrymen's attempt to keep her money in the principality by finding her the right husband – on an 1861 comedy play,...
, which she sang with the Sadler's Wells Opera (now known as English National Opera
English National Opera
English National Opera is an opera company based in London, resident at the London Coliseum in St. Martin's Lane. It is one of the two principal opera companies in London, along with the Royal Opera, Covent Garden...
), with Thomas Round
Thomas Round
Thomas Round is a retired English opera singer and actor, best known for his performances in the tenor roles of the Savoy Operas and in grand opera....
as Danilo. She also created Maria von Trapp
Maria von Trapp
Maria Augusta von Trapp , also known as Baroness Maria von Trapp, was the stepmother and matriarch of the Trapp Family Singers...
in Rodgers
Richard Rodgers
Richard Charles Rodgers was an American composer of music for more than 900 songs and for 43 Broadway musicals. He also composed music for films and television. He is best known for his songwriting partnerships with the lyricists Lorenz Hart and Oscar Hammerstein II...
and Hammerstein
Oscar Hammerstein II
Oscar Greeley Clendenning Hammerstein II was an American librettist, theatrical producer, and theatre director of musicals for almost forty years. Hammerstein won eight Tony Awards and was twice awarded an Academy Award for "Best Original Song". Many of his songs are standard repertoire for...
's The Sound of Music on the Australian stage. Bronhill was well known in the London West End
West End theatre
West End theatre is a popular term for mainstream professional theatre staged in the large theatres of London's 'Theatreland', the West End. Along with New York's Broadway theatre, West End theatre is usually considered to represent the highest level of commercial theatre in the English speaking...
theatres as well as on the opera stage.
Over the years she made frequent visits back to her homeland, singing in operas such as The Merry Widow, Orpheus in the Underworld, Die Fledermaus and Rigoletto at the Sydney Opera House
Sydney Opera House
The Sydney Opera House is a multi-venue performing arts centre in the Australian city of Sydney. It was conceived and largely built by Danish architect Jørn Utzon, finally opening in 1973 after a long gestation starting with his competition-winning design in 1957...
in 1975. In 1976 she decided to move back to Australia permanently.
In Australia she appeared in operas such as Il Seraglio and Maria Stuarda. She played operetta roles such as Josephine (H.M.S. Pinafore
H.M.S. Pinafore
H.M.S. Pinafore; or, The Lass That Loved a Sailor is a comic opera in two acts, with music by Arthur Sullivan and a libretto by W. S. Gilbert. It opened at the Opera Comique in London, England, on 25 May 1878 and ran for 571 performances, which was the second-longest run of any musical...
), Phyllis (Iolanthe
Iolanthe
Iolanthe; or, The Peer and the Peri is a comic opera with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert. It is one of the Savoy operas and is the seventh collaboration of the fourteen between Gilbert and Sullivan....
) and Ruth (The Pirates of Penzance
The Pirates of Penzance
The Pirates of Penzance; or, The Slave of Duty is a comic opera in two acts, with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert. The opera's official premiere was at the Fifth Avenue Theatre in New York City on 31 December 1879, where the show was well received by both audiences...
). She also essayed roles in The Maid of the Mountains
The Maid of the Mountains
The Maid of the Mountains, called in its original score a musical play, is an operetta or musical comedy in three acts. The music was by Harold Fraser-Simson, with additional music by James W...
, Call Me Madam, A Little Night Music
A Little Night Music
A Little Night Music is a musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and book by Hugh Wheeler. Inspired by the Ingmar Bergman film Smiles of a Summer Night, it involves the romantic lives of several couples. Its title is a literal English translation of the German name for Mozart's Serenade...
, Nunsense
Nunsense
Nunsense is a musical comedy with a book, music, and lyrics by Dan Goggin. Originating as a line of greeting cards, Goggin expanded the concept into a cabaret that ran for 38 weeks, and eventually into a full-length musical...
, My Fair Lady
My Fair Lady
My Fair Lady is a musical based upon George Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion and with book and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner and music by Frederick Loewe...
and How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying
How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying
How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying is a musical with music and lyrics by Frank Loesser and book by Abe Burrows, Jack Weinstock, and Willie Gilbert, based on Shepherd Mead's 1952 book of the same name....
, and starred in the straight plays Arsenic and Old Lace and Straight and Narrow.
Bronhill also appeared in the role of Mrs. Crawford in the television comedy series Are You Being Served?
Are You Being Served? (Australian TV series)
The Australian version of British sitcom Are You Being Served? was produced by Network Ten in 1980-1981. It ran for 16 episodes until 1981. The draw-card was the presence of actor John Inman reprising his role of Mr. Humphries from the original series...
, the Australian version of the British comedy series, as well as in Lipton Tea television advertisements (singing a commercialised adaption of Fugue for Tinhorns
Guys and Dolls
Guys and Dolls is a musical with music and lyrics by Frank Loesser and book by Jo Swerling and Abe Burrows. It is based on "The Idyll of Miss Sarah Brown" and "Blood Pressure", two short stories by Damon Runyon, and also borrows characters and plot elements from other Runyon stories, most notably...
)
Bronhill was a patron of the Australian Girls Choir
Australian Girls Choir
The Australian Girls Choir is a choir which is part of the Australian School of Performing Arts. It was founded in 1984 by Judith Curphey, OAM, and has since achieved recognition world wide, with many considering it to be the most accomplished girls' choir in Australia.-History:Founder and...
from the choir's beginning. There is a scholarship in her name, the June Bronhill Encouragement Scholarship, awarded each year to the chorister with the most choral prowess.
Personal life
June Bronhill married twice, first to Brian Martin, and second to Richard Finny. Both marriages ended in divorce. She had a daughter, Carolyn, by her second marriage.Death
She died on 24 January 2005, aged 75, in her sleep at a SydneySydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
nursing home. Her home town, Broken Hill, honoured her by declaring a minute's silence during the 2005 Australia Day
Australia Day
Australia Day is the official national day of Australia...
celebrations two days after her death.
Autobiography
In 1987 she published her autobiography, The Merry Bronhill, and EMI Australia produced a compilation disc with the same title to publicise the book.Honours
Bronhill was made an Officer of the Order of the British EmpireOrder of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
(OBE) in the New Year's Honours of 1977, and later given a Lifetime Achievement Award by the Australian Variety Club.
The Australian Girls Choir offer an encouragement scholarship in honour of June Bronhill to a Year 12 chorister each year.