Rosalind Plowright
Encyclopedia
Rosalind Anne Plowright OBE (born 21 May 1949) is an English opera
singer who spent much of her career as a soprano
but in 1999 changed to the mezzo-soprano
range.
and studied at the Royal Northern College of Music
in Manchester
and at the London Opera Centre
.
in 1975 as Agathe in Der Freischütz
. She sang Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni
and the Countess in The Marriage of Figaro
with the Glyndebourne Touring Opera in 1976 and 1977. Also in 1975, she appeared with both Welsh National Opera
and English National Opera
as the Page in Salome
. She then appeared with ENO in the roles of Tosca
, Elisabeth de Valois in Don Carlos
, Miss Jessel in The Turn of the Screw
, Hélène in Verdi's Les vêpres siciliennes
, and Elizabeth I in Donizetti's Maria Stuarda
. Her recording of the last of these roles, with Janet Baker
as Mary, Queen of Scots, brought her wider recognition. Plowright also appeared with Kent Opera
She earned good notices in 1979 for her Fennimore in Delius
' Fennimore and Gerda at London's Camden Festival.
, Aida in Frankfurt
, Ariadne in Berne
and Ortlinde at the Royal Opera House
. Her American debut was at San Diego as Medora in the United States premiere of Verdi's Il corsaro
. Her debut at La Scala came in 1983 when she sang Suor Angelica.
Since then, she has performed in major opera house
s and companies around the world including Covent Garden, Hamburg (from 1982), Madrid (from 1982), Verona (from 1985), the Paris Opera (from 1987), Frankfurt, Munich, Berlin, Vienna State Opera
, Athens, Rome (from 1990), The Metropolitan Opera, San Francisco Opera
, Arena di Verona, Florence, La Fenice
Venice
, the Liceu Barcelona
, Teatro Colón Buenos Aires
and Municipal Theater of Santiago
.
With José Carreras
, she sang Andrea Chénier
at Covent Garden and recorded La forza del destino
for Deutsche Grammophon
. With Plácido Domingo
she has performed Il trovatore
at Covent Garden. With Luciano Pavarotti
she performed Aida
at Covent Garden and a gala concert for 25,000 at the Arena of Verona. She sang Cherubini's Medea in a number of venues and countries.
Among the many conductors with whom she has worked are Carlo Maria Giulini
, Riccardo Muti
, Claudio Abbado
, Zubin Mehta
, Giuseppe Sinopoli
, Wolfgang Sawallisch
, Bernard Haitink
, Antonio Pappano
, Michael Gielen
, Sylvain Cambreling
, Semyon Bychkov
, Seiji Ozawa
, Mark Elder
, Roger Norrington
and Giuseppe Patanè
. She also gave recitals with the late Geoffrey Parsons in over 20 international festivals.
As an actress Rosalind Plowright has appeared as Grace Vosper in the BBC
series The House of Eliott
and with Anglia Television
the part of Hermione Harefield in their adaptation of the Jilly Cooper
novel The Man Who Made Husbands Jealous. As a theatre artist, Plowright has appeared in the new musical comedy Two's a Crowd.
In the 2007-8 season Rosalind Plowright returned to Covent Garden as Fricka in the Ring
, appeared at the Metropolitan Opera as Gertrude in Hänsel und Gretel and at the Paris Opera as the Mother in Il prigioniero
.
In 2010-11 season Rosalind Plowright added the roles of Mme de Croissy in Dialogues des Carmelites and La Contessa de Coigny and Maddelon in Andrea Chenier
in Stuttgart and in the Bregenz Festival. In 2011-12 season Rosalind Plowright adds the roles of Mila's Mother in Osud
in Stuttgart and Herodias Salome
at Covent Garden.
list for services to music.
She won 1st Prize in the 7th International Singing Competition, Sofia and a SWET (now Lawrence Olivier) award in 1979. She was awarded the Prix Fondation Fanny Heldy
for her performance as Leonora in the 1984 recording of Verdi's Il trovatore with Domingo, Brigitte Fassbaender
, Giorgio Zancanaro
, Yevgeny Nesterenko
and the Choir and Orchestra dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia
under Carlo Maria Giulini. (Deutsche Grammophon code 423-858-2.) Also in 1984 she was nominated for her 2nd Lawrence Olivier award. In 2007 a Grammy for the role of Gertrude in the Chandos recording on Hansel and Gretel
, Otello
, Aida
and Hänsel und Gretel
, all for the Opera in English series for Chandos Records
, Elijah
also for Chandos, La vestale
for Orfeo, Les contes d'Hoffmann
for EMI
, and Il trovatore
, La forza del destino
and Mahler
's 2nd Symphony
for Deutsche Grammophon.
, Il trittico
from La Scala, Milan. Leonora Il trovatore
from L'Arena di Verona.
Gertrude Hänsel und Gretel from The Metropolitan Opera, La Contessa di Coigny / Madelon Andrea Chenier
from the Bregenz Festival
Opera
Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
singer who spent much of her career as a 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...
but in 1999 changed to the mezzo-soprano
Mezzo-soprano
A mezzo-soprano is a type of classical female singing voice whose range lies between the soprano and the contralto singing voices, usually extending from the A below middle C to the A two octaves above...
range.
Life and career
Rosalind Plowright was born in WorksopWorksop
Worksop is the largest town in the Bassetlaw district of Nottinghamshire, England on the River Ryton at the northern edge of Sherwood Forest. It is about east-south-east of the City of Sheffield and its population is estimated to be 39,800...
and studied at the Royal Northern College of Music
Royal Northern College of Music
The Royal Northern College of Music is a music school in Manchester, England. It is located on Oxford Road in Chorlton on Medlock, at the western edge of the campus of the University of Manchester and is one of four conservatories associated with the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music...
in Manchester
Manchester
Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...
and at the London Opera Centre
London Opera Centre
The London Opera Centre, a school for the training of opera singers and other opera professionals, existed in England between 1963 and 1977. It was located in the former Troxy Cinema on Commercial Road in London's East End Borough of Stepney . The Troxy, with 3,520 seats, opened in 1933 and was...
.
Early career
Plowright made her professional debut with Glyndebourne Touring OperaGlyndebourne Festival Opera
Glyndebourne Festival Opera is an English opera festival held at Glyndebourne, an English country house near Lewes, in East Sussex, England.-History:...
in 1975 as Agathe in Der Freischütz
Der Freischütz
Der Freischütz is an opera in three acts by Carl Maria von Weber with a libretto by Friedrich Kind. It premiered on 18 June 1821 at the Schauspielhaus Berlin...
. She sang Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni
Don Giovanni
Don Giovanni is an opera in two acts with music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and with an Italian libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte. It was premiered by the Prague Italian opera at the Teatro di Praga on October 29, 1787...
and the Countess in 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...
with the Glyndebourne Touring Opera in 1976 and 1977. Also in 1975, she appeared with both Welsh National Opera
Welsh National Opera
Welsh National Opera is an opera company founded in Cardiff, Wales in 1943. The WNO tours Wales, the United Kingdom and the rest of the world extensively. Annually, it gives more than 120 performances of eight main stage operas to a combined audience of around 150,000 people...
and 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...
as the Page in Salome
Salome (opera)
Salome is an opera in one act by Richard Strauss to a German libretto by the composer, based on Hedwig Lachmann’s German translation of the French play Salomé by Oscar Wilde. Strauss dedicated the opera to his friend Sir Edgar Speyer....
. She then appeared with ENO in the roles of Tosca
Tosca
Tosca is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa. It premiered at the Teatro Costanzi in Rome on 14 January 1900...
, Elisabeth de Valois in Don Carlos
Don Carlos
Don Carlos is a five-act grand opera composed by Giuseppe Verdi to a French language libretto by Camille du Locle and Joseph Méry, based on the dramatic play Don Carlos, Infant von Spanien by Friedrich Schiller...
, Miss Jessel in The Turn of the Screw
The Turn of the Screw (opera)
The Turn of the Screw is a 20th century English chamber opera composed by Benjamin Britten with a libretto by Myfanwy Piper, "wife of the artist John Piper, who had been a friend of the composer since 1935 and had provided designs for several of the operas". The libretto is based on the novella...
, Hélène in Verdi's Les vêpres siciliennes
Les vêpres siciliennes
Les vêpres siciliennes is an opéra in five acts by the Italian romantic composer Giuseppe Verdi set to a French libretto by Charles Duveyrier and Eugène Scribe from their work Le duc d'Albe, which was written in 1838 and offered to Halevy and Donizetti before Verdi...
, and Elizabeth I in Donizetti's Maria Stuarda
Maria Stuarda
Maria Stuarda is a tragic opera, , in two acts, by Gaetano Donizetti, to a libretto by Giuseppe Bardari, based on Friedrich Schiller's 1800 play Maria Stuart....
. Her recording of the last of these roles, with Janet Baker
Janet Baker
Dame Janet Abbott Baker, CH, DBE, FRSA is an English mezzo-soprano best known as an opera, concert, and lieder singer.She was particularly closely associated with baroque and early Italian opera and the works of Benjamin Britten...
as Mary, Queen of Scots, brought her wider recognition. Plowright also appeared with Kent Opera
Kent Opera
Kent Opera was a British opera company in the period 1969-1989. Based in Ashford, England the Company presented its productions in several centres mainly in the southern part of England. These included The Orchard Theatre, Dartford, the Assembly Halls, Tunbridge Wells, Marlowe Theatre, Canterbury,...
She earned good notices in 1979 for her Fennimore in Delius
Delius
Delius is a surname. It may refer to:* Ernst von Delius - German racing car driver* Frederick Delius - English composer* Nicolaus Delius - German philologist* Tobias Delius Delius is a surname. It may refer to:* Ernst von Delius (1912–1937) - German racing car driver* Frederick Delius...
' Fennimore and Gerda at London's Camden Festival.
International career
In 1980, Plowright sang Manon Lescaut at Torre del LagoFestival Puccini
The Festival Puccini is an annual summer opera festival held in July and August to present the operas of the famous Italian composer Giacomo Puccini....
, Aida in Frankfurt
Frankfurt
Frankfurt am Main , commonly known simply as Frankfurt, is the largest city in the German state of Hesse and the fifth-largest city in Germany, with a 2010 population of 688,249. The urban area had an estimated population of 2,300,000 in 2010...
, Ariadne in Berne
Berne
The city of Bern or Berne is the Bundesstadt of Switzerland, and, with a population of , the fourth most populous city in Switzerland. The Bern agglomeration, which includes 43 municipalities, has a population of 349,000. The metropolitan area had a population of 660,000 in 2000...
and Ortlinde 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...
. Her American debut was at San Diego as Medora in the United States premiere of Verdi's Il corsaro
Il corsaro
Il corsaro is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi, from a libretto by Francesco Maria Piave, based on Lord Byron's poem The Corsair...
. Her debut at La Scala came in 1983 when she sang Suor Angelica.
Since then, she has performed in major opera house
Opera house
An opera house is a theatre building used for opera performances that consists of a stage, an orchestra pit, audience seating, and backstage facilities for costumes and set building...
s and companies around the world including Covent Garden, Hamburg (from 1982), Madrid (from 1982), Verona (from 1985), the Paris Opera (from 1987), Frankfurt, Munich, Berlin, Vienna State Opera
Vienna State Opera
The Vienna State Opera is an opera house – and opera company – with a history dating back to the mid-19th century. It is located in the centre of Vienna, Austria. It was originally called the Vienna Court Opera . In 1920, with the replacement of the Habsburg Monarchy by the First Austrian...
, Athens, Rome (from 1990), The Metropolitan Opera, San Francisco Opera
San Francisco Opera
San Francisco Opera is an American opera company, based in San Francisco, California.It was founded in 1923 by Gaetano Merola and is the second largest opera company in North America...
, Arena di Verona, Florence, La Fenice
La Fenice
Teatro La Fenice is an opera house in Venice, Italy. It is one of the most famous theatres in Europe, the site of many famous operatic premieres. Its name reflects its role in permitting an opera company to "rise from the ashes" despite losing the use of two theatres...
Venice
Venice
Venice is a city in northern Italy which is renowned for the beauty of its setting, its architecture and its artworks. It is the capital of the Veneto region...
, the Liceu Barcelona
Barcelona
Barcelona is the second largest city in Spain after Madrid, and the capital of Catalonia, with a population of 1,621,537 within its administrative limits on a land area of...
, Teatro Colón Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires is the capital and largest city of Argentina, and the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the western shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent...
and Municipal Theater of Santiago
Municipal Theater of Santiago
The Teatro Municipal is the most important stage theatre and opera house in Santiago, Chile.-History and overview:The Chilean government ceded a significant parcel of land in downtown Santiago to the municipality, in 1848, and an 1853 decree by President Manuel Montt Torres provided for the...
.
With José Carreras
José Carreras
Josep Maria Carreras i Coll , better known as José Carreras , is a Spanish Catalan tenor particularly known for his performances in the operas of Verdi and Puccini...
, she sang Andrea Chénier
Andrea Chénier
Andrea Chénier is a verismo opera in four acts by the composer Umberto Giordano, set to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica. It is based loosely on the life of the French poet, André Chénier , who was executed during the French Revolution....
at Covent Garden and recorded La forza del destino
La forza del destino
La forza del destino is an Italian opera by Giuseppe Verdi. The libretto was written by Francesco Maria Piave based on a Spanish drama, Don Álvaro o la fuerza del sino , by Ángel de Saavedra, Duke of Rivas, with a scene adapted from Friedrich Schiller's Wallensteins Lager. It was first performed...
for Deutsche Grammophon
Deutsche Grammophon
Deutsche Grammophon is a German classical record label which was the foundation of the future corporation to be known as PolyGram. It is now part of Universal Music Group since its acquisition and absorption of PolyGram in 1999, and it is also UMG's oldest active label...
. With Plácido Domingo
Plácido Domingo
Plácido Domingo KBE , born José Plácido Domingo Embil, is a Spanish tenor and conductor known for his versatile and strong voice, possessing a ringing and dramatic tone throughout its range...
she has performed Il trovatore
Il trovatore
Il trovatore is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Salvadore Cammarano, based on the play El Trovador by Antonio García Gutiérrez. Cammarano died in mid-1852 before completing the libretto...
at Covent Garden. With Luciano Pavarotti
Luciano Pavarotti
right|thumb|Luciano Pavarotti performing at the opening of the Constantine Palace in [[Strelna]], 31 May 2003. The concert was part of the celebrations for the 300th anniversary of [[St...
she performed 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...
at Covent Garden and a gala concert for 25,000 at the Arena of Verona. She sang Cherubini's Medea in a number of venues and countries.
Among the many conductors with whom she has worked are Carlo Maria Giulini
Carlo Maria Giulini
Carlo Maria Giulini was an Italian conductor.-Biography:Giulini was born in Barletta, Italy, to a father born in Lombardy and a mother born in Naples; but he was raised in Bolzano, which at the time of his birth was part of Austria...
, Riccardo Muti
Riccardo Muti
Riccardo Muti, Cavaliere di Gran Croce OMRI is an Italian conductor and music director of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.-Childhood and education:...
, Claudio Abbado
Claudio Abbado
Claudio Abbado, Cavaliere di Gran Croce OMRI , is an Italian conductor. He has served as music director of the La Scala opera house in Milan, principal conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra, principal guest conductor of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, music director of the Vienna State Opera,...
, Zubin Mehta
Zubin Mehta
Zubin Mehta is an Indian conductor of western classical music. He is the Music Director for Life of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra.-Biography:...
, Giuseppe Sinopoli
Giuseppe Sinopoli
-Biography:Sinopoli was born in Venice, Italy, and later studied at the Benedetto Marcello Conservatory in Venice under Ernesto Rubin de Cervin and at Darmstadt, including being mentored in composition with Karlheinz Stockhausen...
, Wolfgang Sawallisch
Wolfgang Sawallisch
Wolfgang Sawallisch is a retired German conductor and pianist.-Biography:Sawallisch was born in Munich, and studied composition and pianoforte there privately: at the conclusion of the war, in 1946 he continued his studies at the Munich High School for Music and passed his final examination for...
, Bernard Haitink
Bernard Haitink
Bernard Johan Herman Haitink, CH, KBE is a Dutch conductor and violinist.- Early life :Haitink was born in Amsterdam, the son of Willem Haitink and Anna Haitink. He studied music at the conservatoire in Amsterdam...
, Antonio Pappano
Antonio Pappano
Antonio Pappano is a British conductor and pianist of Italian parentage.Pappano's family relocated to England from Castelfranco in Miscano near Benevento, Italy in 1958 and at the time of his birth his parents worked in the restaurant business, but Pasquale Pappano, his father, was by vocation a...
, Michael Gielen
Michael Gielen
-Professional career:Gielen was born in Dresden, Germany, to opera director Josef Gielen. Through his mother, Rose, he is the nephew of Eduard Steuermann and Salka Steuermann Viertel. He began his career as a pianist in Buenos Aires, where he studied with Erwin Leuchter and gave an early...
, Sylvain Cambreling
Sylvain Cambreling
Sylvain Cambreling is a French conductor. Trained as a trombone player, he studied at the Paris Conservatoire. He joined l'Orchestre Symphonique de Lyon as a trombonist in 1971. In 1974, he took second prize in the International Besançon Competition for Young Conductors...
, Semyon Bychkov
Semyon Bychkov
Semyon Mayevich Bychkov is a Russian-Born conductor.-Childhood and studies in Russia:Born in Leningrad to Jewish parents, Bychkov studied at the Glinka Choir School for ten years and later at the Leningrad Conservatory with Ilya Musin...
, Seiji Ozawa
Seiji Ozawa
is a Japanese conductor, particularly noted for his interpretations of large-scale late Romantic works. He is most known for his work as music director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra and principal conductor of the Vienna State Opera.-Early years:...
, Mark Elder
Mark Elder
Sir Mark Philip Elder, CBE is a British conductor. He is the music director of the Hallé Orchestra in Manchester, England.-Biography:Elder was born in Hexham, Northumberland, England, the son of a dentist...
, Roger Norrington
Roger Norrington
Sir Roger Arthur Carver Norrington, CBE is a British conductor. He is the son of Sir Arthur Norrington and his brother is Humphrey Thomas Norrington....
and Giuseppe Patanè
Giuseppe Patanè
Giuseppe Patanè was an Italian opera conductor.Giuseppe Patané was born in Naples, the son of the conductor Franco Patanè , and studied in his native city. He made his debut there in 1951. He was principal conductor at the Linz opera from 1961–1962...
. She also gave recitals with the late Geoffrey Parsons in over 20 international festivals.
As an actress Rosalind Plowright has appeared as Grace Vosper in the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
series The House of Eliott
The House of Eliott
The House of Eliott is a British television series produced and broadcast by the BBC in three series between 1991 and 1994. The series starred Stella Gonet and Louise Lombard as two sisters in 1920s London who establish a dressmaking business and eventually their own haute couture fashion house...
and with Anglia Television
Anglia Television
Anglia Television is the ITV franchise holder for the East Anglia franchise region. Although Anglia Television takes its name from East Anglia, its transmission coverage extends beyond the generally accepted boundaries of that region. The station is based at Anglia House in Norwich, with regional...
the part of Hermione Harefield in their adaptation of the Jilly Cooper
Jilly Cooper
Jilly Cooper OBE is an English author. She started her career as a journalist and wrote numerous works of non-fiction before writing several romance novels, the first of which appeared in 1975. She is most famous for writing the Rutshire Chronicles.-Early life:Jilly Sallitt was born in Hornchurch,...
novel The Man Who Made Husbands Jealous. As a theatre artist, Plowright has appeared in the new musical comedy Two's a Crowd.
In the 2007-8 season Rosalind Plowright returned to Covent Garden as Fricka in the Ring
Der Ring des Nibelungen
Der Ring des Nibelungen is a cycle of four epic operas by the German composer Richard Wagner . The works are based loosely on characters from the Norse sagas and the Nibelungenlied...
, appeared at the Metropolitan Opera as Gertrude in Hänsel und Gretel and at the Paris Opera as the Mother in Il prigioniero
Il prigioniero
Il prigioniero is an opera in a prologue and one act, with music and libretto by Luigi Dallapiccola. The opera was first broadcast by the Italian radio station RAI on 1 December 1949...
.
In 2010-11 season Rosalind Plowright added the roles of Mme de Croissy in Dialogues des Carmelites and La Contessa de Coigny and Maddelon in Andrea Chenier
Andrea Chénier
Andrea Chénier is a verismo opera in four acts by the composer Umberto Giordano, set to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica. It is based loosely on the life of the French poet, André Chénier , who was executed during the French Revolution....
in Stuttgart and in the Bregenz Festival. In 2011-12 season Rosalind Plowright adds the roles of Mila's Mother in Osud
Destiny (Janácek)
Destiny is an opera in three acts by Leoš Janáček to a Czech libretto by the composer and Fedora Bartošová. Janáček began the work in 1903 and completed it in 1907. The inspiration for the opera came from a visit by Janáček in the summer of 1903, after the death of his daughter Olga, to the spa...
in Stuttgart and Herodias Salome
Salome
Salome , the Daughter of Herodias , is known from the New Testament...
at Covent Garden.
Awards
Rosalind Plowright was awarded an OBE in the 2007 Queen's Birthday HonoursQueen's Birthday Honours
The Queen's Birthday Honours is a part of the British honours system, being a civic occasion on the celebration of the Queen's Official Birthday in which new members of most Commonwealth Realms honours are named. The awards are presented by the reigning monarch or head of state, currently Queen...
list for services to music.
She won 1st Prize in the 7th International Singing Competition, Sofia and a SWET (now Lawrence Olivier) award in 1979. She was awarded the Prix Fondation Fanny Heldy
Fanny Heldy
Fanny Heldy was a lyric soprano opera singer.Born Marguerite Virginie Emma Clémentine Deceuninck in Ath , Hainaut, Belgium. she graduated from the Liége Conservatoire. Heldy made her professional debut as a substitute in the premiere of Ivan the Terrible, by Raoul Gunsbourg...
for her performance as Leonora in the 1984 recording of Verdi's Il trovatore with Domingo, Brigitte Fassbaender
Brigitte Fassbaender
Brigitte Fassbaender , is a mezzo-soprano opera singer, a stage director and since 1997 Intendant of the Tiroler Landestheater in Innsbruck, Austria...
, Giorgio Zancanaro
Giorgio Zancanaro
Giorgio Zancanaro is an Italian baritone, particularly associated with the Italian repertory, especially Verdi.He studied in his native Verona with Maria Palanda, and was revealed at the Verdi Competition in Busseto in 1969. He made his official operatic debut the following year in Mantua, as...
, Yevgeny Nesterenko
Yevgeny Nesterenko
Yevgeny Nesterenko is a renowned Russian operatic bass.Nesterenko's first profession was architecture, graduating from the Engineering and Construction Institute in Leningrad. But he was called to music, and he studied under Vasily Lukanin at the Leningrad Conservatory...
and the Choir and Orchestra dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia
Orchestra dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia
The Orchestra dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia is one of the best-known orchestras in Italy. It is based at the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome. At various times it has been known as the Symphony Orchestra of the Augusteo and Orchestra dell'Accademia di Santa Cecilia and the...
under Carlo Maria Giulini. (Deutsche Grammophon code 423-858-2.) Also in 1984 she was nominated for her 2nd Lawrence Olivier award. In 2007 a Grammy for the role of Gertrude in the Chandos recording on Hansel and Gretel
Hansel and Gretel
"Hansel and Gretel" is a well-known fairy tale of German origin, recorded by the Brothers Grimm and published in 1812. Hansel and Gretel are a young brother and sister threatened by a cannibalistic hag living deep in the forest in a house constructed of cake and confectionery. The two children...
Other recordings
Other recordings include Maria StuardaMaria Stuarda
Maria Stuarda is a tragic opera, , in two acts, by Gaetano Donizetti, to a libretto by Giuseppe Bardari, based on Friedrich Schiller's 1800 play Maria Stuart....
, Otello
Otello
Otello is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Arrigo Boito, based on Shakespeare's play Othello. It was Verdi's penultimate opera, and was first performed at the Teatro alla Scala, Milan, on February 5, 1887....
, 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...
and Hänsel und Gretel
Hänsel und Gretel
Hansel and Gretel is an opera by nineteenth-century composer Engelbert Humperdinck, who described it as a Märchenoper . The libretto was written by Humperdinck's sister, Adelheid Wette, based on the Grimm brothers' fairy tale "Hansel and Gretel"...
, all for the Opera in English series for Chandos Records
Chandos Records
Chandos Records is an independent classical music recording company based in Colchester, Essex, in the United Kingdom, founded in 1979 by Brian Couzens.- Background :...
, 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....
also for Chandos, La vestale
La vestale
La vestale is an opera composed by Gaspare Spontini to a French libretto by Etienne de Jouy. It was first performed at the Paris Opéra in Paris on December 15, 1807 and is regarded as Spontini's masterpiece...
for Orfeo, Les contes d'Hoffmann
Les contes d'Hoffmann
Les contes d'Hoffmann is an opéra by Jacques Offenbach. The French libretto was written by Jules Barbier, based on short stories by E. T. A...
for EMI
EMI
The EMI Group, also known as EMI Music or simply EMI, is a multinational music company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the fourth-largest business group and family of record labels in the recording industry and one of the "big four" record companies. EMI Group also has a major...
, and Il trovatore
Il trovatore
Il trovatore is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Salvadore Cammarano, based on the play El Trovador by Antonio García Gutiérrez. Cammarano died in mid-1852 before completing the libretto...
, La forza del destino
La forza del destino
La forza del destino is an Italian opera by Giuseppe Verdi. The libretto was written by Francesco Maria Piave based on a Spanish drama, Don Álvaro o la fuerza del sino , by Ángel de Saavedra, Duke of Rivas, with a scene adapted from Friedrich Schiller's Wallensteins Lager. It was first performed...
and 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 2nd Symphony
Symphony No. 2 (Mahler)
The Symphony No. 2 by Gustav Mahler, known as the Resurrection, was written between 1888 and 1894, and first performed in 1895. Apart from the Eighth Symphony, this symphony was Mahler's most popular and successful work during his lifetime. It is his first major work that would eventually mark his...
for Deutsche Grammophon.
Video recordings
Suor Angelica Suor AngelicaSuor Angelica
Suor Angelica is an opera in one act by Giacomo Puccini to an original Italian libretto by Giovacchino Forzano. It is the second opera of the trio of operas known as Il trittico...
, Il trittico
Il trittico
Il trittico is the title of a collection of three one-act operas, Il tabarro, Suor Angelica, and Gianni Schicchi, by Giacomo Puccini...
from La Scala, Milan. Leonora Il trovatore
Il trovatore
Il trovatore is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Salvadore Cammarano, based on the play El Trovador by Antonio García Gutiérrez. Cammarano died in mid-1852 before completing the libretto...
from L'Arena di Verona.
Gertrude Hänsel und Gretel from The Metropolitan Opera, La Contessa di Coigny / Madelon Andrea Chenier
Andrea Chénier
Andrea Chénier is a verismo opera in four acts by the composer Umberto Giordano, set to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica. It is based loosely on the life of the French poet, André Chénier , who was executed during the French Revolution....
from the Bregenz Festival
Sources
- The Oxford Dictionary of Opera, by John WarrackJohn WarrackJohn Warrack is an English music critic, writer on music, and oboist. He is the son of Scottish conductor and composer Guy Warrack. From 1954–1961 he was music critic for The Daily Telegraph, and from 1961–1972 he was music critic for The Sunday Telegraph. From 1978–1983 he served as the Artistic...
and Ewan West (1992), 782 pages, ISBN 0-19-869164-5 - New Grove Dictionary of OperaNew Grove Dictionary of OperaThe New Grove Dictionary of Opera is an encyclopedia of opera, considered to be one of the best general reference sources on the subject. It is the largest work on opera in English, and in its printed form, amounts to 5,448 pages in four volumes....
(1992), article by Elizabeth Forbes, vol 3, p. 1037 - Who's Who in British Opera ed. Nicky Adam (Scolar Press, 1993) ISBN 0 859 67 894 6
- J Anthony Kaye Husband and Manager