Janis Kelly (born 30 December 1954) is a Scottish operatic soprano and voice teacher. She is Professor and Chair of Vocal Performance at the Royal College of Music in London. [1]
Kelly was born in Glasgow, Scotland. She studied at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music & Drama and the Royal College of Music. Following this, she studied under Elisabeth Grümmer in Paris. [2]
Operatic appearances Kelly has performed with the English National Opera for over 30 years. Her roles at the ENO have included Marcellina in Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro and Mrs Grose in Britten's The Turn of the Screw . [3] In 2009 she starred as Régine Saint Laurent in the premiere of Prima Donna , written by Rufus Wainwright. Reviewing the performance in The Telegraph , Rupert Christiansen described Kelly as an 'amazing chameleon'. [4] She appeared as Pat Nixon in John Adams' Nixon in China at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City in 2011. The New York Times described her performance as "wonderful". [5]
Film, television and records Kelly's recording of Verdi's La traviata was featured in the 2005 Woody Allen film Match Point . [6] Recordings by Kelly including a performance of the aria Senza Mamma from Puccini's Suor Angelica appeared on the British ITV television series Inspector Morse . She also sang the two songs for Ophelia in the incidental music to Tchaikovsky's Hamlet recorded for Chandos Records in 1981, with Geoffrey Simon conducting the London Symphony Orchestra.
Dame Nellie Melba was an Australian operatic lyric coloratura soprano. She became one of the most famous singers of the late Victorian era and the early 20th century, and was the first Australian to achieve international recognition as a classical musician. She took the pseudonym "Melba" from Melbourne, her home town.
Angela Gheorghiu is a Romanian soprano, especially known for her performances in the operas of Puccini and Verdi.
Dame Olga Maria Elisabeth Friederike Schwarzkopf, was a German-born Austro-British lyric soprano. She was among the foremost singers of lieder, and is renowned for her performances of Viennese operetta, as well as the operas of Mozart, Wagner and Richard Strauss. After retiring from the stage, she was a voice teacher internationally. She is considered one of the greatest sopranos of the 20th century.
Lesley Garrett, CBE is an English soprano singer, musician, broadcaster and media personality. She is noted for being at home in opera and "crossover music".
Paul Daniel is an English conductor.
Philip Gordon Langridge was an English tenor, considered to be among the foremost exponents of English opera and oratorio.
Danielle de Niese is an Australian-American lyric soprano. After success as a young child in singing competitions in Australia, she moved to the United States where she developed her operatic career. From 2005 she came to widespread public attention with her performances as Cleopatra in Giulio Cesare at Glyndebourne Festival Opera, England.
Kate Royal is an English lyric soprano.
Prima Donna is an opera in two acts with music by Rufus Wainwright to a French language libretto by Wainwright and Bernadette Colomine. The opera premiered at the Palace Theatre, Manchester, on 10 July 2009 at the Manchester International Festival.
Eva-Maria Westbroek is a Dutch soprano opera singer.
Anna Christy is an American soprano opera singer. She studied at Rice University's Shepherd School of Music and University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music and made her debut in 2000 at New York City Opera as Papagena.
Odaline de la Martinez is a Cuban-American composer and conductor, currently residing in the UK. She is the artistic director of Lontano, a London-based contemporary music ensemble which she co-founded in 1976 with New Zealander flautist Ingrid Culliford, and was the first woman to conduct at the BBC Promenade Concerts in 1984. As well as frequent appearances as a guest conductor with leading orchestras throughout Great Britain, including all the BBC orchestras, she has conducted several leading ensembles around the world, including the Ensemble 2e2m in Paris; the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra; the Australian Youth Orchestra; the OFUNAM and the Camerata of the Americas in Mexico; and the Vancouver Chamber Orchestra. She is also known as a broadcaster for BBC Radio and Television and has recorded extensively for several labels.
Liudmyla Viktorivna Monastyrska is a Ukrainian spinto soprano.
Elena Langer is a Russian-born British composer of opera and other contemporary classical music. Her work has been performed at the Royal Opera House, Zurich Opera, Carnegie Hall, Richard B. Fisher Center for the Performing Arts, Stanislavski and Nemirovich-Danchenko Moscow Academic Music Theatre, Shakespeare's Globe, Wigmore Hall, Opera national du Rhin, Strasbourg, and Milton Court, Barbican Centre. She studied piano and composition at the Gnessin State Musical College in Moscow and composition at the Moscow Conservatoire; in 1999 she moved to London and studied composition at the Royal College of Music (1999–2000) with Julian Anderson and the Royal Academy of Music (2001–03) with Simon Bainbridge.
Elizabeth Lorraine Llewellyn is an English opera singer who debuted with the English National Opera in 2010. She was named the "Best newcomer" in 2010 by The Daily Telegraph for her performance as Mimi in Giacomo Puccini's La bohème, and according to Mary Ann Sieghart of the BBC is "set to become one of the great stars of opera."
Yang Guang (杨光), often referred to in western order as Guang Yang, is a Chinese mezzo-soprano. She won the BBC Cardiff Singer of the World competition in 1997, and the 2001 Operalia Competition. She attended the summer conservatory program of the Music Academy of the West in 2001. She studied at The Juilliard School with Cynthia Hoffmann.
Donald Maxwell is a Scottish operatic baritone, director and teacher. He has sung with all of the leading British opera companies, as well as La Scala, Milan, Metropolitan Opera, Paris Opéra, Vienna Staatsoper, Teatro Colon, Buenos Aires and Théâtre Musical de Paris, among others. He has also sung on the concert stage, in performances broadcast on radio and television, and on recordings.
Lucy Mary Elizabeth Crowe is an English soprano in opera and concert. She has performed at international opera houses and music festivals such as the Glyndebourne Festival and Rheingau Musik Festival.
Tara Erraught is an Irish mezzo-soprano, a graduate of the Royal Irish Academy of Music (RIAM).
Soraya Mafi is an operatic soprano and recording artist who has sung leading roles in the opera houses and concert halls of Europe and North America. Mafi's performances have been broadcast live on radio, television, and in cinema. She has performed at international festivals and sports events and was nominated for Young Singer of the Year at the International Opera Awards in 2019. She is an inaugural Honorary Associate Artist of the Royal Northern College of Music.