Jeannette Sinclair

Last updated

Jeannette Sinclair
Born1928 (age 9596)
Camberwell

Jeannette Sinclair (born 1928) is an English soprano. She sang a variety of roles as a principal soprano at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden and at Glyndebourne Festival Opera, during the 1950s and 1960s. Her work for the BBC encompassed opera, oratorio and many recitals of lieder, English song and French chanson, light music and appearances at the BBC Henry Wood Promenade concerts, 1960–9.

Contents

Life and career

Born in Camberwell, London, UK on 11 April 1928, Jeannette Sinclair attended Mary Datchelor Girls' School. She studied at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and later at the Opera School with Joan Cross and privately with Helene Isepp.

Jeannette Sinclair made her debut in 1954 with Sadler's Wells as Cherubino in Le nozze di Figaro. Her Glyndebourne debut followed in 1955 as Barbarina in the Gui/Ebert production of Le nozze di Figaro. As a Principal soprano at Covent Garden 1954–66, her roles included: Micaela (cond. Gibson); Susanna (cond. Solti); Zerlina (Kempe); Marzelline (Fidelio cond. Klemperer, Leitner); Annchen (Der Freischütz cond. Kempe); Helena (Midsummer Night's Dream, Britten); Bella (Midsummer Marriage, Tippett); Sister Constance (Dialogue of the Carmelites, Poulenc, cond. Kubelik).

Appearances with other companies included Mimi (La Bohème) for Welsh National Opera, Handel's Susanna at the Göttingen Festival with Handel Opera and Eurydice in Milhaud's The Sorrows of Orpheus at the Camden Festival. She sang Belinda in Dido and Aeneas conducted by Britten, both at Drottningholm Palace in 1962 and in the later BBC recording.

BBC Studio opera broadcasts included Beatrice and Benedict, Berlioz; Fenemore and Gerda, Delius; Hugh the Drover, Vaughan Williams; Die Abreise, D'Albert. Performances of Gilbert and Sullivan included HMS Pinafore and, The Sorcerer.

BBC Television appearances included Anne Page in the Merry Wives of Windsor and Nella in Gianni Schicchi with Tito Gobbi.

Premieres

Sister Constance in the British premiere of The Dialogues of the Carmelites , Covent Garden, 1958, in the presence of François Poulenc.

World premiere of Scenes from Comus, Op 6, Hugh Wood, BBC Promenade Concert, 2 August 1965.

BBC Promenade Concerts premieres of Midsummer Marriage, Tippett, 7 August 1963; Dixit Dominus HWV 232, Handel, 18 September 1964; Moses und Aron, Schoenberg, 19 July 1965.

Recordings

Private life

Jeannette Sinclair married a chartered electrical engineer in 1954, with whom she had one son and one daughter; she has three grandchildren.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Janet Baker</span> English mezzo-soprano

Dame Janet Abbott Baker is an English mezzo-soprano best known as an opera, concert, and lieder singer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Frederica von Stade</span> American mezzo-soprano

Frederica von Stade is a semi-retired American classical singer. Best known for her work in opera, she was also a recitalist and concert artist, and she recorded more than a hundred albums and videos. She was especially associated with operas by Mozart and Rossini, and also with music by French and American composers, most notably Jake Heggie.

Heather Mary Harper was a Northern Irish operatic soprano. She was active internationally in both opera and concert. She performed roles such as Helena in Benjamin Britten's A Midsummer Night's Dream at the Royal Opera House, Elsa in Wagner's Lohengrin at the Bayreuth Festival, and the Countess in Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro at the Metropolitan Opera. She became known internationally when she stepped in for the world premiere of Britten's War Requiem in 1962, and remained associated with the composer's work, but also sang other premieres.

Joan Carlyle was a Welsh operatic soprano singer. She was born in Upton on the Wirral, Cheshire. After auditioning for the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, London, she was put under contract by the musical director Rafael Kubelík and made her debut in 1955, appearing also under him in The Magic Flute in 1956 and as Ascagne in Les Troyens.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Maria Ewing</span> American opera singer (1950–2022)

Maria Louise Ewing was an American opera singer. In the early part of her career she performed solely as a lyric mezzo-soprano; she later assumed full soprano parts as well. Her signature roles were Blanche, Carmen, Dorabella, Rosina and Salome. Some critics regarded her as one of the most compelling singing actresses of her generation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jane Berbié</span> French mezzo-soprano

Jane Berbié is a French mezzo-soprano particularly associated with Mozart and Rossini roles.

Susan Gritton is an English operatic soprano. She was the 1994 winner of the Kathleen Ferrier Award and has sung leading roles in a wide-ranging repertoire from Handel and Mozart to Britten, Janáček and Strauss.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sarah Connolly</span> English mezzo-soprano

Dame Sarah Patricia Connolly is an English mezzo-soprano. Although best known for her baroque and classical roles, Connolly has a wide-ranging repertoire which has included works by Wagner as well as various 20th-century composers. She was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2010 New Year Honours and a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) in the 2017 Birthday Honours for services to music.

Graeme Danby is an operatic bass who has performed at several of the world's leading opera houses, notably the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden and the English National Opera. He was educated at the Royal Academy of Music in London.

Rosemary Joshua is a Welsh soprano, particularly known for her performances in Handel's operas.

Monica Sinclair was a British operatic contralto, who sang many roles with the Royal Opera, Covent Garden during the 1950s and 1960s, and appeared on stage and in recordings with Dame Joan Sutherland, Luciano Pavarotti, Maria Callas, Sir Thomas Beecham, Sir Malcolm Sargent and many others. She had a great gift for comedy, and sang in recordings of many of the Gilbert and Sullivan operettas, as well as in recordings from the standard operatic repertory.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sophie Bevan</span> British singer

Sophie Anna Magdalena Bevan is a British soprano appearing in concerts, recitals, and opera.

Diana Montague is an English mezzo-soprano, known for her performances in opera and as a concert singer. She is Married to the English Tenor David Rendall

James Oldfield is an English bass-baritone. In 2008 he was awarded a Sybil Tutton Award from the Musicians Benevolent Fund, and in 2010 he was given the Leonard Ingrams Award from Garsington Opera.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ryland Davies</span> Welsh operatic tenor (1943–2023)

Ryland Davies was a Welsh operatic tenor who appeared internationally at leading opera houses and festivals. He focused on Mozart roles such as Belmonte in Die Entführung aus dem Serail, Ferrando in Così fan tutte and Tamino in Die Zauberflöte. He performed as Ferrando first with the Scottish Opera, then at the Glyndebourne Festival, and for his debuts at both the San Francisco Opera in 1970, and the Metropolitan Opera in 1975. His lyric tenor was also well suited to roles such as Rossini's Almaviva, Donizetti's Ernesto, Verdi's Fenton and Britten's Lysander. He later turned successfully to character roles, and performed at the Royal Opera House in London until 2015. He made many recordings, including videos of performances in Glyndebourne and at the Salzburg Festival. Parallel to his singing career, Davies was a voice teacher, from 1987 at the Royal Northern College of Music, also at the Royal College of Music, the Royal Academy of Music, and the Reina Sofía School of Music in Madrid.

Lisa Milne is a Scottish soprano described by the BBC as "one of RSAMD's best-known alumni", who was among the first artists to be invited to the BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artists scheme in 1999-2001.

Jacques Imbrailo is a South African classical baritone, who sings in operas and oratorios.

Patricia Johnson is an English operatic mezzo-soprano. She made an international career and is known for her dramatic voice and her stage presence. She appeared in leading roles of the repertory, such as Carmen and Eboli, and created new roles, such as the Baronin Grünwiesel in Henze's Der junge Lord, and the Princess in Nicolas Nabokov's Love's Labour's Lost.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Louise Kemény</span> British-Austrian soprano

Louise Kemény is a British-Austrian opera singer and concert soprano.

Lillian Watson, born 4 December 1947 in London, is a soprano whose international career on the concert stage and in the opera house took her to theatres and venues around the UK and throughout Europe; she also made a number of recordings of parts of her repertoire and appeared on film.

References