Lilian Sukis (born 29 June 1939, Kaunas) is a Canadian operatic soprano of Lithuanian birth. Her family moved first to Germany during World War II, and then to Canada in 1950. She earned a BA from McMaster University and a diploma from the University of Toronto, and made her professional opera debut in 1964 as Kate Pinkerton in Giacomo Puccini's Madama Butterfly with the Canadian Opera Company. In 1965 she sang the role of Countess Almaviva in Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro at the Stratford Festival. That same year she became a pupil at the Metropolitan Opera Studio and School. She made her debut at the Met in 1966 in Parsifal . In 1969 she became a member of the Bavarian State Opera where she remained for more than 20 years. She has also appeared as a guest artist with several major opera houses and opera festivals internationally, including the Bayreuth Festival, the Frankfurt Opera, Graz, the Hamburg State Opera, the Salzburg Festival, and the Vienna State Opera among others. [1]
Kathleen Deanna Battle is an American operatic soprano known for her distinctive vocal range and tone. Born in Portsmouth, Ohio, Battle initially became known for her work within the concert repertoire through performances with major orchestras during the early and mid-1970s. She made her opera debut in 1975. Battle expanded her repertoire into lyric soprano and coloratura soprano roles during the 1980s and early 1990s, until her eventual dismissal from the Metropolitan Opera in 1994. She later has focused on recording and the concert stage. After a 22-year absence from the Met, Battle performed a concert of spirituals at the Metropolitan Opera House in November 2016.
Cecilia BartoliOMRI is an Italian coloratura mezzo-soprano opera singer and recitalist. She is best known for her interpretations of the music of Bellini, Handel, Mozart, Rossini and Vivaldi, as well as for her performances of lesser-known music from the Baroque and Classical period. She is known for singing both soprano and mezzo roles.
Teresa Stratas is an operatic soprano and actress from Canada of Greek descent. She is especially well known for her award-winning recording of Alban Berg's Lulu. She has now formally retired.
Phyllis Curtin was an American soprano and academic teacher who had an active career in operas and concerts from the early 1950s through the 1980s. She is known for her creation of roles in operas by Carlisle Floyd, such as the title role in Susannah and Catherine Earnshaw in Wuthering Heights. She was a dedicated song recitalist, who retired from singing in 1984. She was named Boston University's Dean Emerita, College of Fine Arts in 1991.
Lilian Mary Baylis CH was an English theatrical producer and manager. She managed the Old Vic and Sadler's Wells theatres in London and ran an opera company, which became the English National Opera (ENO); a theatre company, which evolved into the English National Theatre; and a ballet company, which eventually became The Royal Ballet.
Melissa O'Neil is a Chinese Canadian actress and singer. In 2005, O'Neil won the third season of Canadian Idol. As an actress, she is known for her roles as Two / Rebecca / Portia Lin in the science fiction series Dark Matter and as Officer Lucy Chen on the police procedural drama series The Rookie.
Dame Clara Ellen Butt was an English dramatic contralto and one of the most popular singers from the 1890s through to the 1920s. She had an exceptionally fine contralto voice and an agile singing technique, and impressed contemporary composers such as Saint-Saëns and Elgar; the latter composed his Sea Pictures, Op. 37 with her voice in mind.
Anna Bellschan von Mildenburg was an eminent Wagnerian soprano of Austrian nationality. Known as Anna Bahr-Mildenburg after her 1909 marriage, she had been a protégé of the composer/conductor Gustav Mahler during his musical directorship at the Hamburg State Opera. In 1898, Mahler took her to the Vienna State Opera, where she established herself as one of the great stars during his celebrated tenure there as music director.
Pauline Maria de Ahna, also known as Pauline Strauss, was a German operatic soprano and the wife of composer Richard Strauss. Her singing career was closely tied to her husband's career as a conductor and composer. From 1890 until 1894 she was committed to the Staatskapelle Weimar and from 1894 until 1897 she was committed to the Bavarian State Opera, during which times her husband was the principal conductor of those theaters. She also sang with her husband conducting at the Bayreuth Festival and in the world premiere of his first opera Guntram. Other houses at which performed included the Berlin State Opera, La Monnaie, and the Liceu. Her repertoire included leading roles in the operas of Beethoven, Humperdinck, Mozart, von Weber, and Wagner. After she gave birth to their son Franz Strauss in 1897 she retired from the opera stage. She thereafter continued to periodically perform in concerts of her husband's music, particularly Lieder. Strauss credited her as his muse for many of his compositions, including the title role in Salome, the Countess Madeleine in Capriccio, and the Four Last Songs among others.
Alenka Gotar is a Slovene soprano singer, born in Rodica in 1977. With the song "Cvet z juga", she represented Slovenia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2007 in Helsinki, Finland. Achieving seventh place in the semi-final, she became the first Slovene to qualify to the grand final, where she ended fifteenth with 66 points.
Adrianne Pieczonka, OC is a Canadian operatic soprano singer.
Eva Urbanová is a Czech operatic soprano who has had an active international career since 1987. She has been a principal artist at the National Theatre in Prague since 1990 and has appeared as a guest artist at many of the world's best opera houses, including La Scala in Milan and the Metropolitan Opera in New York City. She has made several recording on the Supraphon music label and was honored with a Thalia Award in 1993. In 2003 she was presented with the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the Government of France.
Christiane Kohl is a German soprano in opera and concert.
Alice Suki Waterhouse is an English actress, singer-songwriter, and model. She released her debut album I Can't Let Go and the EP Milk Teeth in 2022.
Riki Turofsky is a Canadian concert and opera soprano, broadcaster, and video producer. She has sung leading roles with opera companies in Canada, the United States, and Europe, and has performed on the concert stage with major ensembles throughout North America. In 1978 she expanded her career into broadcasting as a host for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation program Summer Festival. She has since appeared as a host on numerous programs for the CBC and the CTV Television Network. She also owns and operates the company Riki Productions which produces arts related programing for Canadian television.
Delores Ziegler is an American mezzo-soprano who has had an active international performance career since the late 1970s. A former resident artist at the Cologne Opera, she has performed leading roles with many of the world's best opera houses, including La Scala, the Lyric Opera of Chicago, the Metropolitan Opera, the San Francisco Opera, and the Vienna State Opera. She is currently a professor of voice at the University of Maryland. While she has performed a broad repertoire, she is widely admired for her performances in operas by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Richard Strauss; particularly Cherubino in The Marriage of Figaro, Dorabella in Così fan tutte, Idamante in Idomeneo, and Octavian in Der Rosenkavalier.
Lilian Benningsen was an Austrian operatic mezzo-soprano and contralto. She made an international career based at the Bavarian State Opera for decades, where she first appeared as Eboli in Verdi's Don Carlos. She created several roles, such as Carolina in Henze's Elegie für junge Liebende at the 1961 Schwetzingen Festival. Her recordings include both operas and concerts.
Balvinder Sopal is an English actress, whose acting career has spanned over two decades. She rose to prominence for her portrayal as Suki Panesar in the BBC soap opera EastEnders since January 2020. Her most notable storyline includes her on-off affair with Eve Unwin. Sopal has also appeared in other British soap operas including Emmerdale, Coronation Street, Doctors and Hollyoaks.
Frances Pappas is a Canadian-Greek operatic mezzo-soprano.
Claire Barnett-Jones is a British mezzo-soprano. She was a finalist and won the Dame Joan Sutherland Audience Prize at the 2021 BBC Cardiff Singer of the World Competition. She was the Sir John Tomlinson Fellow at English National Opera, a Samling Artist Britten Pears Artist and Independent Opera Fellow.