Margaret Winifred Gale (born 10 September 1931) is an English operatic soprano who sang leading roles with Sadler's Wells Opera Company (later to become English National Opera) throughout the 1960s and early 1970s. [1]
Margaret Winifred Gale (born 10 September 1931) is an English operatic soprano who sang leading roles with Sadler's Wells Opera Company (later to become English National Opera) throughout the 1960s and early 1970s. [1]
Margaret Gale was born and educated in Sheffield, the second of three daughters of Winifred née Walker and Arthur Gale, an artisan working in the cutlery trade for Joseph Rodgers of Sheffield but who also had his own cutlery business employing six people. She first sang in public at the age of four and by her teens had gained a local reputation, performing solos and duets at Crookes Congregational Church in Sheffield where, at 19, she sang the title role in Paul Abraham's operetta Victoria and Her Hussar . Her first jobs were as a clerk at Bennet College and then with the National Coal Board. [1]
She appeared with several local operatic societies taking leading roles in Oklahoma! , Carousel and Song of Norway . Her first operatic roles were with the Sheffield Grand Opera Society as Oscar (a travesty role) in The Masked Ball and Abigail in Nabucco . It was after this that she was advised to start training seriously for a professional singing career. Aged 19, she began lessons with Eva Rich at the same time as Joyce Blackham and Peter Glossop, also later to become stalwarts of Sadler's Wells. [2]
After a decade as a semi-professional singer Gale sang her first role in London as Adele in Die Fledermaus for the London County Council Open Air Theatres. The spring of 1961 saw her at Glyndebourne in cover roles after which she made her first appearance as a principal with the Sadler's Wells Opera Company in the 1961/2 season as Musetta in La Bohème . [2] [3] In 1963 she spent a month in Milan studying with the baritone Luigi Borgonovo (1899–1975), [2] the teacher of Franco Corelli and Luciano Pavarotti.
In the space of three years she proved her versatility, singing the roles of Esmeralda in The Bartered Bride ; [4] and was one of the three spirits in The Magic Flute . In January 1962 the Sadler's Wells Opera Company gave its first Gilbert and Sullivan opera, Iolanthe , on the day on which the Savoy Operas came out of copyright and the D'Oyly Carte monopoly ended. [5] Gale played both Celia and Phyllis in the well-received production. [3] When Iolanthe was broadcast on television by the BBC on 1 October 1964 Gale played Celia. [6] [7] She sang The Slim Girl in A Village Romeo and Juliet (1962); [8] [9] Alicia in Count Ory ; a Niece in Peter Grimes (1964); [8] Gabrielle in La Vie Parisienne ; and Millie in Our Man in Havana. [2] [3] Other roles with the Sadler's Wells Opera Company included Norina in Don Pasquale , of which Alan Blyth wrote in The Times : ‘Margaret Gale has just the vivacious personality and nimble technique to portray the heroine’s sense of fun'. [10] She was Ännchen in Der Freischütz ; Zerlina in Don Giovanni ; Despina in Così fan tutte ; Adele in Die Fledermaus , of which Mosco Carner wrote in The Times: ‘a quicksilver Adele who brought off her Laughing Song with much gusto’; [11] and Saffi in The Gypsy Baron , singing under the batons of Bryan Balkwill, Colin Davis, Peter Gellhorn, Leonard Hancock, Charles Mackerras and John Matheson among others. [1] In 1965 she was a memorable Clorinda in La Cenerentola . [12] After the Sadler's Wells company moved to the London Coliseum in 1968 her roles included Naiad in Ariadne on Naxos [13] and Servilia in La clemenza di Tito .
For the New Opera Company, Gale was the lead soprano in the world premiere of Daniel Jones’s The Knife and created the role of Natalie in John Joubert’s Under Western Eyes, based on the novel by Joseph Conrad. [14] In 1969, for the opening season of Opera Piccola at Dodington Hall, she sang the role of Vespetta in a rare performance of Telemann’s 1725 opera Pimpinone . [15] On 7 August 1969 she was the coloratura soprano at the BBC Proms in the first performance of Wilfrid Mellers’s Yeibichai for chorus, orchestra, jazz trio, coloratura soprano and jazz singer [16] with the Scottish National Orchestra conducted by Alexander Gibson. [17] [18] [19]
In Scotland she sang Adele in Die Fledermaus (1968); Naiad in Ariadne on Naxos (1969), and Servilia in La clemenza di Tito (1970). [3]
With the Dublin Grand Opera and Cork Opera companies she sang Adele in Die Fledermaus ; Sophie in Der Rosenkavalier – ‘a voice of impressive range and purity brought this somewhat anaemic part to life’ [20] and Josefa in White Horse Inn . With the Basilica Opera Company she played Valencienne in The Merry Widow and Micaela in Carmen . With the Phoenix Opera Company she sang Miss Wordsworth in Albert Herring and Susanna in The Marriage of Figaro . [1]
In 1973, Margaret Gale left the Sadler's Wells company to embark on a freelance career of concert work and teaching. For two years, she taught singing at Roehampton College (now the University of Roehampton). Afterwards, she began a third career as a recruitment consultant, founding her own company, Gale Associates, in 1987. She retired in 2004. [1]
Margaret Gale married footballer Jim Stainton in Sheffield in 1953; [21] they separated in 1961. After living with Canadian bass Don Garrard for six years, the couple married in 1967; [22] they separated six months later. [1]
Gundula Janowitz is an Austrian lyric soprano singer of operas, oratorios, lieder, and concerts. She is one of the most renowned opera singers of the 20th century and was pre-eminent in the 1960s and 1970s.
Margaret Valerie Masterson is a retired English opera singer, a lecturer and Vice-President of British Youth Opera. After study in Italy, she began to sing opera in Europe. Returning to England, Masterson performed as principal soprano with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company from 1964 to 1969, becoming popular with audiences and participating in several of the company's recordings, as well as those of Gilbert and Sullivan for All and the BBC.
Lucia Popp was a Slovak operatic soprano. She began her career as a soubrette, and later moved into the light-lyric and lyric coloratura soprano repertoire and then the lighter Richard Strauss and Wagner operas. Her career included performances at Vienna State Opera, the Metropolitan Opera, Covent Garden, and La Scala. Popp was also a highly regarded recitalist and lieder singer.
Deborah Cook was an American operatic soprano who had a prolific international opera career during the 1970s and 1980s. Her career was primarily focused in Germany where she lived from 1972 through 1985. However, she did travel extensively throughout Europe and in the United States, performing in operas, concerts, recitals, and recording for radio productions. A gifted coloratura soprano, Cook sang a wide repertoire that encompassed English, German, French, and Italian opera from a variety of musical periods. She notably sang in a number of world premieres including Hans Werner Henze's We Come to the River at the Royal Opera, London in 1976.
Reri Grist is an American coloratura soprano, one of the pioneer African-American singers to enjoy a major international career in opera.
Elizabeth Harwood was an English lyric soprano. After a music school, she enjoyed an operatic career lasting for over two decades and worked with such conductors as Colin Davis and Herbert von Karajan. She was one of the few English singers of her generation to be invited to sing in productions at the Salzburg Festival and La Scala, Milan, as well as at the Metropolitan Opera.
Patricia Leonard was an English opera singer, best known for her performances in mezzo-soprano and contralto roles of the Savoy Operas with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company.
Jon Weymouth Weaving was an Australian opera singer, initially a bass-baritone but later a tenor.
Malin Hartelius is a Swedish soprano who performs regularly with conductors such as Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Ton Koopman, Riccardo Chailly, Sir John Eliot Gardiner, Peter Schreier, Herbert Blomstedt, and Frans Brüggen. She has collaborated with orchestras like the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra, the Tonhalle Orchester Zurich, the San Francisco Symphony, and the Concentus Musicus Wien.
Diana Damrau is a German soprano who achieved international fame for her performances, primarily in opera, but also in concert and lieder. She has been successful in coloratura soprano roles since her early career, and gradually proceeded into heavier roles of the 19th-century Italian bel canto repertoire. Her signature roles include the Queen of the Night in The Magic Flute, Zerbinetta in Ariadne auf Naxos, Lucia in Lucia di Lammermoor, and Violetta in La traviata.
Celena Shafer is an American soprano, born c. 1975 in Centerville, Utah.
Gail Robinson was an American operatic soprano who sang with many of the world's leading opera companies during the 1970s and 1980s. She spent most of her career singing lyric coloratura roles at the Metropolitan Opera. After her performance career ended she taught singing to young artists and also directed the Metropolitan Opera's Young Artist Program for over ten years. Upon leaving the Met, she joined the voice faculty at the University of Kentucky.
David Hillman was an English operatic tenor who sang with all the leading opera companies in the United Kingdom.
Rae Woodland was a British soprano who studied with Roy Henderson. Her debut was as Queen of the Night at Sadlers Wells. She sang in many European festivals, and debuted at Covent Garden in La sonnambula with Joan Sutherland and Luciano Pavarotti. She was first asked to sing for Benjamin Britten on the English Opera Group's tour of Russia, and played many roles for him subsequently. She also created roles for Gottfried von Einem, Nicholas Maw and Sir Arthur Bliss, and made many live broadcasts for the BBC, from the RAH Proms to Friday Night is Music Night. She retired from the opera stage in 1984. She then taught singing at the Royal Academy of Music in London, and at the Britten-Pears School in Snape Maltings on the invitation of Sir Peter Pears.
April Rosemary Cantelo is an English soprano.
Kathleen Kim is an American operatic coloratura soprano. Her repertoire includes roles in operas by Handel, Mozart, Donizetti, Verdi, and Offenbach, among others, as well as in oratorios such as the Messiah and sacred works such as Mozart's Great Mass in C minor.
Jean Allister was an opera singer who encompassed a wide range of repertoire both on stage and on the concert platform in a career spanning over 30 years.
Ruth Maureen Guy was a Welsh mezzo-soprano singer. The youngest of six children of a coal miner, she was influenced by church music in her youth. Guy's debut came at Sadler's Wells Theatre and several of her early engagements were with the London Mozart Players. She became principal mezzo at the Royal Opera House in 1963 and made the first of several appearance at The Proms that same year. In 1969, Guy was selected as one of fifteen soloists to sing at the Investiture of the Prince of Wales and later joined the Opern- und Schauspielhaus Frankfurt in 1972. She took up a teaching position with the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama which she retired from in 1998 to teach privately at her home in Sageston.
Lise Davidsen is a Norwegian opera singer, known as a lyric dramatic soprano. She came to prominence after winning the Operalia competition in London in 2015.
Adele Kern real name Adele Kern-Klein was a German operatic and operetta coloratura soprano. She was known for her technical perfection and joy of playing. From 1927 to 1935, she sang at the Salzburg Festival as well as at the state operas of Vienna, Berlin and Munich.