Pamela Field is a Welsh operatic soprano best known for her performances in principal soprano roles with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company in the 1970s and 1980s, including as Josephine in H.M.S. Pinafore , Phyllis in Iolanthe , Gianetta in The Gondoliers , Elsie Maynard in The Yeomen of the Guard and the titular character in Patience .
Field was born in Aberdare in South Wales. She studied at the Welsh College of Music and Drama and Royal College of Music and won the Young Welsh Singers Competition and Pernod Award before joining the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company in September 1972. She originally sang in the chorus and minor soprano roles, including Lady Ella in Patience, Celia in Iolanthe and Fiametta in The Gondoliers, as well as serving as an understudy for the principal soprano roles. [1]
At the beginning of the 1973–74 season, Field assumed a number of the principal soprano roles, including Josephine in H.M.S. Pinafore, the titular character in Patience, Phyllis in Iolanthe, Elsie Maynard in The Yeomen of the Guard and Gianetta in The Gondoliers. She played Princess Zara in D'Oyly Carte's 1975 production of Utopia, Limited and the Princess of Monte Carlo in a concert performance of The Grand Duke before leaving the company in August 1975. [1]
Field later returned to D'Oyly Carte as a guest artist, as Elsie in The Yeomen of the Guard in 1975 and as Phyllis in Iolanthe, Josephine in H.M.S. Pinafore and Aline in The Sorcerer during the company's final season in 1981–82. [1]
Field is married to David Porter, a bass-baritone who also performed with D'Oyly Carte. She resides in South Wales, where she is now a voice teacher. [1] [2]
Field sang the role of Phyllis on the 1974 D'Oyly Carte recording of Iolanthe [3] and as Princess Zara on the 1976 recording of Utopia, Limited, on which her husband David Porter also appears as Mr Blushington. [4] On video, Field performed the role of Josephine in the 1973 D'Oyly Carte telefilm of H.M.S. Pinafore [5] and as Leila in Brent Walker's 1982 video of Iolanthe. [6]
 | Wikimedia Commons has media related to Pamela Field . |
| General | |
|---|---|
| National libraries | |
Isabel Emily Jay was an English opera singer and actress, best known for her performances in soprano roles of the Savoy Operas with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company and in Edwardian musical comedies. During Jay's career, picture postcards were immensely popular, and Jay was photographed for over 400 different postcards.
Charles Herbert Workman was a singer and actor best known as a successor to George Grossmith in the comic baritone roles in Gilbert and Sullivan operas. He was variously credited as Charles H. Workman, C. Herbert Workman and C. H. Workman.
Helen Florence Roberts, later known as Betty Roberts and by her married name, Betty Walker, was an English singer and actress, best known for her performances in soprano roles of the Savoy Operas with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company.
Ann Drummond-Grant was a British singer and actress, best known for her performances in contralto roles of the Gilbert and Sullivan operas with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company.
Marjorie Eyre-Parker was an English singer and actress, best known for her performances in the soprano and mezzo-soprano roles of the Savoy Operas. She performed with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company for more than two decades and later performed with the J. C. Williamson Gilbert and Sullivan Opera Company. She married another D'Oyly Carte performer, Leslie Rands, in 1926.
Elsie Griffin was an English opera singer, best known for her performances in the soprano roles of the Savoy Operas with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company.
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.
Emily Owen was an English opera singer and actress, best known for her performances in soprano roles of the Savoy Operas with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company. Beginning as a child actress, she performed for two decades before falling ill on tour and dying at age 33.
Pauline Wales was an English singer and actress best known for her performances in the mezzo-soprano roles of the Gilbert and Sullivan operas with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company.
James Conroy-Ward is a retired English actor, singer and music publisher best known for performing the Gilbert and Sullivan principal comic roles with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company.
Barry Clark is an English opera singer and actor. Beginning in the 1970s, Clark played tenor roles in the Savoy Operas for over a decade with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company. He then sang in various opera companies, including New Sadler's Wells and Scottish Opera, and played in musicals on the West End. Later, Clark concentrated on oratorio and, in recent years, appeared with the Carl Rosa Opera Company, among others.
Jean Hindmarsh is a retired English singer and actress. She is best known as a principal soprano with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company in the 1950s and 1960s.
Clara Millington Dow was an English operatic soprano and actress of the early twentieth century. After a concert career, she appeared at the Savoy Theatre in the first repertory seasons of Gilbert and Sullivan operas mounted by the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company in 1906–09, under the direction of the author. She is remembered as one of the last principal sopranos personally trained by W. S. Gilbert at the Savoy. In between engagements with D'Oyly Carte, Dow performed in concerts and operetta. After her retirement from the professional stage, she directed amateur productions of the Savoy Operas until she was in her seventies.
Julia Goss, is a Scottish singer and actress best known for her performances in the principal soprano roles of the Gilbert and Sullivan operas with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company. She joined that company in 1967, remaining with them until 1979.
Muriel Dickson was a Scottish soprano who was particularly known for her performances in the works of Gilbert and Sullivan. After performing with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company for seven years, she sang for four seasons with the Metropolitan Opera and went on to a concert career. In later years, she taught singing at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama and privately.
Elsie Spain, born Elsie Rickets, was an English opera singer and actress, best known for her performances in soprano roles of the Savoy Operas with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company from 1908 to 1910 and in operettas and Edwardian musical comedies. She was one of the last leading ladies in the Gilbert and Sullivan roles personally trained by W. S. Gilbert. Among her roles in musicals, she originated the part of Princess Mathilde in the long-running The Quaker Girl.
Michael Rayner was an English opera singer, best known for his performances in baritone roles of the Savoy Operas with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company.
Jessie Kate Rose was an English opera singer and actress primarily known for her performances as principal mezzo-soprano in the Gilbert and Sullivan comic operas with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company. From 1896 to 1899 she originated several mostly smaller roles in Savoy operas and then continued to play a variety of smaller and larger roles in repertory with the company. She was its principal mezzo-soprano from 1904 to 1909.
Jennifer Gay Bishop, known by her stage name Jennifer Toye, was a British operatic soprano best known for performances in the principal soprano roles with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company in the 1950s and 1960s, including as Josephine in H.M.S. Pinafore, Mabel in The Pirates of Penzance and Yum-Yum in The Mikado.
Mary Sansom was an English operatic soprano best known for her performances in principal soprano roles with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company in the 1950s and 1960s, including as Yum-Yum in The Mikado, Josephine in H.M.S. Pinafore, Phyllis in Iolanthe and Gianetta in The Gondoliers.
