Isobel Buchanan

Isobel Buchanan (born 15 March 1954) is a Scottish operatic soprano. Early life and career edit: Isobel Buchanan was born in Glasgow, Scotland. In 1971, she received a scholarship to the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama, where in 1974, she was awarded with Student of the Year prize. She also won the Governor's Recital Prize that same year. She signed a three year contract with The Australian Opera in 1975 to pursue her career in singing and in 1976 made her professional opera debut as Pamina in the company's production of The Magic Flute. She was the youngest Principal Artist in the company's history. She made her British debut in 1978 at Glyndebourne Festival Opera, again as Pamina in a new production by John Cox. (She returned to Glyndebourne in 1981 as Countess Almaviva in Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro and reprised the role at the 1984 Festival.) In 1978, she sang Micaela in Carmen at the Vienna State Opera, conducted by Carlos Kleiber with Plácido Domingo as Don José and Elena Obraztsova as Carmen, in a production by Franco Zeffirelli. She continued adding to her repertoire with Sophie in Massenet's Werther and a Flower Maiden in Wagner's Parsifal at the Royal Opera House in 1979. Since then, she has appeared at many other major opera houses and companies including the Lyric Opera of Chicago, Scottish Opera, the Metropolitan Opera, Bavarian State Opera, Opéra National de Paris, Hamburg State Opera, Opéra de Monte-Carlo, and the Cologne Opera. She has collaborated with many renowned conductors, including Georg Solti, Bernard Haitink, Andrew Davis, Colin Davis, Sergiu Celibidache, John Pritchard, Neville Marriner, Carlos Kleiber and Yehudi Menuhin. The BBC made a documentary of her career in 1981. She also appeared in TV programmes such as Face the Music and Parkinson. Family edit: She is married to the Australian-born English stage actor Jonathan Hyde. They have two daughters; one of them is a British actress, Georgia King. Repertoire edit: Her repertory includes: Year Composer Opera Role(s) 1973 Puccini Suor Angelica Sister Genovieffa 1976 Delibes Lakmé Ellen Mozart The Magic Flute Pamina Puccini La bohème Mimi Mozart Così fan tutte Dorabella 1978 Bizet Carmen Micaëla 1979 Verdi Simon Boccanegra Maria Boccanegra Massenet Werther Sophie Wagner Parsifal Flower Maiden 1980 Bellini La sonnambula Lisa 1981 Mozart The Marriage of Figaro Countess Almaviva 1982 Mozart Don Giovanni Donna Elvira 1984 Poulenc Dialogues of the Carmelites Blanche de la Force Recordings edit: Bizet: Carmen (Elena Obraztsova, Plácido Domingo, Isobel Buchanan, Wiener Staatsoper orchestra and chorus, Carlos Kleiber) DVD TDK 8 24121 00097 4, Bellini: La sonnambula (Joan Sutherland, Luciano Pavarotti, Nicolai Ghiaurov, Isobel Buchanan, Della Jones, National Philharmonic Orchestra, London Opera Chorus, Richard Bonynge) CD Decca 2LH417-424, Delibes: Lakmé (Joan Sutherland, Isobel Buchanan, Huguette Tourangeau, Henri Wilden, John Pringle, Elizabeth Sydney Orchestra, Australian Opera Chorus, Richard Bonynge) DVD Kultur Video 32031 00389, Massenet: Werther (José Carreras, Frederica Stade, Isobel Buchanan, Thomas Allen, Robert Lloyd, Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Colin Davis) CD Philips 00289 475 7567, Puccini: Suor Angelica (Joan Sutherland, Christa Ludwig, Anne Collins, Isobel Buchanan, National Philharmonic Orchestra, Richard Bonynge) CD Decca 458218

Source: Wikipedia

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