Elizabeth Harwood

Having a crystalline voice of fragile beauty and a sensitive quality of musicianship, Elizabeth Harwood was a lyric soprano from the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s. Her cleverness and musical attention led her to a wide selection of music, and her beautiful, blond appearance and simple stage manner produced her welcome in several theaters. On the way, she enticed the eye of Herbert von Karajan, who ensemble her in a number of important productions, offering her in his 1972 documenting of La bohème (as Musetta contrary the Mimi of Mirella Freni as well as the Rodolfo of Luciano Pavarotti) so that as a non-Viennese Hanna Glawari, who acquired nonetheless learned the Viennese design. An immensely critical musician, she spent the ultimate many years of her lifestyle working with learners, portion them as devotedly as she acquired her art. Pursuing study on the Royal Manchester College of Music, Harwood gained the Kathleen Ferrier Memorial Award in 1960. After signing up for the chorus on the Glyndebourne Celebration, she was designated a solo function, producing her debut as the next Boy within a 1960 creation of Die Zauberflöte. In 1961, she became a member of the Sadler’s Wells Opera and started a reliable rise through the rates in such light jobs as Susanna and Konstanze, Manon, Adele in Rossini’s Le Comte Ory, Gilda, and Zerbinetta. In the middle-’60s, she was involved for a firm set up to accompany Joan Sutherland with an Australian tour, alternating the name function in Lucia di Lammermoor using the superstar and executing Amina and Adina aswell. Covent Backyard welcomed her in 1967 when she sang the complicated role from the Fiakermilli in Strauss’ Arabella. Afterwards, the Royal Opera Home was to listen to her in such various other jobs as Gilda, Marzelline, Norina, Donna Elvira, Teresa in Berlioz’s Benvenuto Cellini and Bella within a revival of Tippett’s The Midsummer Relationship. The latter creation was documented under the path of Colin Davis and continues to be a display for Harwood’s warm and understanding interpretation. She became a member of the Scottish Opera in 1967, performing there until 1974 such functions as Sophie, Fiordiligi, and Lucia. A overall performance at Aix-en-Provence resulted in an invitation by Herbert von Karajan to come quickly to Salzburg; there, she specialised in the Mozart repertory, performing Fiordiligi, the Countess, and Donna Elvira in the three Da Ponte operas, furthermore to Konstanze in Die Entführung aus dem Serail. Furthermore to Salzburg, the 1970s brought debuts at La Scala (1972) as well as the Metropolitan Opera, where she made an appearance as Fiordiligi in 1975. Glyndebourne noticed her once again in the 1970s and 1980s when she came back as Fiordiligi, Mozart’s Countess and, afterwards, as the Marschallin in 1980 and 1982. Along with her stage function, Harwood was a significant concert artist, showing up with many orchestras and beneath the path from the leading conductors of her period. Two singular oratorios had been captured on documenting, each led by music artists uniquely qualified to create these compositions alive. With Mackerras, she sang the soprano arias within a restudied model of Messiah, a documenting which has continued to be in the catalog since 1966. Under Benjamin Britten, Harwood sang Gretchen in Schumann’s Szenen aus Goethe’s Faust alongside the Faust of Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau as well as the Mephisto of John Shirley-Quirk. Harwood also documented Titania in Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Wish using the composer leading the functionality.