Anne Collins (contralto)
Anne Collins (29 August 1943 – 15 July 2009) was an English contralto known as versatile operatic singer, praised for her "beautifully warm and wide-ranging timbre, and impeccable diction".[1] In a career that spanned nearly 40 years, she sang a wide range of operatic character roles and other classical pieces, including standard opera repertory, premieres, 20th century pieces, art song and other music.
Collins began her career at Sadler's Wells Opera, from 1970 to 1976. She debuted at Covent Garden in 1975 as Grimgerde in Wagner's Die Walküre. Collins sang with most of the major British opera companies and at opera houses throughout Europe. She used her early musical training when playing the cello onstage as Lady Jane in Gilbert and Sullivan's Patience in several English National Opera productions. She made 20 recordings of serious opera roles and other classical music, and her performances of several Gilbert and Sullivan roles are preserved on video.
Career
Collins was born in Meadowfield, near Durham, the daughter of "a musical family".[2] From 1961 to 1963 she trained at Bretton Hall College, Yorkshire, intending to become a music teacher.[3] She then studied at the Royal College of Music, London, first the cello and then vocal studies; her teachers included Meriel St Clair and Oda Slobodskaya.[1]
Collins made her debut for
Collins was a particularly versatile operatic singer, including in her repertoire roles in early opera (such as Arnalta in The Coronation of Poppea), German works (Adelaide in Arabella as well as her Wagner roles), Russian opera (Clarissa in The Love for Three Oranges and Filipyevna in Eugene Onegin), French works (Antonia's Mother in The Tales of Hoffmann and Ragonde in Count Ory), Italian operas (Mamma Lucia in Cavalleria rusticana, Suzuki in Madame Butterfly, Ulrica in Un ballo in maschera and Mistress Quickly in Falstaff), and played English roles from Katisha in The Mikado to Mrs Sedley and Auntie in Peter Grimes. She notably played the cello onstage while singing Lady Jane in Patience for ENO, a role she also sang in New York and Vienna.[1][6] In The Times, Alan Blyth called it "a connoisseur's performance".[7]
Collins made her Covent Garden debut in 1975 as Grimgerde in
In 1982, she appeared in the Brent Walker Productions
Collins died of cancer in Sussex, aged 65.[5][6]
Recordings
References
- ^ a b c d Milnes, Rodney. "Obituary – Anne Collins", Opera, October 2009, pp. 1206–07
- ^ "Anne Collins: operatic contralto", The Times, 3 August 2009, accessed 13 October 2014
- ^ Lingard, Judith. "Obituary, Anne Collins", The Guardian, 13 August 2009
- ^ a b Forbes Elizabeth. "Collins, Anne", The New Grove Dictionary of Opera, Oxford Music Online, Oxford University Press, accessed 14 October 2014 (subscription required)
- ^ a b c O'Connor, Patrick. "Obituary: Anne Collins", The Guardian, 4 August 2009
- ^ a b c "Anne Collins", Opera Scotland, accessed 13 October 2014
- ^ Blyth, Alan. "Patience", The Times, 21 March 1975, p. 9
- ^ Archives of the Grand Théâtre de Genève, accessed 12 November 2009.
- ^ a b Adam N. Who’s Who in British Opera. Scolar Press, Aldershot, 1993.
- ^ Richard Morrison. "Pit and pendulum – Handel Opera's 25th anniversary season finds music in better form than productions", Classical Music, 20 December 1980, p. 22
- ^ Shepherd, Marc. "Artist Index: Collins, Anne", the Gilbert and Sullivan Discography, accessed 13 October 2014
- ^ Jacobs, Arthur. "Princess Ida – English National Opera at the London Coliseum, November 14", Opera, January 1993, Vol. 44, No.1, pp. 107–110
- ^ "A Dinner Engagement", WorldCat, accessed 14 October 2014
- ^ "Albert Herring", WorldCat, accessed 14 October 2014
- ^ "Peter Grimes", WorldCat, accessed 14 October 2014
- ^ "The Beggar's Opera", WorldCat, accessed 14 October 2014
- ^ "Margot la Rouge", WorldCat, accessed 14 October 2014
- ^ "Coronation Ode", WorldCat, accessed 14 October 2014
- ^ "Glagolitic Mass", WorldCat, accessed 14 October 2014
- ^ "The Coronation of Poppea" WorldCat, accessed 14 October 2014
- ^ "Die Zauberflöte", WorldCat, accessed 14 October 2014
- ^ "Suor Angelica", WorldCat, accessed 14 October 2014
- ^ "The Rake's Progress", WorldCat, accessed 14 October 2014
- ^ "The Yeomen of the Guard", WorldCat, accessed 14 October 2014
- ^ " The Tchaikovsky Experience", BBC, accessed 14 October 2014. Recorded for broadcast; not commercially released.
- ^ "The Poisoned Kiss", WorldCat, accessed 14 October 2014
- ^ "Vivaldi Sacred Music", WorldCat, accessed 14 October 2014
- ^ "Artist: Anne Collins", Classical Archives, accessed 13 October 2014
- ^ "The Rhinegold", WorldCat, accessed 14 October 2014
- ^ "The Valkyrie", WorldCat, accessed 14 October 2014
- ^ "Siegfried", WorldCat, accessed 14 October 2014
- ^ "Twilight of the Gods", WorldCat, accessed 14 October 2014
External links
- Collins as Dame Carruthers in the City of London Festival production of The Yeomen of the Guard, 1978