Gwyneth Jones (soprano)
Dame Gwyneth Jones DBE | |
---|---|
Gwyneth Jones in Paris, 2002 | |
Born | , Wales, UK | 7 November 1936
Education | |
Occupation | Dramatic soprano |
Dame Gwyneth Jones
Early life and career
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Jones was born in Pontnewynydd, Monmouthshire, Wales. Before becoming a professional singer, she worked as a secretary at the Pontypool foundry. She studied music at the Royal College of Music, London, the Accademia Musicale Chigiana (Siena) as well as the International Opera Studio (Zürich).
After making her professional debut in 1962 as a
Jones came to prominence in 1964 when she stood in for
From these, she gradually proceeded to heavier roles such as Chrysothemis (in Elektra), Salome, the Marschallin (in Der Rosenkavalier), Eva (in Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg), Senta (in Der fliegende Holländer), Kundry (in Parsifal), both Venus and Elisabeth (in Tannhäuser), Helena (in Strauss's Die ägyptische Helena), Ariadne (in Ariadne auf Naxos) and Sieglinde, as well as Brünnhilde (in Die Walküre). She has appeared frequently at the Vienna State Opera, the Zurich Opera, the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, the Bayerische Staatsoper, the San Francisco Opera, the Deutsche Oper Berlin, the Paris Opéra, the Teatro alla Scala, the Los Angeles Opera, the Metropolitan Opera, the Gran Teatre del Liceu, the Grand Théâtre de Genève, the Lyric Opera of Chicago, as well as many prominent opera and music festivals.
She made her debut at Teatro alla Scala as Leonora in
Later career
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![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/41/Gwyneth_Ch%C3%A9reau_%28gro%C3%9Fer%29.jpg/220px-Gwyneth_Ch%C3%A9reau_%28gro%C3%9Fer%29.jpg)
Jones's large-scaled, powerful dramatic soprano voice, unusually robust vocal stamina, stage presence and acting abilities were widely admired.
One of her most noted achievements was her interpretation of Brünnhilde in the
Her career at Bayreuth Festival is as below:[3]
- 1966: Sieglinde in Die Walküre
- 1968: Eva in Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg
- 1969: Senta in Der fliegende Holländer, Kundry in Parsifal
- 1970: Sieglinde in Die Walküre, Senta in Der fliegende Holländer, Kundry in Parsifal
- 1971: Sieglinde in Die Walküre, Senta in Der fliegende Holländer
- 1972: Elisabeth and Venus in Tannhäuser, Sieglinde in Die Walküre
- 1973: Elisabeth and Venus in Tannhäuser, Sieglinde in Die Walküre
- 1974: Elisabeth and Venus in Tannhäuser, Brünnhilde in Götterdämmerung
- 1975: Brünnhilde in Der Ring des Nibelungen cycle
- 1976: Brünnhilde in Der Ring des Nibelungen cycle (Jahrhundertring)
- 1977: Brünnhilde in Der Ring des Nibelungen cycle, Elisabeth and Venus in Tannhäuser
- 1978: Brünnhilde in Der Ring des Nibelungen cycle
- 1979: Brünnhilde in Der Ring des Nibelungen cycle
- 1980: Brünnhilde in Der Ring des Nibelungen cycle
- 1982: Senta in Der fliegende Holländer
Later in her career (from 1980 onwards), she undertook the title role of
Jones made roles that exemplify the Wagnerian or heavy dramatic soprano fach, such as Brünnhilde, Isolde, Elektra, the Dyer's Wife and Turandot, part of her core repertoire, and performed them throughout the 1980s and 1990s. She once famously undertook the roles of both Elisabeth and Venus in Götz Friedrich's production of Tannhäuser at the Bayreuth Festival in the 1970s, and has also been credited with the rare achievement of having performed all three major female roles in Elektra on stage.
She also performed in concerts and
Later activities
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In 2003, Jones made her debut as director and costume designer in a stage production of Der fliegende Holländer in Weimar, Germany. She has also given master-classes for young singers at notable venues and colleges of music, and acted as an adjudicator in international vocal competitions, including the 2009 BBC Cardiff Singer of the World competition and, more recently, the 2017 season of the reality operatic singing competition on the Russia-Kultura TV Channel, "The Big Opera" (the whole series of competition now being available for viewing on YouTube).
In June 2007, she created the role of the Queen of Hearts in the world premiere of Unsuk Chin's new opera, Alice in Wonderland, at the Bavarian State Opera. In February 2008 she returned to the Mezzo-soprano repertoire singing the role of Herodias in Stephen Langridge's production of Richard Strauss' Salome at Malmö Opera in Sweden. She repeated this role in August 2010, alongside the Salome of Deborah Voigt, in a concert performance at the Verbier Festival in Verbier, Switzerland, and performed the part on stage at the Vienna State Opera in May 2012. She took part in a piece of musical theatre about the women of the Wagner clan and their influences on the Bayreuth Festival entitled Wagnerin. Ein Haus der Kunstmusik, directed by Sven Holm at the 2012 Munich Opera Festival, playing Cosima Wagner.
In March 2016, she made her debut as the Countess in Tchaikovsky's The Queen of Spades in a new production of the opera at the Staatstheater Braunschweig, Germany. In April 2017, she took on the speaking part of the Narrator in Richard Strauss' Enoch Arden in a concert in Landsberg.
Jones makes a guest appearance in Quartet, a film by Dustin Hoffman, based on the comedy by Ronald Harwood about several retired opera singers planning to put on a concert to celebrate Verdi's birthday. She takes on the role of Anne Langley, a former operatic rival to Jean Horton, played by Dame Maggie Smith. The film was premiered to largely favourable reviews on 9 September at the 2012 Toronto International Film Festival, and Jones's performance was critically acclaimed.
She was made
She is a Kammersängerin at both the
Recordings
- Gwyneth Jones: Operatic Recital (Classic Recitals series). Arias from Beethoven's concert aria Ah! Perfido, op. 65. Vienna Opera Orchestra, conductor Argeo Quadri (Decca/Philips 475 6412 6 DM), originally Decca 1967
- Gwyneth Jones: Scenes from Verdi: Arias from Aïda, Don Carlo, Macbeth, Otello. Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden/Edward Downes. Decca 1969.
- Gwyneth Jones sings Strauss Lieder: Includes Zueignung, Die Nacht, Allerseelen, Cäcilie, etc. Geoffrey Parsons, pno. Capriccio 1989.
- Gwyneth Jones sings Strauss: Vier letzte Lieder, etc. Tokyo Symphony Orchestra/Roberto Paternostro. KOCH Schwann 1991.
- Gwyneth Jones sings Wagner: Scenes from Tannhäuser, Lohengrin, Tristan und Isolde, Götterdämmerung. Kölner Rundfunk-Sinfonie-Orchester/Roberto Paternostro. Chandos 1991.
- Beethoven, Symphony No. 9: Wiener Philharmoniker/Karl Böhm. Deutsche Grammophon
- Beethoven, Symphony No. 9: Konzertvereinigung Wiener Staatsoper, Wiener Philharmoniker/Leonard Bernstein. Deutsche Grammophon
- Mahler, Symphony No. 8: London Symphony Orchestra/Leonard Bernstein. Sony Classical
- Sibelius, Tone Poems and Songs: London Symphony Orchestra, Scottish National Orchestra, Wiener Philharmoniker, BBC Symphony Orchestra/Antal Doráti, Alexander Gibson, Sir Malcolm Sargent. EMI (this included the world premiere recording of Sibelius's Luonnotar, sung by Jones)[6]
- Mendelssohn, Elijah: New Philharmonia Orchestra/Frühbeck de Burgos. EMI
- Operafest – A Gala Concert at the Zurich Opera House: Zurich Opera House/Ferdinand Leitner, Ralf Weikert, Andre Presser. Video Artists International (DVD)
- Gwyneth Jones in Concert (live concert 23.8.88) VAI DVD. VAI
- 10,000 Voices: The World Choir and others/Owain Arwel Hughes. EMI
- Le Donne di Puccini: Münchner Rundfunkorchester/Garcia Navarro. Nightingale
- L'Art du Chant: Les Sopranes: DVD. Le Coulisses de L'Opera
- Wagner, Götterdämmerung (Act 3): Orchestra of the Royal Opera House/Georg Solti. Testament
Complete opera recordings (commercially released):
- Fidelio (Böhm/DG(DVD))
- Fidelio (Böhm/DG(cd))
- Leonore (1805) (Melles/Orfeo(cd))
- Macbeth (Kuhn/Sine qua non(cd))
- Aïda(Muti/Bella Voce(cd))
- Otello (Barbirolli/EMI(cd))
- Salome (Böhm/DG(cd))
- Elektra (Tate/Claves(cd))
- Der Rosenkavalier Kleiber/DG(DVD))
- Der Rosenkavalier (Bernstein/Sony(cd))
- Die ägyptische Helena (Doráti/Decca(cd))
- Die ägyptische Helena (Krips/RCA Victor(cd))
- Der fliegende Holländer (Böhm/DG(cd))
- Lohengrin (Kubelík/DG(cd))
- Tannhäuser (Davis/DG(DVD))
- Tristan und Isolde (Kout/ArtHaus(DVD))
- Der Ring des Nibelungen (Boulez/DG(DVD), Philips(cd))
- Götterdämmerung (Solti/Decca(cd))
- Parsifal (Boulez/DG(cd))
- Notre Dame (Perick/Capriccio(cd))
- Hänsel und Gretel(Davis/Philips(cd))
- La fanciulla del West (Viotti/Sine qua non(cd))
- Aufstieg und Fall der Stadt Mahagonny(Russell Davies/ArtHaus(DVD))
- Médée (Gardelli/Decca(cd))
- Alice in Wonderland (Nagano/Medici Arts(DVD))
- Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg (Böhm/Orfeo(cd))
- Il Trovatore(Giulini/Royal Opera House Heritage Series(cd))
References
- ^ Duffie, Bruce. "Dame Gwyneth Jones: A Conversation". bruceduffie.com. Retrieved 5 May 2019.
- ^ Korniej, Andrew. "Dame Gwyneth Jones is…". parterre.com. Retrieved 24 June 2019.
- ^ "Aufführungsdatenbank". Bayreuther Festspiele (in German). 16 January 2020. Retrieved 27 June 2021.
- ^ Die Frau ohne Schatten (in German). Cologne Opera. 16 March 1980.
- ^ Millington, Barry. Oh Malvina! Covent Garden Festival at Freemasons' Hall, London, 21 May. Opera, July 1995, Vol. 46 No.7, p863-4.
- ^ "Review | SIBELIUS. Luonnotar, Op. 70*. En Saga— Tone Poem, Op. 9. Night Ride and Sunrise—Symphonic Poem, Op. 55. Oceanides—Tone Poem, Op. 73. Lon- don Symphony Orchestra conducted by Antal Dorati with *Gwyneth Jones (soprano). HMV ASD2486 (43s. 9d.). | Page 50 - January 1970 - Gramophone Archive". 23 October 2009. Archived from the original on 23 October 2009. Retrieved 20 September 2023.
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Further reading
- Liese, Kirsten, Wagnerian Heroines. A Century Of Great Isoldes and Brünnhildes, English translation: Charles Scribner, Edition Karo, Berlin, 2013. OCLC 844683799
External links
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/4/4a/Commons-logo.svg/30px-Commons-logo.svg.png)
- Gwyneth Jones biography from BBC Wales
- Official website of the Wagner Society of Great Britain
- Fan page at Parterre Box
- Interview with Gwyneth Jones, 15 June 1985
- Brunhilde (YouTube)
- Recordings of rehearsals with Gwyneth Jones in the online-archive of the Österreichische Mediathek (registration required)