Nancy Evans (mezzo-soprano)

Nancy Evans OBE (19 March 1915 – 20 August 2000) was an English mezzo-soprano who had a notable career as a concert and opera singer. She is particularly associated with Benjamin Britten who wrote his song cycle, A Charm of Lullabies, and the role of Nancy in his opera Albert Herring for her.

Biography

Evans was born in

concerts for the British armed forces.

After the war ended, she joined Benjamin Britten's newly formed English Opera Group. Her first important opera role was Lucretia in the 1946 Glyndebourne production of Britten's The Rape of Lucretia. The following year she created the role of Nancy in his Albert Herring, also at Glyndebourne, and in 1948 she sang Polly in Britten's version of The Beggar's Opera.

After her retirement, Evans taught singing at the

at the age of 85.

Personal life

Her first husband was the record producer Walter Legge, whom she married in 1941. The couple had one daughter, born in 1942, but divorced in 1948. In 1949, Evans married the producer and librettist Eric Crozier, who became a co-founder of the Aldeburgh Festival with Britten and Peter Pears.

Sources

• Daily Telegraph, "Nancy Evans"
  , 24 August 2000
• Kennedy, Michael and Bourne, Joyce (eds.), "Evans, Nancy", The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Music, Oxford University Press, 2007.
  ISBN 978-0-19-920383-3
• McDonald, Tim, "Obituary: Nancy Evans" The Guardian, 24 August 2000

Notes

External links

• The Nancy Evans and Eric Crozier papers at the Britten-Pears Foundation