Isobel Buchanan (born 15 March 1954) is a
ScottishThe Scots people and an ethnic group indigenous to Scotland.An ethnic group, historically they emerged from an amalgamation of Picts, Gaels and Brythons....
operaticOpera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score. Opera is part of the Western classical music tradition. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
sopranoA soprano is a singing voice with a vocal range from approximately middle C to "high A" in choral music, or to "soprano C" or higher in operatic music...
.
Isobel Buchanan was born in
GlasgowGlasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...
,
ScotlandScotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
. In 1971, she received a scholarship to the
Royal Scottish Academy of Music and DramaThe Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama is a conservatoire of music, drama and dance in the centre of Glasgow, Scotland. Founded in 1845 as the Glasgow Educational Association, today it acts as one of the leading cultural institutions in the United Kingdom, and is the busiest performing arts...
, 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 OperaOpera Australia is the principal opera company in Australia. Based in Sydney, its performance season at the Sydney Opera House runs for approximately eight months of the year, with the remainder of its time spent in the The Arts Centre in Melbourne...
in 1975 to pursue her career in singing and in 1976 made her professional
operaOpera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score. Opera is part of the Western classical music tradition. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
debut as Pamina in the company's production of
The Magic FluteThe Magic Flute is an opera in two acts composed in 1791 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to a libretto by Emanuel Schikaneder...
.
Isobel Buchanan (born 15 March 1954) is a
ScottishThe Scots people and an ethnic group indigenous to Scotland.An ethnic group, historically they emerged from an amalgamation of Picts, Gaels and Brythons....
operaticOpera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score. Opera is part of the Western classical music tradition. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
sopranoA soprano is a singing voice with a vocal range from approximately middle C to "high A" in choral music, or to "soprano C" or higher in operatic music...
.
Early life and career
Isobel Buchanan was born in
GlasgowGlasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...
,
ScotlandScotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
. In 1971, she received a scholarship to the
Royal Scottish Academy of Music and DramaThe Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama is a conservatoire of music, drama and dance in the centre of Glasgow, Scotland. Founded in 1845 as the Glasgow Educational Association, today it acts as one of the leading cultural institutions in the United Kingdom, and is the busiest performing arts...
, 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 OperaOpera Australia is the principal opera company in Australia. Based in Sydney, its performance season at the Sydney Opera House runs for approximately eight months of the year, with the remainder of its time spent in the The Arts Centre in Melbourne...
in 1975 to pursue her career in singing and in 1976 made her professional
operaOpera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score. Opera is part of the Western classical music tradition. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
debut as Pamina in the company's production of
The Magic FluteThe Magic Flute is an opera in two acts composed in 1791 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to a libretto by Emanuel Schikaneder...
. She was the youngest Principal Artist in the company's history. She made her
BritishThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. It is an island country, spanning an archipelago including Great Britain, the northeastern part of Ireland, and many small islands...
debut in 1978 at
Glyndebourne Festival OperaGlyndebourne Festival Opera is an opera festival held at Glyndebourne, a country house near Lewes, in East Sussex, England.Under the supervision of the Christie family, the festival has been held annually since 1934, except in 1993, when the theatre was being rebuilt. The renovated theatre opened...
, again as Pamina in a new production by John Cox. (She returned to Glyndebourne in 1981 as Countess Almaviva in
MozartWolfgang Amadeus Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart , was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical era. He composed over 600 works, many acknowledged as...
's
The Marriage of FigaroLe nozze di Figaro, ossia la folle giornata , K. 492, is an opera buffa by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, with Italian libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte, based on a stage comedy by Pierre Beaumarchais, La folle journée, ou le Mariage de Figaro .Although the play by Beaumarchais was at first banned in Vienna...
and reprised the role at the 1984 Festival.)
In 1978, she sang
Micaela in
CarmenCarmen is a French opéra comique by Georges Bizet. The libretto is by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy, based on the novella of the same title by Prosper Mérimée, first published in 1845, itself influenced by the narrative poem The Gypsies by Alexander Pushkin...
at the
Vienna State OperaThe Vienna State Opera is an opera house — and opera company — with a history dating back to the mid-19th century. It is located in the centre of Vienna, Austria. It was originally called the Vienna Court Opera ; in 1920, it was renamed the Vienna State Opera...
, conducted by
Carlos KleiberCarlos Kleiber was an Austrian conductor.- Early career :Kleiber was born as Karl Ludwig Kleiber in Berlin, the son of the Austrian conductor Erich Kleiber and Ruth Goodrich, an American.. In 1935, the Kleiber family emigrated to Buenos Aires, after Erich Kleiber had resigned his post at the...
with
Plácido DomingoJosé Plácido Domingo Embil , better known as Plácido Domingo, is a Spanish tenor, known for his versatile and strong voice, possessing a ringing and dramatic tone throughout its range. In March 2008, he debuted in his 128th opera role, giving Domingo more roles than any other tenor...
as Don José and
Elena ObraztsovaElena Vasiliyevna Obraztsova is a Russian mezzo-soprano.As a child Obraztsova lived in Leningrad through the long siege during World War II. In 1954-1957 Obraztsova studied in Taganrog's musical school named after Tchaikovsky and frequently participated in concerts onstage of Taganrog Theatre...
as Carmen, in a production by
Franco ZeffirelliFranco Zeffirelli is an Italian film director. He is also an opera director, designer and producer of opera, theatre, film and television, and a politician....
. She continued adding to her repertoire with Sophie in
MassenetJules Massenet was a French composer best known for his operas. His compositions were very popular in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and he ranks as one of the greatest melodists of his era. Soon after his death, his style went out of fashion, and many of his operas fell into almost...
's
WertherWerther is an opera in four acts by Jules Massenet to a French libretto by Édouard Blau, Paul Milliet and Georges Hartmann based on the German epistolary novel The Sorrows of Young Werther by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe....
and a Flower Maiden in
WagnerWilhelm Richard Wagner was a German composer, conductor, theatre director and essayist, primarily known for his operas...
's
ParsifalParsifal is an opera in three acts by Richard Wagner. It is loosely based on Wolfram von Eschenbach's Parzival, the 13th century epic poem of the Arthurian knight Parzival and his quest for the Holy Grail....
at the
Royal Opera HouseThe Royal Opera House is an opera house and major performing arts venue in the London district of Covent Garden. The large building is often referred to as simply "Covent Garden", after a previous use of the site of the opera house's original construction in 1732. It is the home of The Royal...
in 1979. Since then, she has appeared at many other major opera houses and companies including the
Lyric Opera of ChicagoLyric Opera of Chicago is one of the leading opera companies in the United States. It was founded in Chicago in 1952, under the name 'Lyric Theatre of Chicago' by Carol Fox, Nicolà Rescigno and Lawrence Kelly, with a season that included Maria Callas's American debut in Norma...
,
Scottish OperaScottish Opera is a Scottish opera company. Founded in 1962 and based in Glasgow, it is Scotland's national opera company and the largest performing arts organisation in Scotland.-History:...
, the
Metropolitan OperaThe Metropolitan Opera Association of New York City, founded in April 1880, is a major presenter of all types of opera including Grand Opera. Peter Gelb is the company's general manager. The music director is James Levine....
,
Bavarian State OperaThe Bayerische Staatsoper is an opera company based in Munich, Germany.Its orchestra is the Bavarian State Orchestra.- History:...
,
Opéra National de ParisOpéra National de Paris is the leading opera company of France. It stages performances at the Opéra Bastille and Opéra Garnier in Paris.Other opera houses in Paris are the Théâtre du Châtelet, Opéra-Comique and Théâtre des Champs-Élysées.-History:...
,
Hamburg State OperaThe Hamburg State Opera is one of the leading opera companies in Germany.Opera in Hamburg dates back to 2 January 1678 when the "Opern-Theatrum" was inaugurated with a performance of a biblical Singspiel by Johann Theile...
,
Opéra de Monte-CarloThe Opéra de Monte-Carlo is an opera house located in the principality of Monaco.With the lack of cultural diversions available in Monaco in the 1870s, Prince Charles III, along with the Société des Bains de Mer, decided on the construction of an opera house on a high spot overlooking the...
, and the
CologneCologne is Germany's fourth-largest city , and is the largest city both in the German Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia and within the Rhine-Ruhr Metropolitan Area, one of the major European metropolitan areas with more than ten million inhabitants...
Opera. She has collaborated with many renowned conductors, including
Georg SoltiSir Georg Solti, KBE was a Hungarian-British orchestral and operatic conductor. He holds the record for having received the most Grammy awards, having personally won 31, including the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.- Early career :Solti was born György Stern in Budapest to a Jewish family; his...
,
Bernard HaitinkBernard Johan Herman Haitink CH KBE is a Dutch conductor and violinist.-Early life:Haitink was born in Amsterdam, the son of Willem Haitink and Anna Haitink. He studied music at the conservatoire in Amsterdam...
,
Andrew DavisSir Andrew Frank Davis CBE is a British conductor.-Biography:Davis grew up in Chesham, Buckinghamshire, and in Watford. Davis attended Watford Boys' Grammar School, where he studied classics in his sixth form years and the Junior Royal Academy of Music...
,
Colin DavisSir Colin Rex Davis, CH, CBE is an English conductor.-Career:Davis studied the clarinet at the Royal College of Music in London, where he was barred from taking conducting lessons owing to his lack of ability at the piano...
,
Sergiu CelibidacheSergiu Celibidache was a Romanian conductor.- Biography :Celibidache was born in Roman, Romania, and began his studies in music with the piano, after which he studied music, philosophy and mathematics in Bucharest, Romania and then in Paris...
, John Pritchard,
Neville MarrinerSir Neville Marriner is an English conductor and violinist.-Biography:Marriner was born in Lincoln and studied at the Royal College of Music and the Paris Conservatoire. He played the violin in the Philharmonia Orchestra, the Martin String Quartet and London Symphony Orchestra, playing with the...
, Carlos Kleiber and
Yehudi MenuhinYehudi Menuhin, Baron Menuhin, OM, KBE was a violinist and conductor who spent most of his performing career in the United Kingdom. He was born to Jewish parents in the United States, but became a citizen of Switzerland in 1970, and of the United Kingdom in 1985. He is commonly considered one of...
.
The
BBCThe British Broadcasting Corporation, usually referred to by its abbreviation as the "BBC", is the longest established and largest broadcaster in the world...
made a documentary of her career in 1981. She also appeared in TV programmes such as
Face the MusicFace the Music may refer to:*Face the Music , a BBC television series*Face the Music , a syndicated early 1980s American TV game show*Face the Music , a 1930s Broadway musicalAn album:...
and
ParkinsonParkinson is a British television chat show presented by Sir Michael Parkinson. It was first shown on BBC One from 1971 to 1982, totalling 361 editions. It returned in 1998, but transferred to ITV in 2004...
.
Family
She is married to the Australian-born English stage actor
Jonathan HydeJonathan Hyde is an Australian-born British actor, well known for his roles as J. Bruce Ismay, the managing director of the White Star Line in Titanic, the Egyptologist in The Mummy and Sam Parrish/Van Pelt the hunter in Jumanji. He is married to the Scottish soprano Isobel Buchanan...
. They have two daughters; one of them is a
BritishThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. It is an island country, spanning an archipelago including Great Britain, the northeastern part of Ireland, and many small islands...
actress,
Georgia KingGeorgia King is a British actress. She is the daughter of Isobel Buchanan and actor Jonathan Hyde.-Career:King made her professional debut in Jane Eyre. She was nearly unable to play the role, however. "A week before...the day [she began filming, King] felt stomach pains, then had her appendix...
.
Repertoire
Her repertory includes:
| Year |
Composer |
Opera |
Role(s) |
| 1973 |
Puccini Giacomo Antonio Domenico Michele Secondo Maria Puccini was an Italian composer whose operas, including La bohème, Tosca, Madama Butterfly and Turandot, are among the most frequently performed in the standard repertoire...
|
Suor Angelica Suor Angelica is an opera in one act by Giacomo Puccini to an original Italian libretto by Giovacchino Forzano. It is the second opera of the trio of operas known as Il trittico...
|
Sister Genovieffa |
| 1976 |
Delibes Clément Philibert Léo Delibes was a French composer of ballets, operas, and other works for the stage.-Biographical data:...
|
LakméLakmé is an opera in three acts by Léo Delibes to a French libretto by Edmond Gondinet and Philippe Gille, based on the 1880 novel by Pierre Loti....
|
Ellen |
|
MozartWolfgang Amadeus Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart , was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical era. He composed over 600 works, many acknowledged as...
|
The Magic FluteThe Magic Flute is an opera in two acts composed in 1791 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to a libretto by Emanuel Schikaneder...
|
Pamina |
|
Puccini |
La bohèmeLa bohème is an opera in four acts by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa, based on Scènes de la vie de bohème by Henri Murger. The world première performance of La bohème was in Turin on February 1, 1896 at the Teatro Regio and conducted by the young Arturo...
|
Mimi |
|
Mozart |
Così fan tutte Così fan tutte, ossia La scuola degli amanti K. 588, is an opera buffa by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. The libretto was written by Lorenzo Da Ponte....
|
Dorabella |
| 1978 |
Bizet Georges Bizet was a French composer and pianist of the Romantic era. He is best known for the opera Carmen.-Biography:Bizet was born at 26 rue de la Tour d'Auvergne in the 9th arrondissement of Paris in 1838...
|
CarmenCarmen is a French opéra comique by Georges Bizet. The libretto is by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy, based on the novella of the same title by Prosper Mérimée, first published in 1845, itself influenced by the narrative poem The Gypsies by Alexander Pushkin...
|
Micaëla |
| 1979 |
VerdiGiuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi was an Italian Romantic composer, mainly of opera. He was one of the most influential composers of the 19th century...
|
Simon Boccanegra Simon Boccanegra is an opera with a prologue and three acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Francesco Maria Piave, based on the play Simón Bocanegra by Antonio García Gutiérrez....
|
Maria Boccanegra |
|
Massenet Jules Massenet was a French composer best known for his operas. His compositions were very popular in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and he ranks as one of the greatest melodists of his era. Soon after his death, his style went out of fashion, and many of his operas fell into almost...
|
Werther Werther is an opera in four acts by Jules Massenet to a French libretto by Édouard Blau, Paul Milliet and Georges Hartmann based on the German epistolary novel The Sorrows of Young Werther by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe....
|
Sophie |
|
WagnerWilhelm Richard Wagner was a German composer, conductor, theatre director and essayist, primarily known for his operas...
|
ParsifalParsifal is an opera in three acts by Richard Wagner. It is loosely based on Wolfram von Eschenbach's Parzival, the 13th century epic poem of the Arthurian knight Parzival and his quest for the Holy Grail....
|
Flower Maiden |
| 1980 |
BelliniVincenzo Salvatore Carmelo Francesco Bellini was an Italian opera composer. His most famous works are La Sonnambula and Norma...
|
La sonnambulaLa sonnambula is an opera semiseria in two acts, music by Vincenzo Bellini to an Italian libretto by Felice Romani, based on a ballet-pantomime by Eugène Scribe....
|
Lisa |
| 1981 |
Mozart |
The Marriage of FigaroLe nozze di Figaro, ossia la folle giornata , K. 492, is an opera buffa by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, with Italian libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte, based on a stage comedy by Pierre Beaumarchais, La folle journée, ou le Mariage de Figaro .Although the play by Beaumarchais was at first banned in Vienna...
|
Countess Almaviva |
| 1982 |
Mozart |
Don Giovanni Don Giovanni is an opera in two acts with music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and with Italian libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte. It was premiered in the Estates Theatre in Prague on October 29, 1787...
|
Donna Elvira |
| 1984 |
PoulencFrancis Jean Marcel Poulenc was a French composer and a member of the French group Les Six. He composed music in all major genres, including art song, chamber music, oratorio, opera, ballet music, and orchestral music...
|
Dialogues of the Carmelites The Dialogues of the Carmelites , is an opera in three acts by Francis Poulenc. In 1953, M. Valcarenghi approached Poulenc to commission a ballet for La Scala in Milan; when Poulenc found the proposed subject uninspiring, Valcarenghi suggested instead the screenplay by Georges Bernanos, based on...
|
Blanche de la Force |
Recordings
- Bizet: Carmen (Elena Obraztsova
Elena Vasiliyevna Obraztsova is a Russian mezzo-soprano.As a child Obraztsova lived in Leningrad through the long siege during World War II. In 1954-1957 Obraztsova studied in Taganrog's musical school named after Tchaikovsky and frequently participated in concerts onstage of Taganrog Theatre...
, Plácido DomingoJosé Plácido Domingo Embil , better known as Plácido Domingo, is a Spanish tenor, known for his versatile and strong voice, possessing a ringing and dramatic tone throughout its range. In March 2008, he debuted in his 128th opera role, giving Domingo more roles than any other tenor...
, Isobel Buchanan, Wiener Staatsoper orchestra and chorus, Carlos KleiberCarlos Kleiber was an Austrian conductor.- Early career :Kleiber was born as Karl Ludwig Kleiber in Berlin, the son of the Austrian conductor Erich Kleiber and Ruth Goodrich, an American.. In 1935, the Kleiber family emigrated to Buenos Aires, after Erich Kleiber had resigned his post at the...
) DVD TDK, formerly , is a Japanese company that manufactures electronic materials, electronic components, and recording and data-storage media, and markets them globally. Their motto is "Contribute to culture and industry through creativity"...
8 24121 00097 4
- Bellini: La sonnambula (Joan Sutherland
Dame Joan Alston Sutherland, OM, AC, DBE is an Australian dramatic coloratura soprano noted for her contribution in the renaissance of the bel canto repertoire from the late 1950s through to the 1980s....
, Luciano PavarottiLuciano Pavarotti Cavaliere di Gran Croce OMRI was an Italian operatic tenor, who also crossed over into popular music, eventually becoming one of the most commercially successful tenors of all time. He was one of "The Three Tenors" and became well-known for his televised concerts and media...
, Nicolai GhiaurovNicolai Ghiaurov was a Bulgarian opera singer and one of the most famous bass singers of the postwar period. He was admired for his powerful, sumptuous voice, and was particularly associated with roles of Verdi.Ghiaurov married the Italian soprano Mirella Freni in 1978. The two singers...
, Isobel Buchanan, Della JonesDella Jones , is a Welsh mezzo-soprano, particularly well-known for her interpretations of works by Händel, Mozart, Rossini, Donizetti, and Britten.-Life and career:Della Jones was born in Tonna, near Neath, Wales...
, National Philharmonic Orchestra, London Opera Chorus, Richard BonyngeRichard Alan Bonynge, CBE AO is an Australian conductor and pianist.Bonynge was born in Sydney and educated at Sydney Boys High School before studying piano at the Royal College of Music in London. He gave up his music scholarship, continuing his private piano studies, and became a coach for...
) CD DeccaDecca Records is a British record label established in 1929 by Edward Lewis. Its U.S. label was established in late 1934; later the link with the British company was broken for several decades...
2LH417-424
- Delibes: Lakmé (Joan Sutherland, Isobel Buchanan, Huguette Tourangeau
Huguette Tourangeau is a French-Canadian operatic mezzo-soprano, particularly associated with the French and Italian repertories.- Life and career :...
, Henri Wilden, John PringleSir John Pringle, 1st Baronet, FRS, was a Scottish physician who has been called the "father of military medicine" ....
, Elizabeth Sydney Orchestra, Australian Opera Chorus, Richard Bonynge) DVD Kultur VideoKultur Video is a video company that specializes mostly in issuing televised performances of the classics, both musical and dramatic. Along with issuing famous television programs by such artists as Leonard Bernstein and Mikhail Baryshnikov, they are also responsible for videocassettes and/or DVD's...
32031 00389
- Massenet: Werther (José Carreras
Josep Maria Carreras i Coll , better known as José Carreras, is a Spanish Catalan tenor particularly known for his performances in the operas of Verdi and Puccini...
, 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
Christa Ludwig is a German mezzo-soprano , distinguished for her performances of opera, Lieder, oratorio and other major religious works like masses and Passions, and solos contained in symphonic literature...
, Anne CollinsAnne Collins was an English contralto. She was born in Durham on 29 August 1943 and died in Sussex on 15 July 2009.She studied at the Royal College of Music, London, first the cello and then vocal studies, where her teachers included Oda Slobodskaya....
, Isobel Buchanan, National Philharmonic Orchestra, Richard Bonynge) CD Decca 458218
External links