Jane Marie Andrée Rhodes (March 13, 1929 – May 7, 2011) was a French opera singer whose voice encompassed both the soprano

Soprano

A soprano is a voice type with a vocal range from approximately middle C to "high A" in choral music, or to "soprano C" or higher in operatic music. In four-part chorale style harmony, the soprano takes the highest part, which usually encompasses the melody...

 and high mezzo-soprano

Mezzo-soprano

A mezzo-soprano is a type of classical female singing voice whose range lies between the soprano and the contralto singing voices, usually extending from the A below middle C to the A two octaves above...

 ranges. Her most celebrated role was Carmen

Carmen

Carmen 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 possibly influenced by the narrative poem The Gypsies by Alexander Pushkin...

, which she sang in the opera's first ever staging at the Palais Garnier

Palais Garnier

The Palais Garnier, , is an elegant 1,979-seat opera house, which was built from 1861 to 1875 for the Paris Opera. It was originally called the Salle des Capucines because of its location on the Boulevard des Capucines in the 9th arrondissement of Paris, but soon became known as the Palais Garnier...

. She also created the roles of Isadora in Marcel Landowski

Marcel Landowski

Marcel François Paul Landowski was a French composer, biographer and arts administrator.Born at Pont-l'Abbé, Finistère, Brittany, he was the son of French sculptor Paul Landowski and great-grandson of the composer Henri Vieuxtemps.As an infant he showed early musical promise, and studied piano...

's Le Fou and Mague­lone in Georges Delerue

Georges Delerue

Georges Delerue , was a French film composer who composed over 350 scores for cinema and television. He won numerous important awards including Rome Prize , Emmy Award , Genie Award , ACE Award and Academy Award for Best Original Score in 1979 for A...

's Le Chevalier de Neige and sang Renata in the first recorded performance of Prokofiev's The Fiery Angel. Admired for both her voice and her glamorous stage presence, she was nicknamed the "Bardot

Brigitte Bardot

Brigitte Anne-Marie Bardot is a French former fashion model, actress, singer and animal rights activist. She was one of the best-known sex-symbols of the 1960s.In her early life, Bardot was an aspiring ballet dancer...

 of the Opéra".

Sources

• Agence France-Presse
  Agence France-Presse
  Agence France-Presse is a French news agency, the oldest one in the world, and one of the three largest with Associated Press and Reuters. It is also the largest French news agency. Currently, its CEO is Emmanuel Hoog and its news director Philippe Massonnet...
  
   (May 7, 2011). "French opera singer Jane Rhodes dies"
• Diapason
  Diapason (magazine)
  Diapason is a monthly magazine published in French by Italian media group, Mondadori. It focuses on classical music, especially classical music recordings and hi-fi...
  
  (May 8, 2011). "Jane Rhodes, l'une de nos plus belles Carmen, est morte"
• Driscoll, F. Paul (May 27, 2011). "Jane Rhodes, 82, French Soprano Nicknamed "Bardot of the Opéra," Has Died". Opera News
  Opera News
  Opera News is an American classical music magazine. It has been published since 1936 by the Metropolitan Opera Guild, a non-profit organization located at Lincoln Center which was founded to support the Metropolitan Opera of New York City...
  
  
• Kuhn, Laura (ed.) (2000). "Rhodes, Jane (Marie Andrée)". Baker's Dictionary of Opera. Schirmer Books, p. 652. ISBN 0028653491
• L'Express
  L'Express (France)
  L'Express is a French weekly news magazine. When founded in 1953 during the First Indochina War, it was modelled on the US magazine TIME.-History:...
  
  (May 9, 2011). "La cantatrice Jane Rhodes est morte"
• Metropolitan Opera
  Metropolitan Opera
  The Metropolitan Opera is an opera company, located in New York City. Originally founded in 1880, the company gave its first performance on October 22, 1883. The company is operated by the non-profit Metropolitan Opera Association, with Peter Gelb as general manager...
  
  Archives. Performance Record: Rhodes, Jane (Soprano)

External links

• Jane Rhodes: "Ma divine folle!" Biography of Jane Rhodes by Bruno-Pierre Wauthier with portraits and magazine covers on which Rhodes appeared during her career