Elizabeth Connell 1946-2012
South African soprano dies aged 65.
All at the Royal Opera House are saddened to hear of the death of soprano Elizabeth Connell at the age of 65.
Born in Port Elizabeth, South Africa, the singer moved to London in 1970 to study at the London Opera Centre. Two years later she made her professional debut as a mezzo-soprano, before switching to soprano repertory in 1983.
Her Royal Opera debut was as Viclinda in I Lombardi alla prima crociata in 1976, and she went on to sing a number of roles with the company including Eboli (Don Carlos), Vitellia (La clemenza di Tito), Fiordiligi (Così fan tutte), Leonora (Il trovatore), Leonore (Fidelio), Elettra (Idomeneo), Odabella (Attila) and the title role in Elektra.
She sang to acclaim for international opera houses and festivals including The Metropolitan Opera, La Scala, Vienna State Opera, ENO, Glyndebourne and Bayreuth.
Her last appearances with The Royal Opera were as Gertrud in Hänsel und Gretel and as the title role in Turandot, both in December 2008, receiving critical acclaim. Our thoughts are with her friends and family at this time.
How very sad. I saw ( Lohengrin ) and met her at Bayreuth 1982. A very lovely, and special lady.
The 2008 Turandot performance was a joy to see; at the House singing Gertrud, at short notice she stood in as Turandot, and apparently fearlessly gave a subtle and three-dimensional portrait of this difficult character, and a more musical performance than we have sometimes heard of the role, even at this venue. Whether she could have sung a run of performances is immaterial - one performance made the point well enough, and was an object lesson in How To Do It.