Althea Bridges (born 11 January 1936) is an opera singer (

soprano A soprano () is a type of classical female singing voice and has the highest vocal range of all voice types. The soprano's vocal range (using scientific pitch notation) is from approximately middle C (C4) = 261 Hz to "high A" (A5) = 880&n ...

) and music teacher. She lives in Austria.

Life

Born in Sydney, Australia, Bridges studied at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music under

Marianne Mathy Marianne Mathy () (23 June 1890 – 18 October 1978) was a coloratura soprano opera singer and distinguished teacher of opera and classical singing. Germany Born Marianne Helene Sara Kahn in Mannheim, Germany, in 1913 Marianne married Colonel E ...

, and during the early 1960s was part of the Elizabethan Trust Opera Company, under artistic director Stefan Hermann Haag. She took part in singing contests in Sydney, with the intention of furthering her career overseas, and won the

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

Concerto and Vocal Competition in 1963. After raising money to travel, in 1965 she visited Europe and won first prize in the Munich International Vocal Competition. The prize money and media appearances allowed her to remain in Europe, and she told her family she planned to stay indefinitely in Germany. After making her debut at the Graz Opera in 1966, Bridges was engaged there until 1970, but also sang elsewhere. She toured Europe, and appeared in televised Opera recorded by the BBC. She sang in the world premiere of '' Prometheus'' at the

Staatstheater Stuttgart The Staatstheater Stuttgart (Stuttgart State Theatre) is a theatre with three locations, Oper Stuttgart (Opera Stuttgart), Stuttgarter Ballett (Stuttgart Ballet), and Schauspiel Stuttgart (Stuttgart Drama Theatre), in Stuttgart, Germany. The s ...

, conducted by the composer Carl Orff. She worked at the

Linz State Theatre The Linz State Theatre (german: Landestheater Linz) is a theatre in Linz, Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a ...

between 1970 and 2002, where she appeared in major opera roles under the artistic directors Alfred Stögmüller and

Roman Zeilinger Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a letter ...

. She has also appeared on many other stages, such as the Vienna State Opera, the

Hamburg State Opera The Hamburg State Opera (in German: Staatsoper Hamburg) is a German opera company based in Hamburg. Its theatre is near the square of Gänsemarkt. Since 2015, the current ''Intendant'' of the company is Georges Delnon, and the current ''General ...

, the Oper Frankfurt, and the Glyndebourne Festival Opera. Bridges retired at the end of the 2021/2002 season and made her last appearance as "Specki" in the

Franzobel Franzobel is the pseudonym of the Austrian writer (Franz) Stefan Griebl. He was born on 1 March 1967 in Vöcklabruck. In 1997 he won the Wolfgang Weyrauch Prize and in 1998, the Kassel Literary Prize, amongst numerous other literary awards. In 2 ...

opera '' Weils Kind Schlaf will''. Aged 81, in 2016 Bridges performed a farewell concert with her son Sven Sorring and many of her music students to raise money for charity. She lives in

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

near Rottenegg.

Awards

* 1965: First prize for singing at the

ARD International Music Competition The ARD International Music Competition (german: link=no, Internationaler Musikwettbewerb der ARD) is the largest international classical music competition in Germany. It is organised by the Bayerischer Rundfunk and held once a year in Munich. Si ...

* 2004: Mostdipf Prize

External links

Althea Bridges
at ''Operissimo'' based on the Great Singer Lexicon *

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bridges, Althea 1936 births Australian operatic sopranos Voice teachers Living people