Amy Black (17 September 1973 – 24 November 2009) was a British

mezzo-soprano A mezzo-soprano or mezzo (; ; meaning "half soprano") is a type of classical female singing voice whose vocal range lies between the soprano and the contralto voice types. The mezzo-soprano's vocal range usually extends from the A below middle C ...

opera singer of international repute. She was born in Hedon, in the

East Riding of Yorkshire The East Riding of Yorkshire, or simply East Riding or East Yorkshire, is a ceremonial county and unitary authority area in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England. It borders North Yorkshire to the north and west, South Yorkshire to t ...

, and trained at the

Royal Academy of Music The Royal Academy of Music (RAM) in London, England, is the oldest conservatoire in the UK, founded in 1822 by John Fane and Nicolas-Charles Bochsa. It received its royal charter in 1830 from King George IV with the support of the first Duke of ...

. She made numerous appearances at the popular Classics in the Park event, held at

Brantingham Brantingham is a village and civil parish in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England, about north of Brough, west of Hull and north of the A63 road. The 2011 UK Census gave the parish had a population of 370, marking a decrease from the 2001 ...

, and also sang for Glyndebourne Opera, English Touring Opera, The European Union Opera, Wexford Festival Opera and English National Opera. In 2009, she gave a personal performance for

Plácido Domingo José Plácido Domingo Embil (born 21 January 1941) is a Spanish opera singer, conductor, and arts administrator. He has recorded over a hundred complete operas and is well known for his versatility, regularly performing in Italian, French, ...

Qatar Qatar (, ; ar, قطر, Qaṭar ; local vernacular pronunciation: ), officially the State of Qatar,) is a country in Western Asia. It occupies the Qatar Peninsula on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East; it sh ...

and in 2002, she gave a solo recital at the British Embassy in Asunción, Paraguay to celebrate the Queen's Golden Jubilee. Tests earlier in 2009 had revealed that Amy had a bicuspid aortic heart valve, meaning the valve that pumps blood away from the heart has only two valve leaflets instead of the usual three. She could not sing for three months after her surgery, but made a comeback in October with an emotional performance at Toll Gavel Methodist Church in

Beverley Beverley is a market town, market and minster (church), minster town and a civil parishes in England, civil parish in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England, of which it is the county town. The town centre is located south-east of York's centre ...

. She died on 24 November 2009. She was 36 years old and had undergone heart surgery five months earlier. She never forgot her home town, helping to raise thousands of pounds for

St Augustine's Church, Hedon St Augustine's Church is a Church of England parish church located in Hedon, East Riding of Yorkshire, England. The church is a Grade I listed building. History The church dates from the Middle Ages. The oldest part of the church dates from 1 ...

, where she had sung in the choir as a girl. Hundreds of mourners packed into St Augustine's Church for her funeral on 7 December 2009. Amy's fellow musicians from the English National Opera attended the service and sang a piece from

Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 17565 December 1791), baptised as Joannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart, was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. Despite his short life, his ra ...

's '' Idomeneo'', which Black had been due to perform in 2010.

References

External links

Amy Black's career in pictures in the ''Hull Daily Mail''
1973 births 2009 deaths English mezzo-sopranos People from Hedon Alumni of the Royal Academy of Music 20th-century British women opera singers {{UK-opera-singer-stub