Anne Wood (2 August 1907 – 12 June 1998), was a British mezzo-soprano singer and opera administrator.

Early life

Anne Wood was born on 2 August 1907 at The Grange, Crawley, Sussex, the daughter of Percival Wood, JP for Sussex, and his wife, Eleanor. She was educated at

St Mary's School, Calne St Mary's School is an independent day and boarding school in Calne, Wiltshire, for girls aged 11 to 18. The school is a registered charity. St Mary's Calne is the top performing independent school in the South West, ranked by 2017 examinatio ...

, and studied singing alongside

Elena Gerhardt Elena Gerhardt (11 November 1883 – 11 January 1961) was a German mezzo-soprano singer associated with the singing of German classical lieder, of which she was considered one of the great interpreters. She left Germany for good to live in London ...

, George Parker, and Eve de Reussy.

Career

In 1934, Wood joined the

BBC Singers The BBC Singers are a British chamber choir, and the professional chamber choir of the BBC. One of the six BBC Performing Groups, the BBC Singers are based at the BBC's Maida Vale Studios in London. The only full-time professional British ...

, at the same time as

Peter Pears Sir Peter Neville Luard Pears ( ; 22 June 19103 April 1986) was an English tenor. His career was closely associated with the composer Benjamin Britten, his personal and professional partner for nearly forty years. Pears' musical career starte ...

, who was to become her lifelong friend. Wood was the other soloist in Pera's first commercial recording,

Peter Warlock Philip Arnold Heseltine (30 October 189417 December 1930), known by the pseudonym Peter Warlock, was a British composer and music critic. The Warlock name, which reflects Heseltine's interest in occult practices, was used for all his published ...

's ''Corpus Christi Carol'' in 1936. During the Second World War, she was employed by the

Ministry of Economic Warfare The Minister of Economic Warfare was a British government position which existed during the Second World War. The minister was in charge of the Special Operations Executive and the Ministry of Economic Warfare. See also * Blockade of Germany (193 ...

to work on

black propaganda Black propaganda is a form of propaganda intended to create the impression that it was created by those it is supposed to discredit. Black propaganda contrasts with gray propaganda, which does not identify its source, as well as white propagan ...

, as she was a fluent in the German language. By night she drove an ambulance. Wood also worked for the Council for the Encouragement of Music and the Arts, later ENSA; and was an ambulance driver during the evening. After the War, Wood returned to her career and was a "leading mezzo-soprano", and a "resourceful interpreter" of contemporary and modern music. She sang in many premières, including in 1950,

Benjamin Britten Edward Benjamin Britten, Baron Britten (22 November 1913 – 4 December 1976, aged 63) was an English composer, conductor, and pianist. He was a central figure of 20th-century British music, with a range of works including opera, other ...

Spring Symphony The Spring Symphony is a choral symphony by Benjamin Britten, his Opus 44. It is dedicated to Serge Koussevitzky and the Boston Symphony Orchestra. It was premiered in the Concertgebouw, Amsterdam, on Thursday 14 July 1949 (not 9 July which is ...

in Amsterdam. In 1948, Wood was one of the prime movers in the creation of the

English Opera Group The English Opera Group was a small company of British musicians formed in 1947 by the composer Benjamin Britten (along with John Piper, Eric Crozier and Anne Wood) for the purpose of presenting his and other, primarily British, composers' operat ...

, and was its general manager until 1951, working alongside Britten, John Piper, and

Eric Crozier Eric Crozier OBE (14 November 19147 September 1994) was a British theatrical director, opera librettist and producer, long associated with Benjamin Britten. Early life and career Crozier was born in London and studied at the Royal Academy of Dr ...

. In 1949, together with the soprano

Joan Cross Joan Cross (7 September 1900 – 12 December 1993) was an English soprano, closely associated with the operas of Benjamin Britten. She also sang in the Italian and German operatic repertoires. She later became a musical administrator, taking on ...

, Wood formed the Opera Studio, the first school in the UK to train opera singers; and by 1952 it had become the London Opera School, and in 1959, the National School of Opera, and later,

London Opera Centre The London Opera Centre, a school for the training of opera singers and other opera professionals, existed in England between 1963 and 1978. It was located in the former Troxy Cinema on Commercial Road in London's East End Borough of Stepney (now T ...

. For many years, she and her long-term companion, Scottish mezzo-soprano Johanna Peters (1932–2000) ran Phoenix Opera, a touring company.

Later life

Wood died on 12 June 1998 at the

Hospital of St John and St Elizabeth The Hospital of St John and St Elizabeth in St John's Wood, London, England, is a Catholic charitable general hospital in north London. History and operations The hospital was founded in 1856 with a Roman Catholic affiliation and is a register ...

, Westminster, London.

References

1907 births 1998 deaths People from Crawley British arts administrators Women arts administrators Operatic mezzo-sopranos 20th-century British women opera singers Musicians from Sussex People educated at St Mary's School, Calne {{opera-singer-stub