Eilene Hannan AM (24 July 194611 July 2014) was an Australian operatic soprano with an international reputation. She was particularly associated with opera sung in English, although she also sang in other languages. She was as well known as an actress as she was a singer. Her repertoire included

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 Pamina, Susanna, Cherubino, Dorabella and Zerlina; Mimì in

Puccini Giacomo Puccini (Lucca, 22 December 1858Bruxelles, 29 November 1924) was an Italian composer known primarily for his operas. Regarded as the greatest and most successful proponent of Italian opera after Verdi, he was descended from a long lin ...

's '' La bohème''; Natasha Rostova in Prokofiev's '' War and Peace''; Tatiana in Tchaikovsky's '' Eugene Onegin''; Marzelline in

Beethoven Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. Beethoven remains one of the most admired composers in the history of Western music; his works rank amongst the most performed of the classical ...

's ''

Fidelio ''Fidelio'' (; ), originally titled ' (''Leonore, or The Triumph of Marital Love''), Op. 72, is Ludwig van Beethoven's only opera. The German libretto was originally prepared by Joseph Sonnleithner from the French of Jean-Nicolas Bouilly, with ...

''; Mélisande in

Debussy (Achille) Claude Debussy (; 22 August 1862 – 25 March 1918) was a French composer. He is sometimes seen as the first Impressionist composer, although he vigorously rejected the term. He was among the most influential composers of the ...

's '' Pelléas et Mélisande''; Blanche in

Poulenc Francis Jean Marcel Poulenc (; 7 January 189930 January 1963) was a French composer and pianist. His compositions include songs, solo piano works, chamber music, choral pieces, operas, ballets, and orchestral concert music. Among the best-kno ...

's '' Dialogues of the Carmelites''; the title roles in Janáček's ''

Káťa Kabanová ''Káťa Kabanová'' (also known in various spellings including ''Katia'', ''Katja'', ''Katya'', and ''Kabanowa'') is an opera in three acts, with music by Leoš Janáček to a libretto by the composer based on '' The Storm'', a play by Alexander ...

'', '' Jenůfa'' and '' The Cunning Little Vixen''; the Marschallin in

Richard Strauss Richard Georg Strauss (; 11 June 1864 – 8 September 1949) was a German composer, conductor, pianist, and violinist. Considered a leading composer of the late Romantic and early modern eras, he has been described as a successor of Richard Wag ...

's '' Der Rosenkavalier''; Princess Eboli in

Verdi Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi (; 9 or 10 October 1813 – 27 January 1901) was an Italian composer best known for his operas. He was born near Busseto to a provincial family of moderate means, receiving a musical education with the h ...

's ''

Don Carlos ''Don Carlos'' is a five-act grand opera composed by Giuseppe Verdi to a French-language libretto by Joseph Méry and Camille du Locle, based on the dramatic play '' Don Carlos, Infant von Spanien'' (''Don Carlos, Infante of Spain'') by Friedri ...

''; Pat Nixon in Adams' ''

Nixon in China ''Nixon in China'' is an opera in three acts by John Adams with a libretto by Alice Goodman. Adams's first opera, it was inspired by U.S. president Richard Nixon's 1972 visit to the People's Republic of China. The work premiered at the Houston G ...

'';

Wagner Wilhelm Richard Wagner ( ; ; 22 May 181313 February 1883) was a German composer, theatre director, polemicist, and conductor who is chiefly known for his operas (or, as some of his mature works were later known, "music dramas"). Unlike most op ...

Sieglinde Sieglinde is a Germanic feminine given name. It is derived from two German words or elements. Those being: "sigu" for victory and "lind" for soft, tender, flexible. The diminutive version is "Sigi" or "Siggie". It is also seen in German mytholog ...

and

Venus Venus is the second planet from the Sun. It is sometimes called Earth's "sister" or "twin" planet as it is almost as large and has a similar composition. As an interior planet to Earth, Venus (like Mercury) appears in Earth's sky never fa ...

; Salome in

Massenet Jules Émile Frédéric Massenet (; 12 May 1842 – 13 August 1912) was a French composer of the Romantic era best known for his operas, of which he wrote more than thirty. The two most frequently staged are ''Manon'' (1884) and ''Werther'' ...

's ''

Hérodiade ''Hérodiade'' is an opera in four acts by Jules Massenet to a French libretto by Paul Milliet and Henri Grémont, based on the novella ''Hérodias'' (1877) by Gustave Flaubert. It was first performed at the Théâtre de la Monnaie in Brussels o ...

''; and Monteverdi's

Poppea Poppaea Sabina (AD 30 – 65), also known as Ollia, was a Roman empress as the second wife of the Emperor Nero. She had also been wife to the future emperor Otho. The historians of antiquity describe her as a beautiful woman who used intrigues ...

Career

Eilene Hannan was born in

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

, the daughter of lawyers,

George Hannan George Conrad Hannan (10 September 19101 May 2009) was an Australian politician who served as a Senator for Victoria from 1956 to 1965 and 1970 to 1974. He was a member of the Liberal Party for all but the last few months of his career, and was ...

and his wife Eileen née Williams. Her father later became a

Senator A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

for Victoria. She attended

Sacré Cœur School Sacré Cœur is a Roman Catholic, independent, day school for girls, located in Glen Iris, a south eastern suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Established in 1888, the school caters to over 700 students from Prep to Year 12 and has an o ...

, Glen Iris. At school she took music only to escape geography, which she hated,David Marr, "Soprano loved for ruthless wit and 'God-given' voice"
''Sydney Morning Herald'', 26 July 2014
Retrieved 15 October 2014 but her real interest was to make a difference in other people's lives in roles such as social worker or counsellor. She was discouraged from pursuing these careers due to her passionate natureAnna Murdoch, "Singer returns to her first choice
''The Age'', 3 April 1989
Retrieved 15 October 2014 and innate musical gifts.Clive Paget, "Eilene Hannan has died
''Limelight'', 14 July 2014
Retrieved 15 October 2014 Her serious singing studies started only when she was 15. She joined the Australian Opera in 1971 appearing first as Barbarina in

's ''

The Marriage of Figaro ''The Marriage of Figaro'' ( it, Le nozze di Figaro, links=no, ), K. 492, is a ''commedia per musica'' (opera buffa) in four acts composed in 1786 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, with an Italian libretto written by Lorenzo Da Ponte. It premie ...

''Barry Millington, "Eileen Hannan Obituary"
''The Guardian'', 1 August 2014
Retrieved 15 October 2014 and

Gilbert and Sullivan Gilbert and Sullivan was a Victorian era, Victorian-era theatrical partnership of the dramatist W. S. Gilbert (1836–1911) and the composer Arthur Sullivan (1842–1900), who jointly created fourteen comic operas between 1871 and 1896, of which ...

. In 1973 she created the role of Natasha Rostova in the Australian premiere of

Sergei Prokofiev Sergei Sergeyevich Prokofiev; alternative transliterations of his name include ''Sergey'' or ''Serge'', and ''Prokofief'', ''Prokofieff'', or ''Prokofyev''., group=n (27 April .S. 15 April1891 – 5 March 1953) was a Russian composer, p ...

's opera '' War and Peace'', the opera chosen as the inaugural production at the

Sydney Opera House The Sydney Opera House is a multi-venue performing arts centre in Sydney. Located on the foreshore of Sydney Harbour, it is widely regarded as one of the world's most famous and distinctive buildings and a masterpiece of 20th-century architec ...

. Conductors and directors under whom she worked at the Australian Opera included Sir

Edward Downes Sir Edward Thomas ("Ted") Downes, CBE (17 June 1924 – 10 July 2009) was an English conductor, specialising in opera. He was associated with the Royal Opera House from 1952, and with Opera Australia from 1970. He was also well known for his ...

, Sir

Mark Elder Sir Mark Philip Elder (born 2 June 1947) is a British conductor. He is currently music director of the Hallé Orchestra in Manchester, England. Life and career Elder was born in Hexham, Northumberland, the son of a dentist. He played the ba ...

, Carlo Felice Cillario,

Richard Bonynge Richard Alan Bonynge ( ) (born 29 September 1930) is an Australian conductor and pianist. He is the widower of Australian dramatic coloratura soprano Dame Joan Sutherland. Bonynge conducted virtually all of Sutherland's operatic performances ...

, Sir John Pritchard,

Sam Wanamaker Samuel Wanamaker, (born Wattenmacker; June 14, 1919 – December 18, 1993) was an American actor and director who moved to the United Kingdom after becoming fearful of being blacklisted in Hollywood due to his communist views. He is credited as ...

, John Copley and Sir Jonathan Miller. Hannan moved to London in 1977, and sang Salome in

's ''

'' at that year's

Wexford Festival Wexford Festival Opera () is an opera festival that takes place in the town of Wexford in south-eastern Ireland during the months of October and November. The festival began in 1951 under Tom Walsh and a group of opera lovers who quickly gener ...

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

.Michael Quinn, "Obituary: Eilene Hannan"
''The Stage''
Retrieved 15 October 2014 Her British debut was at the Glyndebourne Festival in the title role of Janáček’s '' The Cunning Little Vixen''. Under Sir Mark Elder and the English National Opera, which she joined in 1978, she sang Lauretta in

Kurt Weill Kurt Julian Weill (March 2, 1900April 3, 1950) was a German-born American composer active from the 1920s in his native country, and in his later years in the United States. He was a leading composer for the stage who was best known for his fru ...

's '' The Seven Deadly Sins'', Pamina in ''

The Magic Flute ''The Magic Flute'' (German: , ), K. 620, is an opera in two acts by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to a German libretto by Emanuel Schikaneder. The work is in the form of a ''Singspiel'', a popular form during the time it was written that inclu ...

'', where her bell-like purity of tone and her intelligent phrasing came in for special critical approval, and Mimi in

's '' La bohème'', which also attracted superlative reviews. With ENO, Eilene Hannan recorded the female title role in an English-language production of

's '' Pelléas et Mélisande'' in 1981 (available on DVD).Melba Opera Trust
. Retrieved 15 October 2014 She also sang Natasha in London, and also at the

Metropolitan Opera The Metropolitan Opera (commonly known as the Met) is an American opera company based in New York City, resident at the Metropolitan Opera House at Lincoln Center, currently situated on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. The company is operat ...

, New York during ENO's 1984 tour. Another triumph was the 1986 production of Dvořák's ''

Rusalka In Slavic folklore, the rusalka (plural: rusalky/rusalki; ; pl, rusałka}) is a typically feminine entity, often malicious toward mankind and frequently associated with water, with counterparts in other parts of Europe, such as the French Melus ...

'' under director

David Pountney Sir David Willoughby Pountney (born 10 September 1947) is a British-Polish theatre and opera director and librettist internationally known for his productions of rarely performed operas and new productions of classic works. He has directed over ...

(available on DVD). She made her Royal Opera, Covent Garden debut in 1987, as Nice Caroline in Aulis Sallinen's '' The King Goes Forth to France''. In 1988 with her then husband, the pianist Phillip Thomas, she gave a series of performances of

's '' La voix humaine''. She returned to Australia in the late 1980s, and worked in

Neil Armfield Neil Geoffrey Armfield (born 22 April 1955) is an Australian director of theatre, film and opera. Biography Born in Sydney, Armfield is the third and youngest son of Len, a factory worker at the nearby Arnott's Biscuits factory and Nita Armf ...

productions, most notably as the Governess in Britten's '' The Turn of the Screw'' (for which she won a

Green Room Award The Green Room Awards are peer awards which recognise excellence in cabaret, dance, drama, fringe theatre, musical theatre and opera in Melbourne. The awards were started in 1982 when Blair Edgar and Steven Tandy formed the Green Room Awards A ...

) and in the title role of Janáček's ''

''. She regularly sang with

Victoria State Opera The Victoria State Opera (VSO), based in Melbourne, Australia, was founded in Melbourne in 1962. The company, founded by Leonard Spira, was a move into grand opera by the then amateur Gilbert and Sullivan-oriented Victorian Light Opera Co. The n ...

including La Boheme (Mimi) 1985 conducted by

Richard Divall Richard Sydney Divall (9 September 1945 – 15 January 2017) was an Australian conductor and musicologist. After nine years as a music producer at the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, from 1972 on the invitation of Dame Joan Hammond he bec ...

and

Brian Stacey Brian James Stacey, (3 December 194625 October 1996) was an Australian conductor who started his career with the Queensland Ballet, the Australian Ballet, and Victoria State Opera, latterly becoming known for his work in Australian musical theat ...

, Directed by John Copley; and Tannhaüser (Venus) 1989 conducted by Richard Divall, directed by

Richard Cottrell Richard Cottrell (born 15 August 1936) is an English theatre director. He has been the Director of the Cambridge Theatre Company and the Bristol Old Vic in England, and of the Nimrod Theatre in Sydney, Australia. He has also directed for the Ro ...

both productions at the then relatively new State Theatre,

Victorian Arts Centre Arts Centre Melbourne, originally known as the Victorian Arts Centre and briefly called the Arts Centre, is a performing arts centre consisting of a complex of theatres and concert halls in the Melbourne Arts Precinct, located in the central M ...

. In 1996 she created the role of Emma in Richard Mills' opera '' Summer of the Seventeenth Doll'' with

. Her work continued both at home and internationally, singing under conductors such as Sir Charles Mackerras, Sir

Simon Rattle Sir Simon Denis Rattle (born 19 January 1955) is a British-German conductor. He rose to international prominence during the 1980s and 1990s, while music director of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (1980–1998). Rattle was principal ...

and

Pierre Boulez Pierre Louis Joseph Boulez (; 26 March 1925 – 5 January 2016) was a French composer, conductor and writer, and the founder of several musical institutions. He was one of the dominant figures of post-war Western classical music. Born in Mont ...

. In 1989 she sang Hero in Berlioz's ''

Béatrice et Bénédict ''Béatrice et Bénédict'' (''Beatrice and Benedick'') is an '' opéra comique'' in two acts by French composer Hector Berlioz. Berlioz wrote the French libretto himself, based in general outline on a subplot in Shakespeare's ''Much Ado About N ...

'' with Opera North. Growing dissatisfied with the life of a singer, she trained and worked as a counsellor, an interest she had long held, but she later rediscovered her passion for singing and carried on a dual career. In the 1990s she toured Australia as the Mother Abbess in ''

The Sound of Music ''The Sound of Music'' is a musical with music by Richard Rodgers, lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II, and a book by Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse. It is based on the 1949 memoir of Maria von Trapp, '' The Story of the Trapp Family Singers''. Se ...

''. In the Queen's Birthday Honours of 1994, she was appointed a

Member of the Order of Australia The Order of Australia is an honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia, on the advice of the Australian Gove ...

for her services to opera. In the later part of her working life Hannan was a noted English and French language dialect coach, and conducted master classes for th
Dame Nellie Melba Opera Trust
After the deaths of her parents, whom she nursed in their dying years, she returned to London to work as a mentor to younger singers at Covent Garden. Soon after, she was diagnosed with inoperable

cervical cancer Cervical cancer is a cancer arising from the cervix. It is due to the abnormal growth of cells that have the ability to invade or spread to other parts of the body. Early on, typically no symptoms are seen. Later symptoms may include abnormal ...

and died in London on 11 July 2014, aged 67. A public memorial service was held at the Melbourne Recital Centre on 10 August.Melbourne Recital Centre
. Retrieved 15 October 2014

Family and personal life

Her father

was a member of the

Australian Senate The Senate is the upper house of the Bicameralism, bicameral Parliament of Australia, the lower house being the House of Representatives (Australia), House of Representatives. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Chapter ...

for Victoria 1956-65 and again 1970-74, mostly representing the Liberal Party but in his final years as an independent. Her elder sister Judith married Guy Boileau, later Sir Guy Boileau, 8th Baronet. Lady Boileau died on 9 August 2014, less than a month after Eilene. She also had two older brothers, Peter and Michael. Eilene Hannan was the partner of the cellist

Nathan Waks Nathan Waks (born 1951) is an Australian cellist, composer, record producer, arts administrator and wine company owner. Early years Waks was born in 1951, into a musical family, his mother being a talented pianist.1946 births 2014 deaths Australian operatic sopranos Members of the Order of Australia Deaths from cervical cancer Deaths from cancer in England 20th-century Australian women opera singers Singers from Melbourne