Emily Jean Mair (16 May 1928 – 15 May 2021) was a Scottish-born New Zealand opera singer, pianist and vocal coach. She trained a number of well-known New Zealand opera singers, including

Simon O'Neill Simon John O'Neill (born 1971) is a New Zealand-born operatic tenor. In 1998, his image appeared on the New Zealand one-dollar performing arts postage stamp. Biography O'Neill was born in Ashburton, New Zealand, and received his musical tra ...

and Aivale Cole.

Early life

Mair was raised in

Newmilns Newmilns is a village in the burgh of Newmilns and Greenholm, in East Ayrshire, Scotland. It has a population of 3,057 people (2001 census) and lies on the A71, around seven miles east of Kilmarnock and twenty-five miles southwest of Glasgow. I ...

, Ayrshire where her father ran a lace-making factory. At age 15 she went to the

Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama The Royal Conservatoire of Scotland ( gd, Conservatoire Rìoghail na h-Alba), formerly the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama ( gd, Acadamaidh Rìoghail Ciùil is Dràma na h-Alba) is a conservatoire of dance, drama, music, production, and ...

in Glasgow, later moving to the

Royal College of Music The Royal College of Music is a music school, conservatoire established by royal charter in 1882, located in South Kensington, London, UK. It offers training from the Undergraduate education, undergraduate to the Doctorate, doctoral level in a ...

in London where she studied piano with

Arthur Benjamin Arthur Leslie Benjamin (18 September 1893, in Sydney – 10 April 1960, in London) was an Australian composer, pianist, conductor and teacher. He is best known as the composer of '' Jamaican Rumba'' (1938) and of the ''Storm Clouds Cantata'', f ...

and

Antony Hopkins Antony Hopkins CBE (21 March 1921 – 6 May 2014) was a composer, pianist, and conductor, as well as a writer and radio broadcaster. He was widely known for his books of musical analysis and for his radio programmes ''Talking About Music'', br ...

. In her third year she joined the opera school.

Career

Mair sang in the

BBC Chorus There have been three choirs named The BBC Chorus in the history of the British Broadcasting Corporation. * 1. Today's BBC Symphony Chorus. Founded in 1928 as the BBC National Chorus, it changed its name to the BBC Chorus in 1932, before changin ...

for three years. Between 1960 and 1962 she appeared three times (as Emily Maire) at

Glyndebourne Glyndebourne () is an English country house, the site of an opera house that, since 1934, has been the venue for the annual Glyndebourne Festival Opera. The house, located near Lewes in East Sussex, England, is thought to be about six hundr ...

first as First Boy in Mozart's ''

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 ...

in 1962.'' This was followed in 1961 and 1962 by singing Gianetta in Donezetti's ''

L'Elisir d'amore ''L'elisir d'amore'' (''The Elixir of Love'', ) is a ' (opera buffa) in two acts by the Italian composer Gaetano Donizetti. Felice Romani wrote the Italian libretto, after Eugène Scribe's libretto for Daniel Auber's ' (1831). The opera premiere ...

.'' In 1960 she moved to

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

where her husband Wilfred Simenauer took up the position of principal cello in the

Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra Royal Liverpool Philharmonic is a music organisation based in Liverpool, England, that manages a professional symphony orchestra, a concert venue, and extensive programmes of learning through music. Its orchestra, the Royal Liverpool Philharmon ...

. In Liverpool she entered a competition to be one of the 'Five New Discoveries' with the Liverpool Philharmonic and performed as Zerlina in ''

Don Giovanni ''Don Giovanni'' (; K. 527; Vienna (1788) title: , literally ''The Rake Punished, or Don Giovanni'') is an opera in two acts with music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to an Italian libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte. Its subject is a centuries-old Spanis ...

'' with the Liverpool Mozart Orchestra. She emigrated to New Zealand in 1965 as Wilfred had been appointed principal cello with the NZBC Symphony Orchestra (now the

New Zealand Symphony Orchestra The New Zealand Symphony Orchestra (NZSO) is a symphony orchestra based in Wellington, New Zealand. The national orchestra of New Zealand, the NZSO is an autonomous Crown entity owned by the Government of New Zealand, per the New Zealand Sympho ...

). She performed in both oratorio and opera; Haydn's ''

Creation Creation may refer to: Religion *''Creatio ex nihilo'', the concept that matter was created by God out of nothing * Creation myth, a religious story of the origin of the world and how people first came to inhabit it * Creationism, the belief tha ...

'' in 1967 and with the New Zealand Opera Company as Adina in ''L'Elisir d'amore'' in 1967, Anna Truelove in '' Rake's Progress'' and Susanna in ''

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 ...

.'' She also performed with the Auckland Sinfonia and Canterbury Opera and in operas for

Television New Zealand , type = Crown entity , industry = Broadcast television , num_locations = New Zealand , location = Auckland, New Zealand , area_served = Nationally (New Zealand) and some Pacific Island nations such as the Cook Islands, Fiji, and the Solom ...

and with the New Opera Company in Wellington in the 1970s. In 1987 she joined the staff of

Victoria University of Wellington Victoria University of Wellington ( mi, Te Herenga Waka) is a university in Wellington, New Zealand. It was established in 1897 by Act of Parliament, and was a constituent college of the University of New Zealand. The university is well know ...

as a voice coach, receiving a Teaching Excellence Award in 1996. In 1988 she was invited to teach at the International Summer Vocal School in Salt Lake City, a role she had undertaken in Belgium in 1986.

Awards and honours

In the

2000 New Year Honours The New Year Honours 2000 for the United Kingdom and New Zealand were announced on 31 December 1999, to celebrate the year passed and mark the beginning of 2000. The ''Honours list'' is a list of people who have been awarded one of the various or ...

, Mair was appointed an

Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit The New Zealand Order of Merit is an order of merit in the New Zealand royal honours system. It was established by royal warrant on 30 May 1996 by Elizabeth II, Queen of New Zealand, "for those persons who in any field of endeavour, have rend ...

, for services to music and singing.

Personal life

She married Wilfred Simenauer, a New Zealand cellist, in England in 1951. They had three sons. She died in Wellington on 15 May 2021, one day before her 93rd birthday.

References

External links

* Emily Mair (1928-2021)
Tribute by Simon O'Neill on RNZ, 17 May 2021
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mair, Emily 1928 births 2021 deaths Officers of the New Zealand Order of Merit New Zealand operatic sopranos New Zealand music teachers 20th-century New Zealand women opera singers Women music educators Scottish emigrants to New Zealand People from Newmilns Alumni of the Royal College of Music Alumni of the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland