Iris Victoria Kells (31 January 1923 – 10 August 2016) was an English operatic soprano. She played leading roles in the 1960s at Sadler's Wells Opera.

Life

Iris Kells was born in

Pachmarhi Pachmarhi is a hill station in Narmadapuram district of Madhya Pradesh states and territories of India, state of central India. It has been the location of a cantonment (Pachmarhi Cantonment) since British Raj. It is widely known as ''Satpura ...

in India; her father was a colonel in the Indan army. The family moved to Britain in 1939, and she enrolled at 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 ...

, studying with

Ralph Vaughan Williams Ralph Vaughan Williams, (; 12 October 1872– 26 August 1958) was an English composer. His works include operas, ballets, chamber music, secular and religious vocal pieces and orchestral compositions including nine symphonies, written over ...

. She later studied with the baritone Clive Carey."Iris Kells, soprano – obituary"
''The Daily Telegraph'', 25 August 2016. Retrieved 5 August 2019."Obituary: Iris Kells"
''The Stage'', 7 September 2016. Retrieved 4 August 2019. In 1949 she joined the chorus of the Royal Opera. She was in the premiere in 1951 of ''The Pilgrim's Progress (opera), The Pilgrim's Progress'', by Vaughan Williams, as the Woodcutter's Boy. She played other small singing roles; she was of small stature, and was often cast as a child or animal. Looking elsewhere, she performed in concert and oratorio. In 1958 she took part in the first recording of the opera ''Peter Grimes'', by Benjamin Britten, in the role of Second Niece. In that year she played Gretel in ''Hansel and Gretel (opera), Hansel and Gretel'' at Sadler's Wells Opera; the reviewer of ''The Stage'' wrote that she had "a clear voice of much sweetness". At the same theatre she appeared in a revival of Vaughan Williams's opera ''Riders to the Sea (opera), Riders to the Sea'', in the role of Cathleen. She appeared in several more productions at Sadler's Wells, including ''Don Giovanni'' in 1960, as Zerlina; ''Cosi fan tutte'' in 1962, as Despina; and Offenbach's ''La Vie parisienne (operetta), La Vie parisienne'' in 1964, as Gabrielle. She was treated for a benign brain tumour in 1966. After the 1960s she made few singing appearances. In the 1970s she was understudy for Judi Dench in ''The Good Companions (musical), The Good Companions'' at Her Majesty's Theatre, and she sang for the Ice Capades at Wembley.

Family

She married in 1947 the conductor Leonard Hancock; the marriage was later dissolved. In 1967 she married Stephen Arlen, the managing director of Sadler's Wells Opera, and they had a daughter, Juliette. Arlen died in 1972. Kells died in 2016, aged 93.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kells, Iris 1923 births 2016 deaths English operatic sopranos People from Pachmarhi Alumni of the Royal College of Music British people in colonial India