Jennifer Gay Bishop (16 December 1933 – 17 January 2022), known by her stage name Jennifer Toye, was a British operatic soprano best known for performances with the

D'Oyly Carte Opera Company The D'Oyly Carte Opera Company is a professional British light opera company that, from the 1870s until 1982, staged Gilbert and Sullivan's Savoy operas nearly year-round in the UK and sometimes toured in Europe, North America and elsewhere. Th ...

in the 1950s and 1960s, including as Josephine in ''

H.M.S. Pinafore ''H.M.S. Pinafore; or, The Lass That Loved a Sailor'' is a comic opera in two acts, with music by Arthur Sullivan and a libretto by W. S. Gilbert. It opened at the Opera Comique in London, on 25 May 1878 and ran for 571 performances, which ...

'', Mabel in ''

The Pirates of Penzance ''The Pirates of Penzance; or, The Slave of Duty'' is a comic opera in two acts, with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert, W. S. Gilbert. Its official premiere was at the Fifth Avenue Theatre in New York City on 31 ...

'' and Yum-Yum in '' The Mikado''. She later performed in musical theatre and opera with other companies.

Life and career

Toye was born in Holywell, Flintshire, in North Wales, the daughter of the professional singer Eleanor Toye and her husband, Joseph Richard Bishop, a lawyer."A Woman's Note", ''Liverpool Echo'', 18 November 1958, p. 8 She had a brother, Francis."Jennifer Toye, singer who rose from the D’Oyly Carte chorus to principal soprano – obituary"
''The Telegraph'', 17 February 2022 Her maternal uncles included

Francis Francis may refer to: People *Pope Francis, the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State and Bishop of Rome *Francis (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters *Francis (surname) Places * Rural M ...

and Geoffrey Toye; her use of her mother's family name as a stage name connected her with her uncles' established musical careers. She was educated at Bon Sauveur Convent, Anglesey, and studied vocal music at the British Institute of Florence, which was at the time under the direction of her uncle Francis.Stone, David
"Jennifer Toye"
Who Was Who in the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company, 18 January 2022, accessed 12 February 2022 In September 1953, having performed with amateur companies in North Wales, Toye joined the

,Rollins and Witts, p. 178 of which her uncle Geoffrey had been musical director in the 1920s. In the 1954–55 season she was given the small roles of Ada and Chloe in '' Princess Ida''. In 1957 she sang the Plaintiff in '' Trial by Jury'', Sacharissa in ''Princess Ida'' and Kate in '' The Yeomen of the Guard'', and added Casilda in '' The Gondoliers'' the following season. In May 1960 Toye was promoted to principal soprano in succession to

Jean Hindmarsh Jean Hindmarsh (born 1932) is a retired English singer and actress. She is best known as a principal soprano with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company in the 1950s and 1960s. Biography Hindmarsh was born in Leeds and educated at Lawnswood High Scho ...

and took on the roles of Josephine in ''

'', Mabel in ''

'', Lady Ella in '' Patience'' and Elsie Maynard in ''The Yeomen of the Guard''. The following season she added Yum-Yum in '' The Mikado'', Lady Psyche in '' Princess Ida'', and Celia in ''

Iolanthe ''Iolanthe; or, The Peer and the Peri'' () is a comic opera with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert, first performed in 1882. It is one of the Savoy operas and is the seventh of fourteen operatic collaborations by Gilbert ...

''. She also made occasional appearances as Phyllis in ''Iolanthe'' and Zorah in '' Ruddigore'' during the 1963–64 season. She continued to perform with D'Oyly Carte until 1965. Having joined the company for experience, she told a press reporter that she felt it time to move on: "I can't pretend I'm here for experience any more … I'm not tired of it at all, but if I'm ever to get any other experience the time is now". During her time with D'Oyly Carte, Toye took part in two tours of North America. During the second tour she married a flautist in April 1965."One of the Few Steady Jobs in Theatre", ''The Montreal Star'', 11 March 1963, p. 1 While with the company she also took part in concert performances ranging from Bach's ''

St John Passion The ''Passio secundum Joannem'' or ''St John Passion'' (german: Johannes-Passion, link=no), BWV 245, is a Passion or oratorio by Johann Sebastian Bach, the older of the surviving Passions by Bach. It was written during his first year as direc ...

'' to Gilbert and Sullivan miscellanies with D'Oyly Carte colleagues. After leaving D'Oyly Carte, Toye appeared on a cruise ship for nine months and on stage in '' Lock Up Your Daughters'' in York, on television with Arthur Askey and the Fol-de-Rols, and in pantomime in the title role in ''Cinderella'', and as the Empress in ''Aladdin''. In the early 1970s she was a member of the chorus of Sadler's Wells Opera (later English National Opera) company, where she sang in a wide range of operas by composers from Monteverdi to Wagner. She left that company in the mid-1970s to care for her father during his final illness. In 1979, she married Michael Rees, a business executive; they settled in Kingston-Upon-Thames, where they operated a bespoke hardwood joinery business for the next 30 years. Toye died on 17 January 2022, at the age of 88.

Recordings

On recordings made by the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company, Toye performs as Peep-Bo in the 1957 ''Mikado'', as Celia in the 1960 ''Iolanthe'', as Casilda in the 1961 ''Gondoliers'' and as Lady Ella in the 1961 ''Patience''. She also voices Zorah in the 1967 Halas and Batchelor animated film of '' Ruddigore''.Shepherd, Marc
"The Halas and Batchelor ''Ruddigore''"
A Gilbert and Sullivan Discography, 2000, accessed 12 February 2022

Notes

Sources

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External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Toye, Jennifer Toye family 1933 births 2022 deaths People from Holywell, Flintshire Welsh operatic sopranos 20th-century Welsh women opera singers 20th-century Welsh actresses