Joan Rodgers

C.B.E. The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established ...

(born 1956,

Cleator Moor Cleator Moor is a town and civil parish in Cumbria, England, within the historic county of Cumberland. It had a population of 6,936 at the 2011 census. Below Dent Fell, the town is on the Coast to Coast Walk that spans Northern England. ...

Cumbria Cumbria ( ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in North West England, bordering Scotland. The county and Cumbria County Council, its local government, came into existence in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972. Cumb ...

, England) is an English

operatic soprano A soprano () is a type of classical female singing voice and has the highest vocal range of all voice types. The soprano's vocal range (using scientific pitch notation) is from approximately middle C (C4) = 261 Hz to "high A" (A5) = 880&n ...

. She was married to the conductor

Paul Daniel Paul Daniel (born 5 July 1958) is an English conductor. Biography Early life Daniel was born in Birmingham. As a boy, he sang in the choir of Coventry Cathedral, where he received musical training; then studied music at King's College, Cambr ...

, and married Alan Samson in 2013. She studied singing with

Audrey Langford Audrey Langford (28 June 1912, Rochdale — 5 August 1994, Bromley) was an English soprano, conductor, and voice teacher. Musicologist Elizabeth Forbes wrote, "Audrey Langford will no doubt go down in musical history as a superb singing teacher ...

. She made her professional opera debut at the

Aix-en-Provence Festival The Festival d'Aix-en-Provence is an annual international music festival which takes place each summer in Aix-en-Provence, principally in July. Devoted mainly to opera, it also includes concerts of orchestral, chamber, vocal and solo instrumenta ...

in 1982 as Pamina 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 ...

''; a role she later sang for her debut 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 ...

in New York in 1995. In 1983 she made her debut at the

English National Opera English National Opera (ENO) is an opera company based in London, resident at the London Coliseum in St Martin's Lane. It is one of the two principal opera companies in London, along with The Royal Opera. ENO's productions are sung in English ...

as the Wood Nymph in '' Rusalka'', and performed for the first time at the

Royal Opera House The Royal Opera House (ROH) is an opera house and major performing arts venue in Covent Garden, central London. The large building is often referred to as simply Covent Garden, after a previous use of the site. It is the home of The Royal Op ...

as the princess in ''

L'enfant et les sortilèges ''L'enfant et les sortilèges: Fantaisie lyrique en deux parties'' (''The Child and the Spells: A Lyric Fantasy in Two Parts'') is an opera in one act, with music by Maurice Ravel to a libretto by Colette. It is Ravel's second opera, his first be ...

''. She made her debut at the

Glyndebourne Festival Opera Glyndebourne Festival Opera is an annual opera festival held at Glyndebourne, an English country house near Lewes, in East Sussex, England. History Under the supervision of the Christie family, the festival has been held annually since 1934, e ...

in 1989 as Susanna in Mozart'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 ...

''.

References

1956 births Living people English operatic sopranos 20th-century British women opera singers 21st-century British women opera singers People from Cleator Moor Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Alumni of the University of Liverpool Alumni of the Royal Northern College of Music {{UK-opera-singer-stub