Pamela Anne Bowden (17 April 19258 April 2003 (age 78)) was an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

contralto A contralto () is a type of classical female singing voice whose vocal range is the lowest female voice type. The contralto's vocal range is fairly rare; similar to the mezzo-soprano, and almost identical to that of a countertenor, typically b ...

. Bowden was born in

Rochdale Rochdale ( ) is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, at the foothills of the South Pennines in the dale on the River Roch, northwest of Oldham and northeast of Manchester. It is the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough ...

and was educated at Heywood Grammar School and the

Royal Manchester College of Music The Royal Manchester College of Music (RMCM) was a tertiary level conservatoire in Manchester, north-west England. It was founded in 1893 by the German-born conductor Sir Charles Hallé in 1893. In 1972, the Royal Manchester College of Music a ...

. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

she was a

Wren Wrens are a family of brown passerine birds in the predominantly New World family Troglodytidae. The family includes 88 species divided into 19 genera. Only the Eurasian wren occurs in the Old World, where, in Anglophone regions, it is commonly ...

. In 1954 she won the

Geneva International Music Competition The Geneva International Music Competition () is one of the world's leading international music competitions, founded in 1939. In 1957, it was one of the founding members of the World Federation of International Music Competition (WFIMC), whose he ...

. She made over 750 professional performances, retiring in 1979. After this she taught at the

London College of Music London College of Music (LCM) is a music school in London, England. It is one of eight separate schools that make up the University of West London. History LCM was founded in 1887 and existed as an independent music conservatoire based at Gr ...

and was

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of the

Incorporated Society of Musicians The Independent Society of Musicians (ISM) is the UK and Ireland's professional body for musicians representing over 11,000 individuals across all areas of the music industry. The ISM is also a subject association for music education and is an ind ...

. She was also an eloquent advocate of the music of her contemporaries, singing and recording to advantage Tippett's A Child Of Our Time, Britten's ingenuous A Charm Of Lullabies, Lennox Berkeley's tender Four Poems Of St Teresa Of Avila, and the role of Isabella in Bernard Hermann's opera Wuthering Heights. Malcolm Arnold wrote his Five William Blake Songs with Bowden in mind. Between 1954 and 1979, when she retired, she gave more than 750 performances and/or broadcasts under the most distinguished conductors of the day, among them Josef Krips, Paul Sacher, Solti, Sargent, Boult, Mackerras and Boulez. The consistency of her contributions derived from her innate musicianship and innate sense of the appropriate style. Bowden's operatic appearances were limited to some with the English Opera Group and the role of Madame Larina in Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin, at both Glyndebourne and Covent Garden. Her interpretation of that part, sympathetic and well-pointed as regards the text - she sang it in both Russian and English - showed what the stage lost through the infrequency of her excursions into opera. In retirement, she had a fruitful career as a singing teacher, an administrator and adjudicator. As I recall from working with her on juries, her judgment was always judicious and assured. While searching for the best in any participant's performance, she was also acute in her ability to put her finger on faults. She was also president of the Incorporated Society of Musicians. She married the racing driver Derrick Edwards in 1960. He died in 2000: they had two children.

References

1925 births 2003 deaths English contraltos People educated at Heywood Grammar School Alumni of the Royal Manchester College of Music Academics of the University of West London Winners of the Geneva International Music Competition 20th-century English women singers 20th-century English singers Presidents of the Independent Society of Musicians {{UK-singer-stub