Sally Helanna Matthews (born July 1975) is a British 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 ...

Early life

She was born in

Southampton Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...

; her father was an aspiring popular musician. She recalls that, coming from a musical family, she "sang constantly just to pass the time. When I was ten, I started studying with Cynthia Jolly, who had a career as a singer and later became a writer". Studies with Jolly continued until she was 18, and later her teacher at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama was Johanna Peters, although her technique was already set. She attended

The Gregg School The Gregg School is a non-selective independent secondary day school for boys and girls in Townhill Park, Southampton, Hampshire, UK, with an associated kindergarten and primary school, the Gregg Preparatory School, near Southampton Common. Th ...

, a local independent school. She went to the

Guildhall School of Music and Drama The Guildhall School of Music and Drama is a conservatoire and drama school located in the City of London, United Kingdom. Established in 1880, the school offers undergraduate and postgraduate training in all aspects of classical music and jazz ...

. Andrew Porter noted in ''Opera'' that her rendition of '

O mio babbino caro "" ("Oh my dear Papa”) is a soprano aria from the opera ''Gianni Schicchi'' (1918) by Giacomo Puccini to a libretto by Giovacchino Forzano. It is sung by Lauretta after tensions between her father Schicchi and the family of Rinuccio, the boy s ...

' in a Guildhall School performance, was "with pure timbre, emotional phrasing, and a swell that would break a heart of stone".

Career

She made her professional debut 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 ...

in January 2001 as Nannetta in Verdi's ''

Falstaff Sir John Falstaff is a fictional character who appears in three plays by William Shakespeare and is eulogised in a fourth. His significance as a fully developed character is primarily formed in the plays '' Henry IV, Part 1'' and '' Part 2'', w ...

'' conducted by

Bernard Haitink Bernard Johan Herman Haitink (; 4 March 1929 – 21 October 2021) was a Dutch conductor and violinist. He was the principal conductor of several international orchestras, beginning with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra in 1961. He moved to Lond ...

. In this acclaimed Royal Opera House debut she stood in for a colleague; Haitink counselled her to "be very careful about what you do ...and take care of your voice", advice which she took seriously.Loomis, George. People: 458 Sally Matthews. ''

Opera Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a librett ...

'', November 2017, Vol.68, No.11, pp. 1406-10 She trained under the house's Young Artist Programme from 2001-2003. She made her BBC Proms debut in 2001 in Vaughan Williams' '' Serenade to Music'', performing with the

BBC Symphony Orchestra The BBC Symphony Orchestra (BBC SO) is a British orchestra based in London. Founded in 1930, it was the first permanent salaried orchestra in London, and is the only one of the city's five major symphony orchestras not to be self-governing. T ...

conducted by

Leonard Slatkin Leonard Edward Slatkin (born September 1, 1944) is an American conductor, author and composer. Early life and education Slatkin was born in Los Angeles to a Jewish musical family that came from areas of the Russian Empire now in Ukraine. His fat ...

. She was a member of the

BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artists scheme BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artists scheme (also known as the NGA scheme) was launched in 1999 by Adam Gatehouse as part of the BBC's commitment to young musical talent. Each autumn six or seven young artists at the beginning of careers on the n ...

from 2002-2004. She played Josephine in the acclaimed BBC Proms version of '' H.M.S Pinafore''. Roles include Alice in

Unsuk Chin Unsuk Chin ( ko, 진은숙 ; born July 14, 1961) is a South Korean composer of contemporary classical music, who is based in Berlin, Germany. Chin was self-taught piano from a young age and studied composition at Seoul National University as w ...

’s ''Alice in Wonderland'' at its 2007 premiere at the

Bayerische Staatsoper The Bayerische Staatsoper is a German opera company based in Munich. Its main venue is the Nationaltheater München, and its orchestra the Bayerische Staatsorchester. History The parent ensemble of the company was founded in 1653, under Ele ...

, title roles in Handel’s '' Deidamia'' (Netherlands Opera) and Cavalli’s ''

La Calisto ''La Calisto'' is an opera by Francesco Cavalli from a libretto by Giovanni Faustini based on the mythological story of Callisto. The opera received its first performance on 28 November 1651 at the Teatro Sant 'Apollinare, Venice, where it dr ...

'', Anne Trulove, Blanche in ''

Dialogues des Carmélites ' (''Dialogues of the Carmelites''), FP 159, is an opera in three acts, divided into twelve scenes with linking orchestral interludes, with music and libretto by Francis Poulenc Francis Jean Marcel Poulenc (; 7 January 189930 January 196 ...

'', the Governess in ''

The Turn of the Screw ''The Turn of the Screw'' is an 1898 horror novella by Henry James which first appeared in serial format in ''Collier's Weekly'' (January 27 – April 16, 1898). In October 1898, it was collected in ''The Two Magics'', published by Macmill ...

'' and Fiordiligi and ''

Jenůfa ''Její pastorkyňa'' (''Her Stepdaughter''; commonly known as ''Jenůfa'' ) is an opera in three acts by Leoš Janáček to a Czech libretto by the composer, based on the play ''Její pastorkyňa'' by Gabriela Preissová. It was first performed ...

''. For her

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 ...

debut in 2017 she sang Silvia in Thomas Adès’s ''

The Exterminating Angel ''The Exterminating Angel'' ( es, El ángel exterminador, links=no) is a 1962 Mexican surrealist film written and directed by Luis Buñuel, starring Silvia Pinal, and produced by Pinal's then-husband Gustavo Alatriste. It tells the story of a g ...

''. In 2014, Naïve released the first-ever recording of '' Le Vaisseau fantôme'' by Dietsch, conducted by Marc Minkowski with Matthews as Minna.Rohan, Michael Scott. Reviews of recording of ''Le Vaisseau fantôme''. ''

'', February 2014, Vol 65 No 2, p223-225. Other recordings by Matthews include Schubert and Strauss lieder, ''

Der Freischütz ' ( J. 277, Op. 77 ''The Marksman'' or ''The Freeshooter'') is a German opera with spoken dialogue in three acts by Carl Maria von Weber with a libretto by Friedrich Kind, based on a story by Johann August Apel and Friedrich Laun from their 181 ...

'' under

Colin Davis Sir Colin Rex Davis (25 September 1927 – 14 April 2013) was an English conductor, known for his association with the London Symphony Orchestra, having first conducted it in 1959. His repertoire was broad, but among the composers with whom h ...

and ''

Carmina Burana ''Carmina Burana'' (, Latin for "Songs from Benediktbeuern" 'Buria'' in Latin is a manuscript of 254 poems and dramatic texts mostly from the 11th or 12th century, although some are from the 13th century. The pieces are mostly bawdy, irreverent ...

'' with the

Berlin Philharmonic The Berlin Philharmonic (german: Berliner Philharmoniker, links=no, italic=no) is a German orchestra based in Berlin. It is one of the most popular, acclaimed and well-respected orchestras in the world. History The Berlin Philharmonic was fo ...

under

Simon Rattle Sir Simon Denis Rattle (born 19 January 1955) is a British-German conductor. He rose to international prominence during the 1980s and 1990s, while music director of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (1980–1998). Rattle was principal ...

. She is married to the Icelandic tenor Finnur Bjarnason.

References

External links

Sally Matthews

Operabase Operabase is an online database of opera performances, opera houses and companies, and performers themselves as well as their agents. Found at operabase.com, it was created in 1996 by English software engineer and opera lover Mike Gibb.Edward Sc ...

The Opera Critic
{{DEFAULTSORT:Matthews, Sally 1975 births Living people Musicians from Southampton People educated at The Gregg School Alumni of the Guildhall School of Music and Drama English operatic sopranos BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artists 21st-century British women opera singers