Yvonne Kenny
general management - Australia excluded
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Yvonne Kenny is one of the most distinguished sopranos of her generation. Born in Sydney, she went to London and made her operatic debut in 1975 in Donizetti’s Rosmonda d'Inghilterra at the Queen Elizabeth Hall. After winning the Kathleen Ferrier Competition, she joined the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, where her roles have included Pamina (Die Zauberflöte), Ilia (Idomeneo), Marzelline (Fidelio), Oscar (Un ballo in maschera), Susanna (Le nozze di Figaro), Adina (L'elisir d'amore), Liù (Turandot), Alcina , Aspasia (Mitridate) and Donna Anna (Don Giovanni).
She has built herself an enviable international reputation as a dazzling interpreter of Handel’s soprano roles and has enjoyed particular success in the title roles in Semele and Alcina (Covent Garden, La Fenice, Venice and Opera de Nancy), Romilda in Xerxes for English National Opera (both in London and on tour to the USSR) and Bayerische Staatsoper, Cleopatra in Giulio Cesare and Armida in Rinaldo for Opera Australia (winning a Green Room Award for the former) and the title role in Deborah at the BBC Promenade concerts (also recorded).
International appearances include the Wiener Staatsoper (Susanna, Cinna in Lucia Silla, the Countess in Capriccio and the Marschallinin Der Rosenkavalier); La Scala, Milan (Pamina); Staatsoper, Berlin (Countess inCapriccio and the title role in La Didone); Opera de Paris (Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni); Hamburg (Oscar); English National Opera (Marschallin in Der Rosenkavalier and Purcell’s The Fairy Queen); Zurich and Glyndebourne (Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni) and her first Countess in Le nozze di Figaro for the Washington Opera which she has repeated at the Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich.She returns frequently to Australia, where she has sung Gilda (Rigoletto), Pamina, Susanna, Fiordiligi (Così fan tutte), Cleopatra, Alice Ford (Falstaff), The Governess (Turn of the Screw), Elle (La Voix Humaine) Marschallin (Der Rosenkavalier), Gräfin (Capriccio), Blanche (Previn'sA Streetcar Named Desire) and the title toles in Maria Stuarda, Alcina, Massenet's Manon, Poppea (L’incoronazione di Poppea) and Hannah Glawari (The Merry Widow).
Yvonne Kenny appears regularly on the concert platform throughout Europe and North America and has appeared at the Edinburgh, Salzburg and Aix-en-Provence Festivals, in Carnegie Hall and is a regular guest at the BBC Promenade concerts.She also became the first artist to give an official performance at the newly reopened Royal Opera House (a recital in Floral Hall).Recent Australian concert engagements include Strauss’ Four Last Songs and Ross Edwards' Second Symphony with the West Australian Symphony Orchestra, a gala concert with Bryn Terfel at the Leeuwin Estate Winery in Western Australia, televised nationally on ABC and an Australian Tour with Musica Viva.
Her numerous recordings include Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro (Decca/Solti); Die Entführung aus dem Serail, Mitridate and Lucio Silla (Teldec/Harnoncourt); Elgar’s The Kingdom (RCA/Slatkin); Stravinsky’s Pulcinella (Sony/Salonen); Britten’s The Beggar’s Opera (Collins/Bedford); Gloriana (Decca/Mackerras) and Händel’s Deborah (Hyperion/King), Bouquet of Melodies (Walsingham Classics), a collection of Mozart arias with the Australian Chamber Orchestra, the Marschallin in Der Rosenkavalier and Great Operatic Arias 1&2 (both on Chandos). She is internationally recognised for her recordings of French and Italian bel canto repertoire for Opera Rara, including the award-winning Emilia di Liverpool and was the voice of Dame Nellie Melba in the TV mini-series.On the ABC Classics label, her recordings are the award-winning Simple Gifts, Something Wonderful, Händel Arias with the Australian Brandenburg Orchestra, which was awarded Best Classical Recording in the 1998 Aria Awards, a collection of Christmas music A Christmas Gift, A Portrait of Yvonne Kenny, Make Believe, a recording of Broadway songs and more recently The Salley Gardens, a Treasury of English Song. Recent releases include the title role in Kalman’s Czardasfürstin,conducted by Richard Bonynge on Naxos, a collection of previously unrecorded songs by Frederic Delius on Hyperion,Vienna, City of my Dreams - a glittering collection of Viennese operetta, conducted by Richard Bonynge and her latest release Vier Lezte Lieder of Richard Strauss conducted by Johannes Fritsch.
Engagements in 2000/2001 included Cleopatra, Countess (Capriccio- new production) and the title role in Kalman's Gypsy Princess for Opera Australia, a tour with the Australian Chamber Orchestra, performing the Olympic Anthem at the closing ceremony of the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games, the Marschallin for Minnesota Opera, San Francisco Opera and in concert in Denmark and with Sir Charles Mackerras in London, Ellen Orford (Peter Grimes) for the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Alice Ford for English National Opera (recorded by Chandos), Christine in Intermezzo at Garsington, and The Merry Widow (new production) for San Francisco Opera.
Yvonne Kenny's 2002 engagements included Marschallin for the New Zealand International Festival, her role debut as the Governess in The Turn of the Screw for Opera Australia, a national tour for Musica Viva, concerts in San Francisco and the title role in Alcina at the Göttingen Festival, both under the baton of Nicholas McGegan, and performances for the West Australian Symphony Orchestra.
Engagements in 2003 included concerts with the Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide Symphony Orchestras, recitals at the Art Gallery of NSW and for ABC Classic FM, a gala performance with the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra at the Bundaleer Festival in South Australia, a gala concert to celebrate the 30th Anniversary of the Sydney Opera House, and the Countess in Capriccio for Dresden Staatsoper.
In 2004, Yvonne Kenny's performances included Marschallin for the Vienna Staatsoper, the title role in a new production of The Merry Widow for Opera Australia in Sydney and Melbourne, Marschallin with Opera Australia in Sydney, a repeat of her acclaimed performance as the Governess for the Cheltehman Festival, recitals in various centres and a solo concert at the 2004 BBC Proms.Engagements in 2005 included her debut as Elle in La Voix Humaine by Poulenc for Opera Australia in Melbourne and Alice in Falstaff in Sydney.
Highlights in 2006 and 2007 included the creation of her own one woman show A Touch of Venus with pianist Iain Burnside, performed at the Wigmore Hall and followed by an Australian tour for Musica Viva. Role debuts followed in Giordano's Fedora for Opera Holland Park; Lady Billows in Britten's Albert Herring for the Salzburger Landesteater and Blanche Dubois in a new and acclaimed production of A Streetcar Named Desire for Opera Australia in Sydney.
2008 saw the release of a new recording for ABC Classics of Viennese Operetta arias Vienna City, of my Dreams with Richard Bonynge and the MSO, a return to the Leeuwin Estate in WA for two celebrity performances and the recording of Strauss’s Four Last Songs .
2009 included concerts of Viennese Operetta with MSO,her role debut as Dido in Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas and a revival of A Streetcar Named Desire in Melbourne. In 2010, she appeared as Jocasta in an acclaimed performance of Stravinsky’s Oedipus Rex with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra,directed by Peter Sellars for the Sydney Festival and was the guest artist in Opera Australia’s Die Fledermaus as Marlene Dietrich. She also undertook an around Australia concert tour with the tenor David Hobson for Opera Australia, Singing for Love. 2010 also marked the release of her recording of Richard Strauss’s Four Last Songs for ABC Classics.
Engagements in 2011 include a gala concert in honour of Sir Charles Mackerras at English National Opera and Hannah Glawari in The Merry Widow at the West Green House Festival in England.
Yvonne now includes Masterclasses and teaching in her performing schedule. She has given masterclasses at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama,at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, at the Oxenfoord Summer School and acclaimed Masterclasses based on Purcell’s The Fairy Queen at the Britten/Pears Summer School in Aldeburgh, at the Samling Masterclasses and for the Jetta Parker Young Artists Programme at The Royal Opera House Covent Garden.
She became a Professor of Voice at the GSMD in 2007.
Yvonne Kenny was made a Member of the Order of Australia for Services to Music in 1989 and in 1999 was conferred an honorary Doctorate of Music by the University of Sydney.
June 2011
www.yvonnekenny.com
Yvonne Kenny is one of the most distinguished sopranos of her generation. Born in Sydney, she went to London and made her operatic debut in 1975 in Donizetti’s Rosmonda d'Inghilterra at the Queen Elizabeth Hall. After winning the Kathleen Ferrier Competition, she joined the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, where her roles have included Pamina (Die Zauberflöte), Ilia (Idomeneo), Marzelline (Fidelio), Oscar (Un ballo in maschera), Susanna (Le nozze di Figaro), Adina (L'elisir d'amore), Liù (Turandot), Alcina , Aspasia (Mitridate) and Donna Anna (Don Giovanni).
She has built herself an enviable international reputation as a dazzling interpreter of Handel’s soprano roles and has enjoyed particular success in the title roles in Semele and Alcina (Covent Garden, La Fenice, Venice and Opera de Nancy), Romilda in Xerxes for English National Opera (both in London and on tour to the USSR) and Bayerische Staatsoper, Cleopatra in Giulio Cesare and Armida in Rinaldo for Opera Australia (winning a Green Room Award for the former) and the title role in Deborah at the BBC Promenade concerts (also recorded).
International appearances include the Wiener Staatsoper (Susanna, Cinna in Lucia Silla, the Countess in Capriccio and the Marschallinin Der Rosenkavalier); La Scala, Milan (Pamina); Staatsoper, Berlin (Countess inCapriccio and the title role in La Didone); Opera de Paris (Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni); Hamburg (Oscar); English National Opera (Marschallin in Der Rosenkavalier and Purcell’s The Fairy Queen); Zurich and Glyndebourne (Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni) and her first Countess in Le nozze di Figaro for the Washington Opera which she has repeated at the Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich.She returns frequently to Australia, where she has sung Gilda (Rigoletto), Pamina, Susanna, Fiordiligi (Così fan tutte), Cleopatra, Alice Ford (Falstaff), The Governess (Turn of the Screw), Elle (La Voix Humaine) Marschallin (Der Rosenkavalier), Gräfin (Capriccio), Blanche (Previn'sA Streetcar Named Desire) and the title toles in Maria Stuarda, Alcina, Massenet's Manon, Poppea (L’incoronazione di Poppea) and Hannah Glawari (The Merry Widow).
Yvonne Kenny appears regularly on the concert platform throughout Europe and North America and has appeared at the Edinburgh, Salzburg and Aix-en-Provence Festivals, in Carnegie Hall and is a regular guest at the BBC Promenade concerts.She also became the first artist to give an official performance at the newly reopened Royal Opera House (a recital in Floral Hall).Recent Australian concert engagements include Strauss’ Four Last Songs and Ross Edwards' Second Symphony with the West Australian Symphony Orchestra, a gala concert with Bryn Terfel at the Leeuwin Estate Winery in Western Australia, televised nationally on ABC and an Australian Tour with Musica Viva.
Her numerous recordings include Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro (Decca/Solti); Die Entführung aus dem Serail, Mitridate and Lucio Silla (Teldec/Harnoncourt); Elgar’s The Kingdom (RCA/Slatkin); Stravinsky’s Pulcinella (Sony/Salonen); Britten’s The Beggar’s Opera (Collins/Bedford); Gloriana (Decca/Mackerras) and Händel’s Deborah (Hyperion/King), Bouquet of Melodies (Walsingham Classics), a collection of Mozart arias with the Australian Chamber Orchestra, the Marschallin in Der Rosenkavalier and Great Operatic Arias 1&2 (both on Chandos). She is internationally recognised for her recordings of French and Italian bel canto repertoire for Opera Rara, including the award-winning Emilia di Liverpool and was the voice of Dame Nellie Melba in the TV mini-series.On the ABC Classics label, her recordings are the award-winning Simple Gifts, Something Wonderful, Händel Arias with the Australian Brandenburg Orchestra, which was awarded Best Classical Recording in the 1998 Aria Awards, a collection of Christmas music A Christmas Gift, A Portrait of Yvonne Kenny, Make Believe, a recording of Broadway songs and more recently The Salley Gardens, a Treasury of English Song. Recent releases include the title role in Kalman’s Czardasfürstin,conducted by Richard Bonynge on Naxos, a collection of previously unrecorded songs by Frederic Delius on Hyperion,Vienna, City of my Dreams - a glittering collection of Viennese operetta, conducted by Richard Bonynge and her latest release Vier Lezte Lieder of Richard Strauss conducted by Johannes Fritsch.
Engagements in 2000/2001 included Cleopatra, Countess (Capriccio- new production) and the title role in Kalman's Gypsy Princess for Opera Australia, a tour with the Australian Chamber Orchestra, performing the Olympic Anthem at the closing ceremony of the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games, the Marschallin for Minnesota Opera, San Francisco Opera and in concert in Denmark and with Sir Charles Mackerras in London, Ellen Orford (Peter Grimes) for the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Alice Ford for English National Opera (recorded by Chandos), Christine in Intermezzo at Garsington, and The Merry Widow (new production) for San Francisco Opera.
Yvonne Kenny's 2002 engagements included Marschallin for the New Zealand International Festival, her role debut as the Governess in The Turn of the Screw for Opera Australia, a national tour for Musica Viva, concerts in San Francisco and the title role in Alcina at the Göttingen Festival, both under the baton of Nicholas McGegan, and performances for the West Australian Symphony Orchestra.
Engagements in 2003 included concerts with the Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide Symphony Orchestras, recitals at the Art Gallery of NSW and for ABC Classic FM, a gala performance with the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra at the Bundaleer Festival in South Australia, a gala concert to celebrate the 30th Anniversary of the Sydney Opera House, and the Countess in Capriccio for Dresden Staatsoper.
In 2004, Yvonne Kenny's performances included Marschallin for the Vienna Staatsoper, the title role in a new production of The Merry Widow for Opera Australia in Sydney and Melbourne, Marschallin with Opera Australia in Sydney, a repeat of her acclaimed performance as the Governess for the Cheltehman Festival, recitals in various centres and a solo concert at the 2004 BBC Proms.Engagements in 2005 included her debut as Elle in La Voix Humaine by Poulenc for Opera Australia in Melbourne and Alice in Falstaff in Sydney.
Highlights in 2006 and 2007 included the creation of her own one woman show A Touch of Venus with pianist Iain Burnside, performed at the Wigmore Hall and followed by an Australian tour for Musica Viva. Role debuts followed in Giordano's Fedora for Opera Holland Park; Lady Billows in Britten's Albert Herring for the Salzburger Landesteater and Blanche Dubois in a new and acclaimed production of A Streetcar Named Desire for Opera Australia in Sydney.
2008 saw the release of a new recording for ABC Classics of Viennese Operetta arias Vienna City, of my Dreams with Richard Bonynge and the MSO, a return to the Leeuwin Estate in WA for two celebrity performances and the recording of Strauss’s Four Last Songs .
2009 included concerts of Viennese Operetta with MSO,her role debut as Dido in Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas and a revival of A Streetcar Named Desire in Melbourne. In 2010, she appeared as Jocasta in an acclaimed performance of Stravinsky’s Oedipus Rex with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra,directed by Peter Sellars for the Sydney Festival and was the guest artist in Opera Australia’s Die Fledermaus as Marlene Dietrich. She also undertook an around Australia concert tour with the tenor David Hobson for Opera Australia, Singing for Love. 2010 also marked the release of her recording of Richard Strauss’s Four Last Songs for ABC Classics.
Engagements in 2011 include a gala concert in honour of Sir Charles Mackerras at English National Opera and Hannah Glawari in The Merry Widow at the West Green House Festival in England.
Yvonne now includes Masterclasses and teaching in her performing schedule. She has given masterclasses at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama,at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, at the Oxenfoord Summer School and acclaimed Masterclasses based on Purcell’s The Fairy Queen at the Britten/Pears Summer School in Aldeburgh, at the Samling Masterclasses and for the Jetta Parker Young Artists Programme at The Royal Opera House Covent Garden.
She became a Professor of Voice at the GSMD in 2007.
Yvonne Kenny was made a Member of the Order of Australia for Services to Music in 1989 and in 1999 was conferred an honorary Doctorate of Music by the University of Sydney.
June 2011
www.yvonnekenny.com
