Maureen Forrester
Canada's most famous contralto, Maureen Forrester, began her vocal studies with Sally Martin in Montreal and later studied with Frank Rowe and Bernard Diamant. Her first professional appearance was in a recital at Montreal in 1953, and she began a musical collaboration with pianist John Newmark which lasted until his death in 1991. In 1955 she went to Paris for a recital, and her New York debut was one year later. That recital brought her to the attention of Bruno Walter, who asked her to sing the contralto solos in the Second Symphony of Mahler with the New York Philharmonic the following season. This appearance was the beginning of her international fame, as Walter considered her an outstanding interpreter of Mahler's music. During the early years of her career, she concentrated on concert and recital programs. Her first important operatic appearance came in 1962 at Toronto in Gluck's Orfeo ed Euridice. In 1966 she debuted at the New York City Opera as Cornelia in Handel's Giulio Cesare with Beverly Sills and Norman Treigle. She made her Metropolitan Opera debut as Erda in Das Rheingold in 1975. Her excellent comic timing brought critical acclaim for her appearances as the Step-Mother in Massenet's Cendrillon, the Witch in Hansel and Gretel, and as the Fairy Queen in Sullivan's Iolanthe at Stratford. In her later years, she was in great demand as the Countess in Tchaikovsky's Queen of Spades and in Poulenc's Dialogues des Carmelites.
From 1965 to 1974, she was a member of the Bach Aria Group and made many tours of the United States and Canada with that group. Her solo recital tours took her around the world and, ever a staunch supporter of Canadian composers, she regularly included their songs on her programs. The most important of the works she championed was Fleming's The Confession Stone. Although her orchestral repertoire ranged from Bach and Pergolesi to Elgar and Casals, it was as an interpreter of Mahler that Forrester is best remembered, most especially for the Second Symphony and Das Lied von der Erde. Maureen Forrester's voice was a dark, rich contralto, but with an ease in the upper register which allowed her to sing some mezzo-soprano parts including the Verdi Requiem and Brangäne in Wagner's Tristan and Isolde. Although possessing a large voice, it was very flexible and created a demand for her in the oratorios of Bach and Handel, as well as other Baroque composers, which she sang all over the world. In the '60s and '70s, she averaged around 120 performances a year -- all while raising five children.
Forrester enjoyed teaching, and from 1966 until 1971, she headed the voice department at the Philadelphia Academy of Music. After leaving the Academy of Music, she continued to teach privately in Toronto and to give master classes in conjunction with her recitals. In 1983, she began a five-year term as chairman of the Canada Council for the Arts. She published her autobiography, Out of Character, in 1986, the same year she was named a Companion of the Order of Canada. Maureen Forrester remained one of the great contraltos of the 20th century throughout her long performing career.
© Richard LeSueur /TiVo
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Mahler: Symphony No. 2 in C Minor "Resurrection"
Leonard Slatkin, St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, Saint Louis Symphony Chorus, Kathleen Battle, Maureen Forrester
Klassik - Erschienen bei Telarc am 01.01.1983
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Gustav Mahler: Des Knaben Wunderhorn & Rückert-Lieder
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Mahler Das Lied von der Erde
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Klassik - Erschienen bei Editions Audiovisuel Beulah am 25.11.2022
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Mahler: Symphonies Nos. 1 & 3
Maureen Forrester, Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Zubin Mehta
Klassik - Erschienen bei Decca Music Group Ltd. am 01.01.1994
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Frère André, un homme de prière: musique pour la réflexion et la méditation
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Klassik - Erschienen bei Disques Helena Inc. am 09.12.2014
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Maureen Forrester
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Kunstlieder - Erschienen bei audite Musikproduktion am 12.08.2016
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Maureen Forrester - A Brahms-Schumann Recital
Klassik - Erschienen bei Sony Classical am 18.11.2016
24-Bit 192.0 kHz - Stereo -
Mahler & Dvořák: Symphonic Works
Chicago Symphony Orchestra (CSO), Lisa Della Casa, Richard Lewis, Maureen Forrester, Fritz Reiner
Klassik - Erschienen bei Urania Records am 01.10.2014
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Oscar Shumsky: A Retrospective
Vokalmusik (weltlich und geistlich) - Erschienen bei DOREMI am 13.05.2014
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Handel: Serse
Klassik - Erschienen bei Deutsche Grammophon (DG) am 01.01.2009
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Maureen Forrester Sings Bach and Handel
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Klassik - Erschienen bei Omega Vanguard am 17.03.2015
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FORRESTER, Maureen: Handel Arias from Oratorios and Operas (George Frideric Handel - S. B. Pallavicino - Thomas Morell)
Klassik - Erschienen bei CBC am 01.01.1992
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Ferenc Fricsay Portrait (Brahms)
Maureen Forrester, Wiener Philharmonic Orchestra, Radio-Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Ferenc Fricsay, Rias Kammerchor
Klassik - Erschienen bei Deutsche Grammophon (DG) am 01.01.1994
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Mahler: Das Lied von der Erde
Maureen Forrester, Richard Lewis, Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra, Bruno Walter
Vokalmusik (weltlich und geistlich) - Erschienen bei Music and Arts Programs of America am 07.02.2005
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Mahler: Das Lied von der Erde (Live)
Richard Lewis, Maureen Forrester, Hilde Güden, New York Philharmonic, Wiener Philharmonic Orchestra, Bruno Walter
Klassik - Erschienen bei Archipel am 30.12.2010
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
20th Century Classics: Delius - Brigg Fair, Over the Hill and Far Away, Florida Suite, Songs of Sunset & On Hearing the First Cuckoo in Spring
Thomas Beecham, Maureen Forrester, John Cameron
Klassik - Erschienen bei Warner Classics am 13.06.2011
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
OVATION, Vol. 2: Music of Archer, Morawetz, Papineau-Couture, Forsyth and Schafer
Kammermusik - Erschienen bei CBC am 01.01.2000
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
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Maureen Forrester, Charles Munch, Boston Symphony Orchestra
Klassik - Erschienen bei G.O.P. am 02.06.2023
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Mahler, G.: Symphony No. 2 (Walter) (1957)
Maria Stader, Maureen Forrester, Westminster Choir, New York Philharmonic, Bruno Walter
Klassik - Erschienen bei Music and Arts Programs of America am 04.06.2007
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Mahler: Symphony No. 2 - "Resurrection"
Bruno Walter, Emilia Cundari, Maureen Forrester
Symphonieorchester - Erschienen bei Urania am 03.02.2010
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Mahler · Das Lied von der Erde
Maureen Forrester, Richard Lewis, Fritz Reiner, Chicago Symphony Orchestra (CSO)
Klassik - Erschienen bei G.O.P. am 30.06.2023
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo