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
-
Mahler: Symphony No. 2 in C Minor "Resurrection"
Leonard Slatkin, St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, Saint Louis Symphony Chorus, Kathleen Battle, Maureen Forrester
Klassiek - Released by Telarc on 1 jan. 1983
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Gustav Mahler: Des Knaben Wunderhorn & Rückert-Lieder
Maureen Forrester, Heinz Rehfuss, Felix Prohaska, Ferenc Fricsay
Liederen - Released by Praga Digitals on 1 sep. 2015
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Mahler Das Lied von der Erde
Richard Lewis, Maureen Forrester
Klassiek - Released by Editions Audiovisuel Beulah on 25 nov. 2022
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Mahler: Symphonies Nos. 1 & 3
Maureen Forrester, Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Zubin Mehta
Klassiek - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on 1 jan. 1994
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Frère André, un homme de prière: musique pour la réflexion et la méditation
Maureen Forrester, Vladimir Dolezal, Russell Oberlin
Klassiek - Released by Disques Helena Inc. on 9 dec. 2014
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Maureen Forrester
Maureen Forrester, Hertha Klust, Michael Raucheisen & Felix Schröder
Liederen - Released by audite Musikproduktion on 12 aug. 2016
24-Bit 48.0 kHz - Stereo -
Maureen Forrester - A Brahms-Schumann Recital
Klassiek - Released by Sony Classical on 18 nov. 2016
24-Bit 192.0 kHz - Stereo -
Mahler & Dvořák: Symphonic Works
Chicago Symphony Orchestra (CSO), Lisa Della Casa, Richard Lewis, Maureen Forrester, Fritz Reiner
Klassiek - Released by Urania Records on 1 okt. 2014
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Oscar Shumsky: A Retrospective
Vocale muziek (wereldlijk en religieus) - Released by DOREMI on 13 mei 2014
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Handel: Serse
Klassiek - Released by Deutsche Grammophon (DG) on 1 jan. 2009
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Maureen Forrester Sings Bach and Handel
Maureen Forrester, Zagrebački Solisti, Antonio Janigro
Klassiek - Released by Omega Vanguard on 17 mrt. 2015
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
FORRESTER, Maureen: Handel Arias from Oratorios and Operas (George Frideric Handel - S. B. Pallavicino - Thomas Morell)
Klassiek - Released by CBC on 1 jan. 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
Klassiek - Released by Deutsche Grammophon (DG) on 1 jan. 1994
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Mahler: Das Lied von der Erde
Maureen Forrester, Richard Lewis, Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra, Bruno Walter
Vocale muziek (wereldlijk en religieus) - Released by Music and Arts Programs of America on 7 feb. 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
Klassiek - Released by Archipel on 30 dec. 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
Klassiek - Released by Warner Classics on 13 jun. 2011
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
OVATION, Vol. 2: Music of Archer, Morawetz, Papineau-Couture, Forsyth and Schafer
Kamermuziek - Released by CBC on 1 jan. 2000
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Maureen forrester sings mahler's lieder
Maureen Forrester, Charles Munch, Boston Symphony Orchestra
Klassiek - Released by G.O.P. on 2 jun. 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
Klassiek - Released by Music and Arts Programs of America on 4 jun. 2007
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Mahler: Symphony No. 2 - "Resurrection"
Bruno Walter, Emilia Cundari, Maureen Forrester
Symfonische muziek - Released by Urania on 3 feb. 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)
Klassiek - Released by G.O.P. on 30 jun. 2023
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo