Barbara Bonney
Barbara Bonney is one of her generation's most versatile singers, having achieved equal success with lied, oratorio, modern vocal music, and opera, and on top of all that having become a highly proficient cellist. Her smallish but well-projected voice is especially suited to Mozart, the lighter Richard Strauss operas, and all but the heaviest lieder, and she has been careful in her choice of repertoire; even in her fortiess, she can still call forth a fresh, girlish timbre when it is needed.Her family was not a musical one, and it was only by chance that her parents discovered she had perfect pitch and a sense of music--when she was three, they noticed that she could perfectly imitate musical noises, such as the melody that one of the household clocks chimed. When she was older, she started piano, but found that she preferred the more songful tones of the cello. It was an interest in German that led to her singing career--as a college student at the University of New Hampshire she decided to spend a year studying at the University of Salzburg. She worked a wide variety of jobs to support herself, including cooking, selling produce at a vegetable stand, and copying music, and one day a friend suggested that she audition for the famed Mozarteum orchestra there. She hadn't brought her cello overseas with her, since the costs of shipping were prohibitive, so instead she prepared a song for her audition, and was offered a position as a lieder student. Spurred on by this success, she auditioned for the Darmstadt Opera (knowing only two arias out of the entire operatic repertoire), and was given the ingenue role of Anna in Nicolai's Die Lustigen Weiber von Windsor (The Merry Wives of Windsor). During her years with the company, she learned over forty operatic roles.In 1984, she made her Vienna State Opera debut as Sophie in Richard Strauss's Der Rosenkavalier, a role which was to become one of her most famous. Another characteristic role, that of Pamina in Mozart's Die Zauberflõte, she first undertook in her 1985 La Scala debut. In 1987, she sang Sophie in Der Rosenkavalier at Monte Carlo, which brought her to the attention of conductor Carlos Kleiber. Lucia Popp, too, greatly admired her Sophie, and when Popp relinquished the role, moving on to the Marschallin, she declared that she was passing it on to Bonney, the Sophie of the next generation. Her Met debut was in 1988, as Naiad in Strauss's Ariadne auf Naxos. During the 1990s, increasingly able to pick and choose what roles and repertoire she would sing, she began to reduce her operatic roles to a few of her special favorites, such as Pamina, Susanna (in Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro), and Ilia (in his Idomeneo), and adding a few new roles, such as Zdenka in Strauss's Arabella and Hanna Glawari (in Lehár's Die lustige Witwe [The Merry Widow]). Like Popp, she chose to drop the role of Sophie, leaving it for younger singers. This would allow her to spend more time singing lieder performances, and also to teach.She was briefly married to baritone Hakan Hagegard. Among her recordings, her Mozart arias (London 460 571) and Schubert lieder (Teldec 90873) capture her voice and singing quite well.
© Ann Feeney /TiVo
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Diskografie
42 Album, -en • Geordnet nach Bestseller
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Mozart: Coronation Mass ; Exsultate, jubilate; Vesperae Solennes
Klassik - Erschienen bei Archiv Produktion am 01.01.2012
Verfügbar in16-Bit/44.1 kHz Stereo -
Schubert: Ave Maria, Die Forelle, Heidenröslein & Other Lieder
Klassik - Erschienen bei Warner Classics International am 01.01.1994
Verfügbar in16-Bit/44.1 kHz Stereo -
Bach, J.S.: Mass in B minor, BWV232
Klassik - Erschienen bei Decca Music Group Ltd. am 21.08.2000
Verfügbar in16-Bit/44.1 kHz Stereo -
Barbara Bonney - The Radiant Voice of Barbara Bonney
Klassik - Erschienen bei Decca Music Group Ltd. am 01.01.2001
Verfügbar in16-Bit/44.1 kHz Stereo -
Grieg: Peer Gynt Suites Nos.1 & 2; Lyric Suite; Sigurd Jorsalfar
Klassik - Erschienen bei Deutsche Grammophon (DG) am 01.01.1989
Verfügbar in16-Bit/44.1 kHz Stereo -
Renée Fleming - Strauss Heroines
Klassik - Erschienen bei Decca Music Group Ltd. am 01.01.1999
Verfügbar in16-Bit/44.1 kHz Stereo -
Mozart : Lieder (- Elatus)
Klassik - Erschienen bei Warner Classics International am 01.10.1991
Verfügbar in16-Bit/44.1 kHz Stereo -
Pergolesi : Stabat Mater - Salve Regina in F minor - Salve Regina in A minor
Klassik - Erschienen bei Decca Music Group Ltd. am 15.11.1999
Verfügbar in16-Bit/44.1 kHz Stereo -
Schubert: Trout Quintet & Arpeggione Sonata & Die Forelle
Klassik - Erschienen bei Sony Classical am 23.01.1996
Verfügbar in16-Bit/44.1 kHz Stereo -
Schubert: Piano Quintet in A Major, Op. 114, D. 667 "Trout"
Klassik - Erschienen bei Sony Classical am 23.01.1996
Verfügbar in16-Bit/44.1 kHz Stereo -
Schubert : Mass G-Dur - Schumann : Requiem
Klassik - Erschienen bei Deutsche Grammophon (DG) am 05.11.1992
Verfügbar in16-Bit/44.1 kHz Stereo -
Fairest Isle
Klassik - Erschienen bei Decca Music Group Ltd. am 30.11.2000
Verfügbar in16-Bit/44.1 kHz Stereo -
Robert & Clara Schumann Lieder - Frauenliebe und -Leben
Klassik - Erschienen bei Decca Music Group Ltd. am 01.01.1997
Verfügbar in16-Bit/44.1 kHz Stereo -
Barbara Bonney - Diamonds In The Snow
Klassik - Erschienen bei Decca Music Group Ltd. am 01.01.1999
Verfügbar in16-Bit/44.1 kHz Stereo -
Mahler 4 / Berg: 7 Early Songs
Klassik - Erschienen bei Decca Music Group Ltd. am 21.02.2000
Verfügbar in16-Bit/44.1 kHz Stereo -
Mahler: Des Knaben Wunderhorn
Klassik - Erschienen bei Decca Music Group Ltd. am 01.01.2002
Verfügbar in16-Bit/44.1 kHz Stereo -
Bach, J.S.: St. Matthew Passion - Arias & Choruses
Klassik - Erschienen bei Archiv Produktion am 01.01.1989
Verfügbar in16-Bit/44.1 kHz Stereo -
Erste Begegnung / First Encounter
Klassik - Erschienen bei Sony Classical - Sony Music am 04.10.2004
Verfügbar in16-Bit/44.1 kHz Stereo -
Welcome to the Voice
Klassik - Erschienen bei Deutsche Grammophon (DG) am 01.01.2007
Verfügbar in16-Bit/44.1 kHz Stereo -
Strauss, R.: Four Last Songs
Klassik - Erschienen bei Decca Music Group Ltd. am 01.01.1999
Verfügbar in16-Bit/44.1 kHz Stereo -
Purcell: The Fairy Queen
Klassik - Erschienen bei Warner Classics International am 07.11.1995
Verfügbar in16-Bit/44.1 kHz Stereo