Linda Richardson

Soprano Linda Richardson is a fixture of regional British opera houses and has a repertory of more than 40 roles. She has also appeared abroad, and she has sung under top conductors in concert music as well as in opera. Richardson was born in Sandbach, in England's Cheshire region. She grew up on a farm and intended to follow in the farming profession, but her four brothers told her that she did not belong on a farm. Richardson joined the choir of St. Oswald's Church in nearby Lower Peover, and there, she was encouraged to take singing lessons. Settling on a musical career, she attended the Royal Northern College of Music and, upon graduating, went on to the National Opera Studio in 1990. Richardson began to find operatic roles and to appear on recordings in the early 1990s, and from 1997 to 2005, she was a Company Principal at the English National Opera, where she sang such roles as Virtue in Monteverdi's The Coronation of Poppea, Fiordiligi in Mozart's Così fan tutte, and Lauretta in Puccini's Gianni Schicchi. Richardson has appeared around Britain in principal roles at the Welsh National Opera, Scottish Opera, Garsington Opera, and other regional houses. She has sung abroad in Barcelona, Venice, and Dubai, among other cities. Richardson's concert credits include appearances under such internationally prominent conductors as Bernard Haitink, Edo de Waart, and Sir Mark Elder, and she has often been heard on both BBC radio and television. Richardson's recording career has touched on Broadway musicals as well as opera, beginning with an appearance on My Funny Valentine: Frederica Von Stade Sings Rodgers and Hart in 1990. In 2004, she was heard in the Chandos label's Opera in English series, in Verdi's The Masked Ball. In 2021, Richardson made her solo debut on Chandos with the album Italian Opera Arias. She has led master classes at the English National Opera, Opera North, and Clonter Opera.
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