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
Ähnliche Künstler
-
Grieg: Peer Gynt Suites Nos.1 & 2; Lyric Suite; Sigurd Jorsalfar
Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra, Neeme Järvi, Marianne Eklof, Barbara Bonney, Gösta Ohlin's Vocal Ensemble & Pro Musica Chamber Choir
Klassik - Erschienen bei Deutsche Grammophon (DG) am 01.01.1989
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Operetta Album - Im Chambre séparée
Barbara Bonney, Ronald Schneider
Klassik - Erschienen bei Decca Music Group Ltd. am 01.01.2003
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Bach, J.S.: Mass in B minor, BWV232
Klassik - Erschienen bei Decca Music Group Ltd. am 21.08.2000
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Hasse: Salve Regina
Barbara Bonney, Bernarda Fink, Musica Antiqua Köln , Reinhard Goebel
Klassik - Erschienen bei Archiv Produktion am 07.04.1997
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Purcell: The Fairy Queen
Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Barbara Bonney, Concentus Musicus Wien
Klassik - Erschienen bei Warner Classics International am 07.11.1995
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
American Songs
Klassik - Erschienen bei Decca Music Group Ltd. am 01.01.1997
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Kraus: Arie e Cantate
Oper - Erschienen bei Musica Sveciae am 01.01.1990
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Schubert: Piano Quintet in A Major, Op. 114, D. 667 "Trout"
Barbara Bonney, Emanuel Ax, Yo-Yo Ma, Rebecca Young, Edgar Meyer, Pamela Frank
Klassik - Erschienen bei Sony Classical am 23.01.1996
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Mozart, André Previn & R. Strauss: Songs & Arias (Live)
Barbara Bonney, André Previn, Franz Bartolomey
Klassik - Erschienen bei belvedere edition am 10.03.2015
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Haydn: Nelson Mass / Arianna a Naxos
Klassik - Erschienen bei Decca Music Group Ltd. am 01.01.1996
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Previn: Diversions / Songs
Renée Fleming, Barbara Bonney, André Previn
Klassik - Erschienen bei Deutsche Grammophon (DG) am 01.01.2001
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Other Mozart
Barbara Bonney, Malcolm Martineau
Klassik - Erschienen bei Decca Music Group Ltd. am 17.10.2005
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Royal Palace Music Festival (1995)
St. Petersburg Hermitage Orchestra, Barbara Bonney
Klassik - Erschienen bei Figaro Music & Media Group am 01.01.1995
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo