Helen Watts började sin karriär genom att sjunga på Glyndebourne Festival Chorus och på BBC.Hon debuterade 1958 som sångerska vid operan Hon debuterade på Salzburg Festivalen i Elektra och turnerade med English National Opera (ENO) i Ryssland med Brittens Våldtäkten på Lucretia. Hon debuterade på Covent Garden 1965 i Wagners Götterdämmerung.Hon har sjungit på Welsh National Opera i Cardiff mellan 1969-83.

Helen Watts mezzosopran 1927 -2009

In English

Born: December 7, 1927 - Milford Haven, Pembrokeshire, Wales, UK
Died: October 7, 2009 - Pembrokeshire, Wales, UK
The admired Welsh contralto, Helen (Josephine) Watts, first became interested in singing while she was at the Abbots Bromley School in Staffordshire and Ernest Read, the school’s music director, persuaded her to go to the Royal Academy of Music to take up singing and piano. There she studied for four years with Caroline Hatchard and won a number of prizes. On leaving the Academy she continued studying, with Frederic Jackson.

Helen Watts began her career singing in the Glyndebourne Festival Chorus and the BBC Chorus in London. Her first professional engagements were broadcasts on the Welsh Home Service and she was soon a regular broadcaster on all services of the BBC. These broadcasts led to concert engagements in London and throughout the provinces. Her first appearance as a soloist was in 1953. In 1955 she made her first appearance at the London Promenade concerts singing J.S. Bach arias under Malcolm Sargent’s direction.
Helen Watts quickly won her a reputation as one of the finest British contraltos and distinguished herself as a concert artist. Thereafter she appeared in principal European and North American music centres.

Helen Watts also pursued an operatic career. In 1958 she made her operatic debut as Didymus in George Frideric Handel’s Theodora with Handel Opera Society at the Camden Festival, and continued to appear with the Society until 1964. In 1964 she made her debut at the Salzburg Festival as the 1st maid in Elektra and toured Russia with the English Opera Group as Benjamin Britten’s Lucretia. She made her first appearance at London’s Covent Garden as the 1st Norn in Götterdämmerung in 1965, and continued to sing there until 1971.

In 1966 Helen Watts made her USA debut in Delius’ A Mass of Life in New York. She sang Mistress Quickly at her first appearance with the Welsh National Opera in Cardiff in 1969, where she was a leading member of the company until 1983.

In 1978 Helen Watts was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire. She had a career spanning 35 years as one of the most admired and resourceful singers on the concert platform, in opera and recordings, working with three generations of conductors. While she had success in opera, she particularly excelled as a concert artist. Her concert repertoire extended from J.S. Bach to the masters of the 20th century.

In 1980 Helen Watts married the viola player Michael Mitchell, whom she had met when singing with the London Symphony Orchestra. After her retirement in 1985, she cared for her husband, who suffered long-term serious health problems and devoted many happy hours at their Pembrokeshire home to her lifelong passion for gardening. Helen Watts died aged 81. She is survived by her sister-in-law, her nieces and nephews.

Glyndebourne Opera

Performances

3rd Boy/Spirit / Die Zauberflote, 14 June 1957 at Glyndebourne view performance details

3rd Boy/Spirit / Die Zauberflote, 16 June 1957 at Glyndebourne view performance details

3rd Boy/Spirit / Die Zauberflote, 20 June 1957 at Glyndebourne view performance details

3rd Boy/Spirit / Die Zauberflote, 22 June 1957 at Glyndebourne view performance details

3rd Boy/Spirit / Die Zauberflote, 26 June 1957 at Glyndebourne view performance details

3rd Boy/Spirit / Die Zauberflote, 30 June 1957 at Glyndebourne view performance details

3rd Boy/Spirit / Die Zauberflote, 04 July 1957 at Glyndebourne view performance details

3rd Boy/Spirit / Die Zauberflote, 11 July 1957 at Glyndebourne view performance details

read more

• Wikipedia
• Bach Cantatas
• AllMusic
• Glyndebourne Opera
• Obituary in The Guardian
• Mezzosopranos in the world

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