Arioso Che Puro Ciel Che Chiaro Sol Orfeo Ed Euridice Orphée Et Euridice Act 2 - Music

Arioso Che Puro Ciel Che Chiaro Sol Orfeo Ed Euridice Orphée Et Euridice Act 2 by Dame Janet Baker

Dame Janet Baker

Artist Biography For Dame Janet Baker

Dame Janet Baker Born August 21 1933 Is An English Mezzo-Soprano Best Known As An Opera Concert And Lieder Singer. She Was Particularly Closely Associated With Baroque And Early Italian Opera And The Works Of Benjamin Britten. During Her Career Which Spanned From The 1950s To The 1980s She Was Considered An Outstanding Singing Actress And Widely Admired For Her Dramatic Intensity Perhaps Best Represented In Her Famous Portrayal As Dido The Tragic Heroine Of Hector Berlioz's Magnum Opus 'Les Troyens'. As A Concert Performer Baker Was Noted For Her Interpretations Of Gustav Mahler And Edgar Elgar. Early Life Janet Baker Was Born In Hatfield South Yorkshire. Her Father Was An Engineer Who Sang In A Male Voice Choir. Her Brother Peter Died When She Was Ten. She Attended York College For Girls And Then Wintringham Girls' Grammar School In Grimsby. In Her Early Years She Worked In A Bank Transferring To London In 1953 Where She Trained With Meriel St Clair And Helene Isepp. Debut In 1956 She Made Her Stage Debut With The Oxford University Opera Club As Miss Róza In Smetana's The Secret. That Year She Also Made Her Debut At Glyndebourne. In 1959 She Sang Eduige In The Handel Opera Society's Rodelinda Other Handel Roles Included Ariodante 1964 Of Which She Later Made An Outstanding Recording With Raymond Leppard And Orlando 1966 Which She Sang At The Barber Institute Birmingham. Opera With The English Opera Group At Aldeburgh Baker Sang Purcell's Dido And Aeneas In 1962 Polly Benjamin Britten's Version Of The Beggar's Opera And Lucretia In Britten's The Rape Of Lucretia . At Glyndebourne She Appeared Again As Dido 1966 And As Diana/Jupiter In Francesco Cavalli's La Calisto And Penelope In Monteverdi's Il Ritorno D'Ulisse In Patria. For Scottish Opera She Sang Dorabella In Mozart's Così Fan Tutte Dido Octavian In Richard Strauss's Der Rosenkavalier The Composer In Ariadne Auf Naxos And The Role Of Orfeo In Gluck's Orfeo Ed Euridice. In 1966 Baker Made Her Debut As Hermia At The Royal Opera House Covent Garden And Went On To Sing Berlioz's Dido Kate In Britten's Owen Wingrave Mozart's Vitellia And Idamantes Cressida In William Walton's Troilus And Cressida And The Title Role In Gluck's Alceste 1981 There. For The English National Opera She Sang Poppaea Charlotte In Massenet's Werther And The Title Roles In Donizetti's Maria Stuarda And Handel's Giulio Cesare. Oratorio During This Same Period She Made An Equally Strong Impact On Audiences In The Concert Hall Both In Oratorio Roles And Solo Recitals. Among Her Most Notable Achievements Are Her Recordings Of The Angel In Sir Edward Elgar's The Dream Of Gerontius Made With Sir John Barbirolli In December 1964 And Sir Simon Rattle Over Twenty Years Later Her Performance Of Elgar's Sea Pictures Also Recorded With Barbirolli And The World-Premiere Recording Of Ralph Vaughan Williams's Christmas Oratorio Hodie Made In 1965 With Sir David Willcocks. In 1975 She Premiered Dominick Argento's Pulitzer Prize-Winning Song Cycle "From The Diary Of Virginia Woolf " Written For Her By The Composer. She Has Also Been Highly Praised For Her Insightful Performances Of The Alto Rhapsody And Many Lieder By Brahms And Schubert. Retirement Dame Janet Baker's Final Operatic Appearance Was As Orfeo In Gluck's Orfeo Ed Euridice On 17 July 1982 At Glyndebourne. She Published A Memoir Full Circle In 1982. In 1991 Baker Was Elected Chancellor Of The University Of York. She Held The Position Until 2004 When She Was Succeeded By Greg Dyke. Honours And Awards Baker Was Made A Dame Commander Of The Order Of The British Empire DBE In 1976 And A Member Of The Order Of The Companions Of Honour CH In 1993. She Received The Léonie Sonning Music Prize Of Denmark In 1979. In 2008 She Received The Distinguished Musician Award From The Incorporated Society Of Musicians. Private Life She Married James Keith Shelley In 1957 In Harrow. Since Retiring From Public Life She Has Become Something Of A Recluse Having Nothing To Do With Anyone Except Close Friends.