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Dame Isoleen Heather Begg (1 December 1932 – 12 May 2009) was a New Zealand-born operatic mezzo-soprano who spent most of her career in the United Kingdom and Australia. She was "a versatile artist" with a "gift for comedy",Covell, Roger. Heather Begg. In: The New Grove Dictionary of Opera, Macmillan, London & New York, 1997, p374. and became renowned as the title role in Georges Bizet's Carmen, Amneris in Giuseppe Verdi's Aida and in lighter operas such as The Gondoliers.
She went to London in 1957 to attend the London Opera Centre on a musical scholarship. Between 1959 and 1962 she appeared with the Carl Rosa Opera Company, the New Opera Company, the Royal Opera with whom she made her British debut as Grimgerde in Die Walküre at Covent Garden in 1959. and the English Opera Group in a wide variety of roles. In 1959, she took part in the New Zealand Music Society's concert at the Wigmore Hall, with a performance of Paul Hindemith's The Four Temperaments; the following year Sadler's Wells offered her the part of "Goddess Juno" in Offenbach's Orpheus in the Underworld, where she discovered she had a talent for comic opera. She returned to New Zealand in 1964 to sing with the New Zealand Opera Company until 1966, but still made guest appearances at Bordeaux, Chicago and elsewhere. In the new production of Patience for Sadler's Wells Opera in 1969 as the Lady Jane she played the double bass along with singing.Rosenthal, Harold D. Patience. Sadler's Wells Opera at the London Coliseum, October 9. Opera, December 1969, Vol 20 No 12, p1090-92 (photo of Begg playing on p1091).
She was a principal resident mezzo-soprano at the Royal Opera, Covent Garden, where she stayed from 1969 to 1976. Her roles there included Flora in La traviata, Mary in The Flying Dutchman, Emilia in Otello, Mamma Lucia in Cavalleria rusticana, Madame Larina in Eugene Onegin, the Grandmother in Jenůfa, Marthe in Faust, Mrs Sedley in Peter Grimes, Teresa in La sonnambula, Anna in Les Troyens, and Marina Mnishek in Boris Godunov.
In 1975 she appeared as Marcellina in the Chicago Lyric Opera's production of The Marriage of Figaro, which led to her reprising the role in Jean-Pierre Ponnelle's film of the work, where she appeared alongside Mirella Freni as Susanna and Hermann Prey as Figaro. She also appeared in Gilbert and Sullivan at the The Proms in 1971 and 1972, also taken part in a concert performance of Peter Grimes (Mrs Sedley) there in 1975. Proms database search results (4) for Heather Begg accessed 6 May 2023. She also appeared as Katisha in The Mikado at The Sydney Opera House with The Australian Opera, a performance issued on video.
In 1976 she accepted an invitation from Richard Bonynge to join the Opera Australia, where she remained for the rest of her career. Here she took on major roles such as Carmen and Aida, and appeared in Boris Godunov and The Mastersingers of Nuremberg. Her final appearance was at the Sydney Opera House in 2006 to recreate Grandmother Buryjovka in Jenůfa (which she had sung at Covent Garden in 1972 and 1974), conducted by Richard Hickox.
Beyond the UK and Australasia, she appeared on stage with companies in Strasbourg, Bordeaux, Orange, Barcelona, Milan, Chicago, San Francisco, San Diego, and Vancouver.
On BBC television she was the Duchess of Plaza-Toro in its 1972 Gondoliers broadcast and Katisha in the 1973 Mikado, both conducted by David Lloyd-Jones. The latter role was also set down on video in 1987 for Opera Australia, with Lady Jane in 1995.
Her recording with Glenys Fowles of the "Flower Duet" from Delibes's Lakmé has become famous. Profile , OvationShop.com; accessed 17 April 2017.
In April 2009, a month before her death, Begg's DCNZM was redesignated Dame Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit (DNZM), after the New Zealand government decided in March 2009 to restore the titles of knights and dames to the honours system. She was the first person to be so designated as her advanced illness caused the change to be gazetted ahead of the planned honours list in August. Heather Begg created a Dame, radionz.co.nz, 14 May 2009. Obituary: "Dame Heather Begg: Opera diva with a voice of beauty", stuff.co.nz, 21 May 2009.
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