Heather Harper

Heather Harper CBE ( born May 8, 1930 in Belfast, Northern Ireland) is a British soprano.

Harper received her early musical training in Belfast. She studied piano at Trinity College of Music in London, with voice as a second instrument, and sang at the BBC Chorus.

Her debut as a professional soprano, she gave in 1954 in Medea, a performance of this opera by the Oxford University Opera Club. From 1956 to 1975 she was a member of the English Opera Group. For their outstanding roles included Elsa in Wagner's Lohengrin, the title role in Strauss' Arabella, Ellen Orford in Britten's Peter Grimes, and the Governess in Britten's The Turn of the Screw.

Harper was also active as a soprano in concert performances. So she sang the soprano solo part in the premiere of Britten's War Requiem in 1962; Galina Vishnevskaya it replaced just 10 days before the concert. She also appeared on other stages of the world: the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, at the Bayreuth Festival, in San Francisco and at the Metropolitan Opera ( Contessa Almaviva in Le nozze di Figaro and in Peter Grimes ). In 1985 she took part in the world premiere of Malcolm Williamson's song cycle Next Year in Jerusalem in the so-called Last Night of the Proms in Belfast.