Maureen Forrester

Maureen Forrester, CC, OQ, O.Ont ( born July 25, 1930 in Montreal, Quebec, † June 16, 2010 in Toronto ) was a Canadian opera singer in the vocal range alto.

Life

Maureen Forrester was born as the youngest of four children of Thomas Forrester, a Scottish cabinetmaker origin, and its Scotch-Irish wife May Arnold in a musical family workers. At the age of almost 14 years, Forrester dropped out of high school and worked as a secretary and switchboard operator at the Bell Telephone Company. With her ​​salary she financed her singing lessons. She also received a vocal scholarship from the Montreal Social Club. Your singing teachers were Sally Martin, the English tenor Frank Rowe, but especially the Dutch baritone Bernard Diamant, a professor at the École Vincent d' Indy, a private music school in Montreal and at McGill University. Under his training her voice developed into a contralto, her actual natural voice.

Forrester sang in church choirs at the beginning and at the Canadian Radio Choir. In December 1951, she was in the Salvation Army Citadel in Montreal her professional debut as a singer in a concert by the Montreal Elgar Choir with Edward Elgar's composition The Music Makers, Op 69 for mezzo- soprano, chorus and orchestra. First opera roles she sang at the Opera Guild of Montreal in January 1953, the small role of seamstress Irma at the opera by Gustave Charpentier Louise and in January 1954, the Schenk landlady in Boris Godunov. However, Forrester was mainly active as a concert singer at this time. In March 1953 she gave her first solo recital at the Montreal Young Women's Christian Association with the born in Germany, Montreal-based pianist and vocal coach John Newmark, who was her constant companion song in subsequent years. In December 1953, she was under the baton of Otto Klemperer her debut with the Montreal Symphony Orchestra Ludwig van Beethoven's 9th Symphony. 1954 followed her debut with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra with George Frideric Handel's oratorio The Messiah. In January 1955, Forrester gave her European debut in Paris with a recital at the Salle Gaveau. Other recitals followed until January 1956, including at the BBC in London and at the West German Radio in Cologne. In 1956, she had great success at her concert in New York's Town Hall with Gustav Mahler's Resurrection Symphony under the baton of Bruno Walter. This they then engaged as soloist for his farewell tour in February 1957, the New York Philharmonic Orchestra at Carnegie Hall. In 1957 she gave concerts with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in London under Sir Thomas Beecham and the Berlin Philharmonic in Berlin, in London later the Verdi Requiem conducted by Sir Malcolm Sargent. In 1958, she sang together with the Vancouver Bach Choir at the Vancouver International Festival, the Alto Rhapsody by Johannes Brahms, also under the direction of Bruno Walter. In 1963 she sang in a TV production at NBC in the St. Matthew Passion by Johann Sebastian Bach. In 1968 she sang at the Salzburg Festival, the alto solo in the Stabat Mater by Giovanni Battista Pergolesi.

In the concert hall Forrester was considered particularly as an interpreter of the music of Gustav Mahler. She sang the solo parts in Mahler's symphonies, the songs from the cycle Des Knaben Wunderhorn and over again The Song of the Earth, in the later years of her career, among others, in 1986 with the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra and Richard Margison as Tenor partner. Often, they also took over the mezzo- soprano role in Edward Elgar's oratorio The Dream of Gerontius.

From the late 1950s, Forrester Opera turned then amplified and developed into one of the leading singer in the dramatic mezzo- soprano-and - trade. The American Society Opera she sang Handel's Cornelia 's Julius Caesar in George Frederick in November 1958 already in a concert performance. In May 1962 her stage debut followed as Orpheus in Orfeo ed Euridice. Main roles in her operatic repertoire were Erda and Fricka in The Ring of the Nibelung, Brangäne in Tristan and Isolde, Clytemnestra in Elektra, Herodias in Salome, the witch in Hansel and Gretel, Ulrica in Un ballo in maschera and the old Countess in Pique Dame.

She has also appeared at the Teatro Colón (1963 Brangäne ), at the New York City Opera ( 1966 Cornelia, 1983 as Madame de la Haltière in Jules Massenet's Cendrillon ), at the Covent Garden Opera ( 1971 Fricka ), at the Metropolitan Opera (1975-1977 as Fricka and Ulrica ), at the San Francisco Opera ( 1967 as La Cieca in La Gioconda, 1982 as Madame de la Haltière ), at the Théâtre des Champs- Élysées ( 1984 as Clytemnestra with Leonie Rysanek, Ute Vinzing and Bent Norup as partners ) and at La Scala (1990 as the Countess in the Queen of Spades, 1993 as Mme de Croissy in Dialogues of the Carmelites by Francis Poulenc). She also sang in the opera houses of Quebec ( 1974 as Mistress Quickly in Falstaff, 1975 as Brangäne ), Edmonton ( 1971 as Ulrica, 1977 as Herodias ), Pittsburgh ( 1989 as Clytemnestra ), Washington ( 1993 Madame de la Haltière ) and San Diego (1984 as a witch in Hansel and Gretel ). 1993 sang the Queen of Spades Countess also at the Opera House of Santiago de Chile. In 1994 she sang the role of the Marquise de Gaetano Donizetti Berke Field in comic opera The Daughter of the Regiment in their belated debut at the Opera House of Montreal.

Until the mid- 1990s, Forrester appeared regularly as a concert singer still on, among other things, in 1995 at the Toronto Symphony Orchestra with Gustav Mahler's Resurrection Symphony. In 2001 she assumed, also in Toronto, most recently at a concert as a singer on.

Private

1957 Forrester married the violinist and conductor Eugene Kash. The marriage produced five children, including the actor Linda Kash and Daniel Kash. The marriage ended in divorce in 1974. From the mid- 1990s, the first signs of Alzheimer's disease became noticeable at Forrester. However, already received commitments fulfilled Forrester usually continues still. In 2002, Forrester finally pulled back into a nursing home in Toronto. Forrester died in June 2010 of complications from Alzheimer 's disease.

Voice

Maureen Forrester's voice was a dunkeltimbrierter, clear and powerful mezzo- soprano. Forrester had an unusually large vocal range and was therefore able to sing both great mezzo- soprano parts as well as the classic Altfach. She had a strong low register, which ranged effortlessly into the depth of the contralto location. From the early 1990s a significant slowdown in voting power made ​​itself felt at Forrester. They therefore moved to focus on the character roles in the opera.

Awards and Honorary Appointments

1967 Forrester was appointed Companion of the Order of Canada. In 1988, she received the Toronto Arts Award. In 1990 she was awarded the Order of Ontario. In 1990 she became a member of the Canadian Music Hall of Fame. In 1990 she received a star on the Canada 's Walk of Fame in Toronto. In 2003 she was appointed an Officer of the Ordre national du Québec.

From 1984 to 1988, Forrester Chairman of the Canada Council. From 1986 to 1990 she was Chancellor of Wilfrid Laurier University. They also received more than 30 honorary doctorates from various universities in Canada.

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