Yvonne Kenny
Biography Yvonne Kenny
Yvonne Kenny
is one of the most distinguished sopranos of her generation. She was born in Sydney and after achieving a BSc in Biochemistry, went to London to study voice. She made her operatic debut in 1975 after which she joined the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden where she remained a member of the company until 1996.
International appearances include the Wiener Staatsoper, La Scala, Milan; Salzburger Festspiel, Staatsoper Berlin, Opera de Paris, English National Opera, Zurich, Glyndebourne and the Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich.
Both internationally and in Australia she has built an enviable reputation as a dazzling interpreter of works by Monteverdi, Handel, Mozart, Donizetti, Britten and more recently for her interpretations of the Richard Strauss heroines.
She has appeared regularly on the concert platform including the Edinburgh and Aix-En-Provence Festivals, BBC Promenade concerts, at New York’s Carnegie Hall, at London’s Wigmore, Festival and Royal Albert Halls and the Olympic Anthem at the closing ceremony of the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games.
Australian performances include concerts with the Australian Brandenberg Orchestra, national tours for Musica Viva and the Australian Chamber Orchestra as well as guest appearances with all the symphony orchestras, with Opera Australia in a broad range of repertoire, Opera in the Alps, Twilight at Taronga, a recital in London’s King’s Place Recital Hall and the title role in The Merry Widow at UK’s West Green House.
Recent performances have included Countess/Capriccio (Dresden State Opera), Marschallin /Der Rosenkavalier (Vienna State Opera/Opera Australia), The Merry Widow, La Voix Humaine, Dido/Dido & Aeneas and Blanche/Streetcar Named Desire (Opera Australia), Jocasta/Oedipus Rex (Sydney Festival), a special guest appearance in OA’s Fledermaus and OA’s Singing for Love national concert tour with David Hobson.
She was made a Member of the Order of Australia in 1989 for services to music and conferred an Honorary Doctorate in Music by the University of Sydney in 1999. She is a Professor of Voice at London’s Guildhall School of Music & Drama.
The Slovak Philharmonic Chorus
was formed in 1946 from the mixed chorus of Radio Bratislava and, over the years, has performed a wide repertoire of music, ranging from the earliest choral music to the work of contemporary composers. The chorus, which appointed Jan Rozehnal as its music director in 1990, has performed under many distinguished conductors, including Claudio Abbado, Lorin Maazel, Vaclav Talich and Yuri Temirkanov. Recordings by the chorus include the Oratorio, The Legend of St Elisabeth by Liszt for Hungaroton, which was awarded the Paris Grand Prix du Disque in 1974, and a number of works for Naxos and Marco Polo, including Respighi’s cantata La Primavera and opera La bella dormente nel bosco.
Richard Bonynge
Throughout his illustrious career, Richard Bonynge has conducted in the world's leading opera houses in Europe, North and South America, Australia and New Zealand and Asia. He has received world-wide acclaim as a scholar of bel canto opera and is celebrated for leading the renaissance of eighteenth and early-nineteenth century musical theater, such as Les Huguenots (Meyerbeer), Semiramide, Sigismondo (Rossini), La Fille du Régiment, Maria Stuarda, Anna Bolena, Lucrezia Borgia (Donizetti), Esclarmonde, Le Roi de Lahore, Thérèse (Massenet), Medea (Pacini), Orfeo (Haydn), I Masnadieri (Verdi).
In recent seasons he led performances of La Traviata in Athens, I Capuleti ed I Montecchi in London, Norma, Lucia di Lammermoor, La Scala di Seta, Signor Bruschino, Roméo & Juliettein Sydney, Lucia, Norma and Faust in the United States, La Favorite in Barcelona, I Lombardiin Buenos Aires and Semiramide (Meyerbeer) at the Wildbad Festival, Germany.
Mr. Bonynge's extensive career includes innumerable performances with his wife, Dame Joan Sutherland, culminating in her farewell engagements in opera and recital throughout the world. The two artists also toured the United States with the Sydney Symphony in celebration of Australia's Bicentennial, with concerts at the Kennedy Center, Carnegie Hall and the United Nations.
His discography reflects the eclecticism of his music interests. He has recorded over 50 complete operas as well as the three Tchaikovsky ballets, three Delibes ballets and numerous lesser known ballets by Adam, Minkus, Burgmuller, Auber, Drigo, Offenbach. He recorded several recital discs with Sumi Jo, Jerry Hadley, Deborah Riedel, Rosamund Illing, Cheryl Barker and Elizabeth Whitehouse. His recent recordings are Le Domino Noir (Auber), Le Toréador (Adam), Der Czarevich, Das Land des Lächelns, Paganini, Giuditta (Lehar),Cendrillon (Nicolo), Orfeo (Haydn), Die Herzogin von Chicago and Die Czardasfürstin(Kálmán), British Opera Arias (Balfe, Wallace, Sullivan), Sacred and Profane Arias(Massenet), Puccini Arias (Puccini), La Somnambula (Hérold), Verismo Arias andTchaikovsky & Grieg piano concertos with Simon Tedeschi and the Queensland Orchestra. Video recordings include Les Huguenots, La Fille du Régiment, Adriana Lecouvreur, Die Lustige Witwe, Les Dialogues des Carmélites, Norma, Die Fledermaus, Lucrezia Borgia,Lucia di Lammermoor, Lakmé, Il Trovatore, Die Zauberflöte and Die Czardasfürstin.
Born in Sydney, Australia, Richard Bonynge studied at the NSW Conservatory of Music and the Royal College of Music. He served as Music Director of the Sutherland-Williamson Grand Opera Company in 1965 (Melbourne, Adelaide, Sydney, Brisbane), as Artistic Director of the Vancouver Opera from 1974-77 and Music Director of The Australian Opera from 1976-86. Maestro Bonynge's accomplishments as conductor and musical scholar were recognized when Queen Elizabeth II, during her Silver Jubilee Celebration in 1977, made him a Commander of the British Empire. In the summer of 1989, the French government honored him with the rank of "Commandeur de l'Ordre National des Arts et des Lettres".
