13 Facts About Anne Sharp

Anne Sharp was a Scottish coloratura soprano particularly associated with the operas of Benjamin Britten.

Anne Smellie Graham Sharp was born in Motherwell, Lanarkshire, the eighth and youngest child in a family of keen amateur musicians.

Anne Sharp's father was an engineer in the steel industry, and an amateur singer and choirmaster.

Anne Sharp attended Glencairn Primary School and Dalziel High School in Motherwell.

Anne Sharp gained the Performer's Diploma in Solo Singing from what was by then the Royal Scottish Academy of Music in 1944, and similar diplomas awarded by Trinity College London and The Royal Academy of Music in 1946.

Anne Sharp worked for Motherwell Corporation as a shorthand typist.

At the Royal Opera House, Anne Sharp sang in the chorus in the first post-war production, Purcell's The Fairy Queen, then in the 1947 productions of Bizet's Carmen, Massenet's Manon and Mozart's The Magic Flute.

Anne Sharp created the roles of Cis Woodger in Albert Herring and Molly Brazen in Britten's 1948 adaptation of The Beggar's Opera, as well as Juliet Brook in The Little Sweep, a part written for her by Britten.

Anne Sharp created the title role in Lawrance Collingwood's little-known opera The Death of Tintagiles, at its only performance in April 1950.

Miss Anne Sharp, soprano, heard for the first time in Tain, made an instant appeal, as might be expected from a singer of her calibre and reputation.

In December 1950, Anne Sharp married Rev James Lyon Kerr, a Church of Scotland minister.

Anne Sharp continued her operatic career in London intermittently after her marriage, but after the birth of their daughter in 1953 concentrated on oratorio roles in Scotland.

Anne Sharp died in Edinburgh on 25 August 2011, aged 94.