Heather Mary Harper was a Northern Irish operatic soprano.
24 Facts About Heather Harper
1.
2.
Heather Harper was active internationally in both opera and concert.
3.
Heather Harper performed roles such as Helena in Benjamin Britten's A Midsummer Night's Dream at the Royal Opera House, Elsa in Wagner's Lohengrin at the Bayreuth Festival, and the Countess in Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro at the Metropolitan Opera.
4.
Heather Harper became known internationally when she stepped in for the world premiere of Britten's War Requiem in 1962, and remained associated with the composer's work, but sang other premieres.
5.
Heather Harper was born on 8 May 1930 in Belfast, the daughter of Mary and Hugh Harper, a lawyer.
6.
Heather Harper studied piano at the Trinity College of Music in London on a scholarship, with viola and cello as additional subjects.
7.
Heather Harper was a member of the Ambrosian Chorus, where her fellow altos included Jean Allister, Pamela Bowden and Helen Watts, the BBC Chorus and the George Mitchell Singers.
8.
Heather Harper studied with Helene Isepp, and retrained as a soprano with Frederick Husler and Yvonne Rodd-Marling, the authors of Singing: The Physical Nature of the Vocal Organ.
9.
Heather Harper's performance was a critical success, and she was given the role of Violetta in a 1956 television production of La traviata.
10.
Heather Harper was a member of the English Opera Group from 1956 to 1975.
11.
Heather Harper appeared at the ROH in 1975 as Ellen Orford in Britten's Peter Grimes in a new production staged by Elijah Moshinsky, alongside Jon Vickers in the title role.
12.
Heather Harper created Nadia in Tippett's The Ice Break and Mrs Coyle in the stage premiere of Britten's Owen Wingrave at the ROH; she had previously sung in the television premiere of Owen Wingrave in 1970: a "high point" in her many performances for television, according to her obituary in The Guardian.
13.
At the Bayreuth Festival, Harper appeared as Elsa in Lohengrin in 1967 and 1968, conducted by Rudolf Kempe.
14.
Heather Harper made her debut at the Metropolitan Opera as Contessa Almaviva in Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro in 1977.
15.
Heather Harper sang Charlotte in Massenet's Werther for the San Francisco Opera.
16.
Heather Harper appeared as a regular guest at the Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires, including roles such as Marguerite in Gounod's Faust and Vitellia in Mozart's La clemenza di Tito.
17.
Heather Harper sang in the premiere of Britten's War Requiem at Coventry Cathedral with Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau and Peter Pears in 1962, substituting for Galina Vishnevskaya at ten days' notice.
18.
Heather Harper sang in it again in 1968 in London, conducted by Meredith Davies, and appeared in the first recording with the same participants.
19.
Heather Harper sang the soprano solo in the world premiere of Tippett's Third Symphony in 1972.
20.
Heather Harper's recordings include Peter Grimes in both audio and video formats.
21.
Heather Harper recorded Britten's War Requiem in 1991 in an award-winning CD conducted by Richard Hickox.
22.
Heather Harper's perceptions are superior to those of both Haywood and Soderstrom by virtue of her longer association with the piece, and her tone shows very few signs of the advancing years.
23.
Heather Harper married Argentinian scientist Eduardo E Benarroch in 1973.
24.
Heather Harper's sister was a cellist in the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and her brother was a hornist with the ROH, the Royal Philharmonic and the English Chamber Orchestra.