Marietta Alboni
Italian contralto singer
Category Archives: Music
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Bathia Stuart
She was one of the first New Zealand women to enter the male-dominated field of film-making.
Sorcha Ní Ghuairim
Columnist, newspaper editor and promoter of the Irish language
Brigid Tunney
Coming from a family of renowned singers, she acquired a great number of traditional ballads, learnt from both sides of her family. Possessing a beautifully articulated voice with a considerable range, she was extensively recorded with other members of her family in 1952 by Sean O’Boyle and Peter Kennedy for the BBC. She was important for passing on a wide range of material to the younger generation, a great deal of which could have been forgotten at a time when folk music had apparently fallen out of fashion.
Diedre Irons
Diedre Irons emigrated to New Zealand from Canada in 1977 and was immediately recognised as an outstanding piano soloist and accompanist. Irons held teaching positions at the University of Canterbury and the New Zealand School of Music in Wellington.
Wilma Smith
Violinist Wilma Smith maintained a strong profile as soloist and chamber musician in Australasia.
Rosina Buckman
Rosina Buckman is remembered for her infinite capacity for taking pains, for allowing nothing to interfere with her work, and above all for her unwavering dedication to the art of singing.
Malvina Major
Soprano Malvina Major sang Rosina in Il barbiere di Siviglia at the 1968 and 1969 Salzburg Festivals in Austria and attracted the interest of Covent Garden and Glyndebourne in England. However, she chose to live in her home country, where she built up a large and devoted audience.
IW note: Major established the Dame Malvina Major Foundation in 1991 to support education through awards and provide training for young New Zealanders in the performing arts.
Margaret Medlyn
From the 1990s soprano Margaret Medlyn managed to fulfil engagements with such companies as Covent Garden, the English National Opera and the Vienna State Opera from her home base in New Zealand.
Janetta McStay
Janetta McStay (1917–2012), born in Invercargill, was sought after in Australia and New Zealand as an accompanist and solo artist, performing concerti with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra and other orchestras. She taught at the University of Auckland from 1963 until retirement.