Deborah Riedel (31 July 19588 January 2009) was an Australian operatic soprano. Hers is generally regarded as one of the greatest voices ever produced in Australia. She died of cancer at the height of her career, at the age of 50.
Riedel was born in
Carlingford, New South Wales
Carlingford () is a suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Carlingford is north-west of the Sydney central business district in the Local government in Australia, local government area of City of Parramatta. Carlingford si ...
(in north-western Sydney). She gained a Diploma of Music Education at the
Sydney Conservatorium of Music, and taught for some time at Riverstone High School. She joined the chorus of
Opera Australia (OA) in 1983. She won a number of important competitions, which enabled her to study overseas. Back in Australia, she sang mezzo roles with
Victoria State Opera and
West Australian Opera. At OA, her mentor
Richard Bonynge guided her transition from mezzo to soprano. She first came to notice when she sang Leila in
Georges Bizet
Georges Bizet (; 25 October 18383 June 1875) was a French composer of the Romantic music, Romantic era. Best known for his operas in a career cut short by his early death, Bizet achieved few successes before his final work, ''Carmen'', w ...
's ''
The Pearl Fishers'' with Victoria State Opera in 1986. This was backed up with Susanna in ''
The Marriage of Figaro'' with OA in 1989. That year, she was so successful from her auditions in Europe that she was forced to refuse a number of offers. She sang with such opera companies as the
Royal Opera,
Covent Garden, Paris Opera, Geneva Opera, Bavarian State Opera,
Rome Opera,
Vienna State Opera, and many others.
She won the inaugural Givenchy French Operatic Award in 1994. Her American debut that year was as Amina in ''
La sonnambula'' in San Diego. She also appeared with the
Metropolitan Opera
The Metropolitan Opera is an American opera company based in New York City, currently resident at the Metropolitan Opera House (Lincoln Center), Metropolitan Opera House at Lincoln Center, situated on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. Referred ...
and
San Francisco Opera.
Her work in Australia included roles in ''
The Magic Flute'', ''
Don Giovanni
''Don Giovanni'' (; K. 527; full title: , literally ''The Rake Punished, or Don Giovanni'') is an opera in two acts with music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to an Italian libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte. Its subject is a centuries-old Spanish legen ...
'', ''
Maria Stuarda'', ''
Norma'', ''
La traviata'', ''
Il trovatore'', ''
La bohème
''La bohème'' ( , ) is an opera in four acts,Puccini called the divisions '':wikt:quadro, quadri'', ''wikt:tableau, tableaux'' or "images", rather than ''atti'' (acts). composed by Giacomo Puccini between 1893 and 1895 to an Italian libretto b ...
'', ''
Tosca'', ''
Faust'', ''
The Tales of Hoffmann'', ''
Turandot'' and others. Internationally she sang the Marschallin in ''
Der Rosenkavalier'' and Ellen Orford in ''
Peter Grimes''.
In 2004, she was Sieglinde in the first modern Australian production of
Wagner's
Ring Cycle, by the
State Opera of South Australia.
Riedel was diagnosed with cancer in 1999, but she continued working until close to her death, on 8 January 2009.
Sources
The Australian, 9 January 2009
*
Moffatt Oxenbould, Obituary 'Opera singer who scaled the heights', ''The Age'', 15 January 2009
{{DEFAULTSORT:Riedel, Deborah
1958 births
2009 deaths
Sydney Conservatorium of Music alumni
Australian operatic sopranos
Helpmann Award winners
Deaths from cancer in New South Wales
Musicians from Sydney
20th-century Australian women opera singers
21st-century Australian women opera singers