Maryetta Midgley (born 27 May 1942) is an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Culture, language and peoples * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England * ''English'', an Amish ter ...

soprano A soprano () is a type of classical singing voice and has the highest vocal range of all voice types. The soprano's vocal range (using scientific pitch notation) is from approximately middle C (C4) = 261 Hertz, Hz to A5 in Choir, choral ...

singer. Midgley was born in

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

, Scotland, the daughter of operatic

tenor A tenor is a type of male singing voice whose vocal range lies between the countertenor and baritone voice types. It is the highest male chest voice type. Composers typically write music for this voice in the range from the second B below m ...

Walter Midgley and pianist Gladys Vernon. She is the sister of tenor Vernon Midgley. She was educated at the

Holy Cross School, New Malden The Holy Cross School is a Roman Catholic secondary school with academy status for girls located in New Malden, in the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames, England. The school specialises in science, and converted to academy status on 1 August ...

Surrey Surrey () is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Greater London to the northeast, Kent to the east, East Sussex, East and West Sussex to the south, and Hampshire and Berkshire to the wes ...

, England. She won a scholarship to the

Trinity College of Music Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance is a music, dance, and musical theatre conservatoire based in South East London. It was formed in 2005 as a merger of two older institutions – Trinity College of Music and Laban Dance Centre. Trini ...

, where she studied singing and the piano. She began her career with the George Mitchell Singers and made her first radio broadcast as a child in ''

Round the Horne ''Round the Horne'' is a BBC Radio comedy programme starring Kenneth Horne, first transmitted in four series of weekly episodes from 1965 until 1968. The show was created by Barry Took and Marty Feldman, who wrote the first three series. The f ...

''. She appeared in the "Fol-De-Rols" at the Congress Theatre, Eastbourne and in ''

Camelot Camelot is a legendary castle and Royal court, court associated with King Arthur. Absent in the early Arthurian material, Camelot first appeared in 12th-century French romances and, since the Lancelot-Grail cycle, eventually came to be described ...

'' at the

Theatre Royal Drury Lane The Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, commonly known as Drury Lane, is a West End theatre and Grade I listed building in Covent Garden, London, England. The building faces Catherine Street (earlier named Bridges or Brydges Street) and backs onto Dru ...

. She has broadcast regularly on

BBC Radio 2 BBC Radio 2 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It is the List of most-listened-to radio programs, most popular station in the United Kingdom with over 14 million weekly listeners. Since launching in 1967, the sta ...

in Friday Night is Music Night, "Melodies for You", "Among Your Souvenirs", "Saturday Night is Gala Night" and "Robert Farnon's World of Music". With her brother Vernon she appeared frequently on BBC TV's '' The Good Old Days''. She performed in '' Wiener Blut'', ''

Show Boat ''Show Boat'' is a musical theatre, musical with music by Jerome Kern and book and lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II. It is based on Edna Ferber's best-selling 1926 Show Boat (novel), novel of the same name. The musical follows the lives of the per ...

'', '' Les cloches de Corneville'', and ''

La rondine ''La rondine'' (''The Swallow'') is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Giuseppe Adami, based on a libretto by Alfred Maria Willner and . It was first performed at the Grand Théâtre de Monte Carlo (or the Thé� ...

'', with

Lorin Maazel Lorin Varencove Maazel (; March 6, 1930 – July 13, 2014) was an American conductor, violinist and composer. He began conducting at the age of eight and by 1953 had decided to pursue a career in music. He had established a reputation in t ...

in 1981. She founded MVM Records and produced over 15 albums exclusively of the entire family. In a broadcast of "Friday Night is Music Night" in 1976 from Fairfield Halls Croydon, all four Midgleys performed together for the only time. She retired from professional singing in 1992, after 42 years, and runs an unrelated business with her husband Richard.

Discography

* Jerome Kern: ''Show Boat'', conducted by John McGlinn, EMI CDRIVER1, 1988 * ''Melodies, melodies all the way''. Maryetta Midgley (soprano), Vernon Midgley (tenor), Orchestra of Romance conducted by Harold Geller, Philips 6382 113

References

English operatic sopranos 1940s births Living people Musicians from Edinburgh 20th-century English women opera singers Year of birth missing (living people) {{UK-opera-singer-stub