Margreta Elkins

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Margreta Ann Enid Elkins AM, a mezzo-soprano, was born in Brisbane, Australia on 16 October 1930.

Chronology, with some live performances (roles in brackets):

1950: Toured Queensland.

Faust (Siebel)
Il travatore (Azucena)
Madama Butterfly (Suzuki)

1952: Joined and toured with the National Opera Company of Australia.

1956: Moved to Europe, where she was based for the next twenty years. Performed for the Dublin Grand Opera Company and the Carl Rosa Opera Company.

Carmen (Carmen)

1957: Became resident principal mezzo-soprano at the Royal Opera House, where she stayed for ten years.

Aida (Amneris)
Lucia di Lammermoor (Alisa)
Der Rosenkavalier (Octavian)
King Priam by Michael Tippett (Helen of Troy)
Die Walküre (Sieglinde)
The Growing Castle (The Poet)

1976: Returned to Australia.

1984: She was made a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) on 11 June 1984 for service to opera.

She is a Sessional Lecturer in Voice at the Queensland Conservatorium.

[edit] Recordings

Margreta Elkins – The Classic Recordings ABC 461 922-2 Rosina (William Shield), Sea Pictures (Edward Elgar), "The Altar is adorned for the Sacrifice" from The Growing Castle (Malcolm Williamson)

Vincenzo Bellini

I Puritani — Joan Sutherland (Elvira), Margreta Elkins (Enrichetta di Francia), Pierre Duval (Arturo Talbot); Piero de Palma (Sir Bruno Robertson), Renato Capecchi (Sir Riccardo Forth), Ezio Flagello (Sir Giorgio), Giovanni Fioiani (Lord Gualtiero Valton), Coro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, Orchestra del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, Richard Bonynge (conductor) - recorded 1963 – Decca 448 969-2 / Decca 467 789-2 (part of a 10-CD set) / London POCL 3965-7
La Sonnambula — Joan Sutherland (Amina), Sylvia Stahlman (Lisa), Margreta Elkins (Teresa), Nicola Monti (Elvino), Angelo Mercuriali (Notary), Fernando Corena (Rodolfo), Giovanni Fioiani (Alessio), Coro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, Orchestra del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, Richard Bonynge recorded 1962 – Decca 00289 448 9662 6 / 000320702 / 455 823-2 — Track listing
Beatrice di Tenda [does not feature Elkins] with arias from Norma, I Puritani (performers as above) and La Sonnambula (as above), which do feature Elkins – Decca 00289 433 7062 2 — Track listing and excerpts
Norma — Joan Sutherland (Norma), Margreta Elkins (Adalgisa), Ronald Stevens (Pollione), Clifford Grant (Oroveso), Etela Piha (Clotilde), Trevor Brown (Flavio), The Opera Australia Chorus, The Elizabethan Sydney Orchestra, Richard Bonynge, recorded 1978 – DVD Arthaus Musik 100 180

Giovanni Bononcini

Griselda — Lauris Elms (Griselda), Joan Sutherland (Ernesto), Monica Sinclair (Gualtiero), Margreta Elkins (Almirena), Spiro Malas (Rambaldo), Ambrosian Opera Chorus, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Richard Bonynge, recorded 1967. Decca 448 977-2 (coupled with Montezuma)

Gaetano Donizetti

Emilia di Liverpool (excerpts) [does not feature Margreta] / Lucia di Lammermoor (excerpts) — Joan Sutherland (Lucia), Margreta Elkins (Alisa), Joao Gibin (Edgardo), Tullio Serafin (conductor). Recorded 26 February 1959 – Myto Records MCD 91545 (Probably these are excerpts from the same performance as the Melodram recording.)
Lucia di Lammermoor (Highlights) — Maria Callas (Lucia), Ferruccio Tagliavini, Piero Cappuccilli, Bernard Ladysz, Leonard del Ferro, Margreta Elkins (Alisa), Renzo Casellato, Philharmonia Chorus London, Philharmonia Orchestra London, Tullio Serafin, recorded 1959 – EMI
Lucia di Lammermoor — Joan Sutherland (Lucia), João Gibin (Edgardo), John Shaw (Enrico), Joseph Rouleau (Raimondo), Kenneth MacDonald (Arturo), Margreta Elkins (Alisa), Robert Bowman (Normanno), Chorus & Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Tullio Serafin, recorded 1959 – Golden Melodram GM 50024 or Giuseppe di Stefano GDS 21017 or Bella Voce BLV 107 218 (highlights). 2006 release: Royal Opera House Heritage Series ROHS 002.
Lucia di Lammermoor — Joan Sutherland (Lucia), André Turp (Edgardo), John Shaw (Enrico), Joseph Rouleau (Raimondo), Kenneth MacDonald (Arturo), Margreta Elkins (Alisa), Edgar Evans (Normanno), Chorus & Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, John Pritchard, recorded 1961 - Celestial Audio CA 345
Lucrezia Borgia — Joan Sutherland (Lucrezia Borgia), Ronald Stevens (Gennaro), Margreta Elkins (Maffio Orsini), Richard Allman (Don Alfonso), Robin Donald (Jacopo Liveretto), Lyndon Terracini (Don Apostolo Gazella), Gregory Yurisich (Ascanio Petrucci), Lamberto Furlan (Oloferno Vitellozzo), Pieter Van der Stolk (Gubetta), Graeme Ewer (Rustighello), John Germain (Astolfo), Neville Grave (Un servo), Eddie Wilden (Un coppiere), Jennifer Bermingham (Principessa Negroni), Australian Opera Chorus, Sydney Elizabethan Orchestra, Richard Bonynge, recorded 1977. VHS Video Cassette - Castle Video CV2845 (PAL); Polygram-Vidéo 070 031-3 (SECAM) Polygram 079 261-3 (PAL)
Maria Padilla — Christian Du Plessis, Margreta Elkins, Janet Price, Malcolm King, Patricia Sabin, Gunnar Drago, Ian Caley, Bournemouth Sinfonietta, Opera Rara Chorus, Kenneth Montgomery – Opera D'oro 1416
Maria Stuarda — Joan Sutherland (Maria), Huguette Tourangeau (Elisabeta), Luciano Pavarotti (Leicester), Roger Soyer (Talbot), Margreta Elkins (Anna), James Morris (Cecil), Coro del Teatro Comunale di Bologna, Orchestra del Teatro Comunale di Bologna, Richard Bonynge recorded 1975 – Decca 00289 425 4102 / Lyrica LRC 1040/1041 — Track listing and excerpts
Ne M'oubliez Pas with songs from Imelda de' Lambertazzi, Dom Sébastien, Gianni di Parigi, Roberto Devereux, Il diluvio universale — Margreta Elkins, Alexander Oliver, Christian de Plessis, Geoffrey Mitchell Choir, Philharmonia Orchestra, James Judd – Opera Rara ORC4 — Margreta is the principal singer on all the tracks of this CD.

Charles Gounod

Faust — Joan Sutherland (Marguerite), Franco Corelli (Faust), Nicolai Ghiaurov (Méphistophélès), Robert Massard (Valentin), Margreta Elkins (Siébel), Monica Sinclair (Marthe ), Raymond Myers (Wagner), Ambrosian Opera Chorus and Highgate School Choir, London Symphony Orchestra, Richard Bonynge - conductor – Decca 0289 4705632 4 (2002 release) / 421 240-2 (1991 release) / 467 059-2 / London POCL 3962-4 Track listing and audio samples

George Frideric Handel

Alcina — Joan Sutherland (Alcina), Margreta Elkins (Ruggiero), Lauris Elms (Bradamante), Richard Greager (Oronte), Narelle Davidson (Morgana), Ann-Maree McDonald (Oberto), John Wegner (Melisso), Chorus and Orchestra of Australian Opera, Richard Bonynge, recorded 1983. Celestial Audio CA 112
Alcina [does not feature Elkins] coupled with Giulio Cesare in Egitto (highlights) — Margreta Elkins (Giulio Cesare), Joan Sutherland (Cleopatra), Marilyn Horne (Cornelia), Monica Sinclair (Tolomeo), Richard Conrad (Sesto), New Symphonic Orchestra of London, Richard Bonynge – Decca 00289 433 7232 / 467063-2 / 467 067-2 — Track listing and excerpts
Rodelinda – Alfred Hallett (Grimoaldo), Raimund Herincx (Garibaldo), Joan Sutherland (Rodelinda), Dame Janet Baker (Eduige), Margreta Elkins (Bertarido), Patricia Kern (Unolfo), Chandos Singers, Philomusica Antiqua Orchestra, Charles Farncombe. An English language version, recorded live on 24 June 1959. – Opera D'oro OPD 1189 (2 CDs) or Memories HR 4577-4578 or Living Stage LS 403 35147 (highlights).
Rodelinda – Joan Sutherland (Rodelinda), Huguette Tourangeau (Bertarido), Eric Tappy (Grimoaldo), Margreta Elkins (Eduige), Cora Canne-Meijer (Unolfo), Pieter Van Den Berg (Garibaldo), Netherlands Chamber Orchestra, Richard Bonynge. Recorded 30 June 1973 – Bella Voce BLV 10 7206.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Idomeneo — Sergei Baigildin (Idomeneo), Margreta Elkins (Idamante), Henri Wilden (Arbace), Leona Mitchell (Ilia), Joan Sutherland (Elettra), Australian Opera Chorus, Sydney Elizabethan Orchestra, Richard Bonynge, recorded 1979. Gala GLH 826 (highlights) and Celestial Audio CA 060 (highlights)

Giuseppe Verdi

Otello "Piangea cantando" (Willow Song) on Great Moments Of Elisabeth Schwarzkopf – EMI Classics 00289 470 0262 / 67634

Richard Wagner

Die Walküre — Birgit Nilsson, Jon Vickers, London Symphony Orchestra, Erich Leinsdorf – Decca 00289 470 4432 1 — Margreta's role: Waltraute — Track listing and excerpts

Margreta also features on many compilation CDs drawing from the above recordings.

Note: The list above is drawn mainly from currently available recordings: there may be other recordings that will eventually be reissued. Catalogue numbers seem to vary between countries and their format varies between retailers. Audio samples are often available on online retailers' sites.